On Wild Day in Ivies, Crimson, Dawson Inch Forward

It wasn’t 173 yards, but it was enough to get the job done. Senior running back Clifton Dawson moved 120 yards closer to Ed Marinaro's all-time Ivy League career rushing mark and scored two touchdowns as Harvard (7-1, 4-1 Ivy) beat Columbia (3-5, 0-5 Ivy) 24-7 in front of 11,716 fans on Saturday afternoon at Harvard Stadium.

A much improved Lion defense appeared to have recovered from a 55-7 pounding at the hands of the Crimson a year ago, as it held Harvard to a tie for its lowest scoring output of the season. But that wasn’t enough to counter a Crimson defense that held Columbia to minus-14 yards rushing overall. The Lions did manage 320 yards passing, but it took 52 attempts from quarterback Craig Hormann to get there.

Harvard signal-caller Liam O'Hagan was 16-for-26 with 181 yards and a score and did not turn the ball over for the second straight week.

Dawson scored with 7:59 left in the third quarter for the Crimson’s final touchdown, making the score 21-7, while junior kicker Matt Schindel set the all-time Harvard school record for field goals by a kicker with a 36-yard boot with 12:52 left in the game.

The game featured a penalty-ridden performance by both of the Crimson’s lines, with fourteen Harvard flags for 98 yards. Nine of those penalties came in the first half, as the Crimson entered the break with a 14-7 advantage. Columbia’s rushing game actually moved backwards in the first half, 'gaining' minus-three yards before the break. Dawson went into the intermission with 53 yards on the ground on thirteen carries and a score, while O’Hagan—when he was able to get the ball off—completed ten-of-13 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown strike to senior wideout Corey Mazza.

The junior quarterback also had six carries for 22 yards in the first 30 minutes, facing constant pressure from an aggressive Lion defensive front. The second of Harvard’s scores was Mazza’s seventh straight game with a touchdown reception and his eighth in nine games overall.

The Crimson win preceded Yale's escape from defeat in Providence. The Bulldogs scraped out a 27-24 win against Brown, staying undefeated and maintaining a one-game lead on Harvard and Princeton.

Princeton, meanwhile, overcame visiting Penn in an overtime thriller 31-30, a game the Quakers lost after failing to convert a do-or-die two-point conversion.

Harvard can still ensure itself a share of the conference crown with a win in The Game on Nov. 18. Until then, it will have to beat Penn when it travels to Philadelphia on Nov. 11.