ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Stanton Sets Scoring Record in The Game

While the focus coming into the 130th rendition of The Game may have been on the seniors’ final collegiate matchup, it was a sophomore who stole the show at the Yale Bowl. By the end of Saturday afternoon, running back Paul Stanton had tied the Harvard record for total touchdowns in The Game, leading the Crimson to a share of the Ivy League title.

Finishing a career day with 27 carries for 118 yards and four catches for 40 yards, Stanton was involved in every Harvard end zone trip. All four came in a first-half romp that saw the Crimson go up 28-0 before the break.

“I think this might have been my first time ever having four [touchdowns],” Stanton said. “Maybe when I was younger [playing touch or flag football] I had games like that, but I never thought I would have that in a college football game.”

The running back began Harvard’s offensive onslaught with a 25-yard touchdown dash on the first drive and continued the momentum with two receiving scores of 21 and 18 yards, his first touchdown catches of the season. Coming into the contest, the running back had not even caught a pass in the two most recent games.

“That’s something I’ve really tried to work on,” Stanton said. “I wanted to catch some more passes this year, and coach [Tim Murphy] set up some great screen plays this week [that] we hadn’t even used [before].”

With Stanton firing on all cylinders, gaining yardage became substantially easier for the rest of the Crimson offense.

“Having [Stanton], with the ability to catch and run with [the ball], is another thing that the defense has to prepare for,” said senior tight end Cameron Brate. “We love it. The more the defense has to worry about, the better for us and our offense.”

Capping off a 13-play, 72-yard drive that ate five-and-a-half minutes of the game clock, Stanton stretched the lead to 28 with his second rushing score of the day, this time stretching past the goal line on a two-yard carry.

Even with the victory secure, Murphy kept his starters in until the waning seconds of the fourth quarter.

Determined to make sure the Bulldogs wouldn’t make up the deficit, Stanton put an extra nail in Yale’s coffin with a two-yard run on fourth-and-one with two minutes left.

“We wanted to come out strong after last week, [when] we let [Penn] come back, so we thought it was a big deal to start off strong,” Stanton said.

By the end of the day, the 5’9”, 190 pound back—who had drawn interest from the likes of Cornell, Princeton, Columbia, and Brown before committing to Harvard two years ago—was recognized by yet another Ivy League coach.

“He’s a good back. He’s been a good back all year long,” said Yale coach Tony Reno during the postgame interview. “He accelerates well, he gets to the hole fast…has good feet. He runs very hard, so he’s a tough kid to tackle. We didn’t tackle him nearly as well as we needed to in the first half.”

Opponents had a tough time tackling Stanton all season long. The Kenner, La. native, who clocked a 4.40 second 40-yard dash time at Harvard’s prospect camp during the recruiting process, finished his stellar campaign with 936 yards on the ground and 17 total touchdowns.

Coming into the fall season, Stanton wasn’t slated to be the only player in the backfield—he and sophomore Zach Boden were expected to carry the load together.

The two split the duties against San Diego in the opening game of the year, with Stanton gaining 64 yards on six touches and Boden 14 yards on eight carries.

However, when Boden went down with a knee injury, Stanton made the most of the opportunity, tallying a rushing touchdown in every game except against Dartmouth.

His consistency freed up the rest of the Harvard offense, as Crimson quarterbacks Connor Hempel and Michael Pruneau combined for eight touchdowns and only one interception in the four games Stanton ran for over 100 yards.

“It’s been an awesome experience to get this opportunity,” Stanton said. “I felt like I was very lucky to get [it], and I wanted to take full advantage of it.”

Now with a league co-championship under his belt, Stanton looks to keep up the momentum going into the offseason.

“Right after Thanksgiving break, we’re going to get back into the weight room, and we’ll be going for the Ivy League title next year,” Stanton said. “Hopefully [it won’t be] shared, and we’ll be able to win it outright.”