Defense Leads Football to 35-16 Win Over Lafayette

Although the Harvard football team was on the road for the past two weeks, it did not take the team long to readjust to life at home.

Facing Lafayette in Cambridge, the Crimson drove the ball down the field on its first possession of the game and seemed ready to settle for a field goal after a failed third-and-goal try.

But senior quarterback Michael Pruneau took the snap as the holder, jumped to his feet, and found a wide-open senior tight end Cam Brate in the end zone for the game’s first touchdown.

The Harvard offense continued tallying points throughout the contest, and the defense ensured the Leopards would never get going as the Crimson cruised to a 35-16 victory.

“It all started with defense today,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “Anytime your [starting] defense doesn’t give up a touchdown to an FCS team, you’re doing a great job…. I was really happy with how hard our kids played and very happy with how we finished.”

Turnovers killed Lafayette all day long, and the Crimson succeeded in taking advantage of a number of Leopards’ miscues.

Early in the fourth quarter with Harvard leading 21-3, sophomore linebacker Eric Medes fell on a fumble forced by senior defensive back Brian Owusu.

The Crimson found the game’s knockout blow soon after. Pruneau found senior receiver Ricky Zorn on a post route for a 38-yard gain to bring the ball to midfield. And on the very next play, Pruneau dumped a pass over the middle to sophomore receiver Andrew Fischer, who sprinted through the Lafayette defense for a 50-yard touchdown.

The resounding three-play, 81-yard drive stretched Harvard’s lead to 25 points and effectively put the game away.

The Crimson took advantage of another Lafayette turnover early in the second quarter. Looking to put his team on the board, Leopards quarterback Andrew Dzurik was intercepted over the middle on a short third down in Harvard territory as sophomore linebacker Matt Koran’s tight coverage deflected the ball into the hands of junior Connor Sheehan.

A few plays later, after Harvard benefited from a pass interference penalty, sophomore running back Paul Stanton drove the ball through the Leopards’ defensive line for a three-yard touchdown to make the score 14-0.

“Turnovers are tough to overcome, and the other side of the ball has to respond to it,” Lafayette coach Frank Tavani said. “And that’s where we didn’t respond…. The response you need is points on the board, and obviously we fell short.”

With starting quarterback Conner Hempel still out with a knee injury, Pruneau filled in to make his second start of the season. The senior went 17-of-29 for 263 yards in the air and three touchdowns, two of which went to Brate.

But in the end, the day belonged to Stanton as much of Harvard’s offensive success came on the ground. The sophomore ended a career day with 113 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Stanton’s second score of the game came after the Crimson defense forced a turnover-on-downs midway through the third quarter. A completion and short scramble by Pruneau moved the ball into Lafayette territory, and Stanton did the rest on back-to-back carries for a combined 19 yards to cap the Harvard scoring drive with a touchdown.

The able Crimson rushing attack was supplemented by a defensive effort that seemed to overwhelm the young Leopards’ offense all game long.

As Lafayette looked to mount a two-minute drill and trim the Harvard lead at the end of the first half, Dzurik lofted a high pass down the right sideline around midfield. But Harvard defensive back Chris Splinter tracked the ball the entire way and made a leaping interception, his first of the season.

Even though freshman quarterback Drew Reed replaced Dzurik at the beginning of the second half, it was the same story all over again for Lafayette. On his first possession behind center, the freshman’s high throw was picked off by senior cornerback DJ Monroe on the right sideline.

The Leopards failed to score a touchdown in the first three quarters of play, and the team’s only points before the fourth quarter came on a second-quarter field goal. Harvard held Lafayette tailback Ross Scheuerman, who scored three touchdowns last week against Princeton, to only 68 yards on 21 carries.

The one sour note for the Harvard defense was the loss of junior linebacker Connor Sheehan, who suffered a fractured left elbow early in the second half and will likely be out for the rest of the season.

Reed threw for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but by that point the outcome of the game had been long decided.

“The morale of the team is very high right now,” captain Joshua Boyd said. “Obviously it’s one game at a time and we don’t look too far ahead, but we had some fun today because we put in a lot of work this week.”

--Staff writer David Steinbach can be reached at David.Steinbach@thecrimson.com