Football Erases Early Deficit, Tops Brown, 41-23

A week after Harvard broke San Diego’s 13-game home winning streak, the Crimson extended its own Harvard Stadium streak to 14 in its Ivy League opener against Brown.

After trailing the Bears in the first quarter, 13-0, the Crimson came back with 31 unanswered points on its way to a 41-23 victory.

In his first start at home, junior quarterback Conner Hempel impressed once again, finding five different receivers for double-digit yardage and ending the day with 296 yards and one touchdown through the air.

At the end of the third quarter, Hempel, under pressure, found senior wideout Ricky Zorn for a 63-yard score, his longest of the season, to put Harvard up, 38-20.

“I saw a better Hempel today,” Brown coach Phil Estes said. “He’s a hell of a quarterback. He’s got great feet. When you give him that much time, he can make plays.”

The Crimson defense found ways to pressure Bears quarterback Patrick Donnelly all night, sacking him three times and intercepting him another three times. Junior cornerback Norman Hayes, who intercepted the San Diego signal-caller to ensure the win last week, picked off Donnelly with 5:17 remaining in the game to clinch victory No. 2.

“We like getting pressure on the quarterback,” said junior defensive end Zach Hodges, who sacked Donnelly once and also tallied an interception. “It’s something we really like to do. We like to get in their face, we like to get physical, and if you don’t want to come back at us, we’ll come at you.”

Against a Bears first-team defense that shut out Georgetown last week, Harvard found the end zone five times, scoring on all but one possession after the first quarter, the final drive ending in a kneel-down notwithstanding.

The Crimson defense, which topped the league in stopping the run last year, struggled to contain Brown tailback John Spooney, who tallied 110 yards and two scores. But Harvard did come up with a key stop after a pass interference penalty gave Brown first and goal at the two, with Brown down, 38-20, in the fourth quarter. Senior defensive end Austin Taylor wrapped Spooney up in the backfield on third down, forcing the Bears to settle for a field goal.

“We like the fight and we felt good going into this game,” Hodges said. “It kind of also feels good when our coaches know that we had the type of game we had and they’re still confident in us. They understand that we know what we need to do. Last year we had trouble making plays when we needed to, and this year we’re not.”

On Harvard’s first drive, Hempel drove the team quickly down the field, but a pass intended for senior tight end Cameron Brate ended in the hands of Brown linebacker Xavier Russo in the red zone.

The Bears capitalized off the interception and marched 76 yards down the field before tailback John Spooney ran in for a score.

The Bears attempted a trick two-point conversion that they couldn’t convert off of their first score, but the ensuing kickoff caught the Crimson off guard when it was an onside kick. The short field ended with Donnelly finding tight end Brian Strachan in the back of the end zone to put the Bears up, 13-0.

But once the second quarter began, the momentum shifted. Hempel was 6-for-7 for 110 yards in the second quarter and led the team on scoring drives on each possession. Hempel and Stanton each had 1-yard scoring runs to give the Crimson its first lead of the game.

“[We] get off to a little bit of a sluggish start,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “We had a good drive coming out, throw the pick, get behind the eight ball, 13-0, I thought the kids showed a little bit of resiliency, got in a rhythm in all phases and just managed to get control of the game.”

The Crimson defense notched a touchdown for the second consecutive week when the ball bounced off of a Bears receiver’s hands and senior safety Jaron Wilson took it back 51 yards for a score. Harvard piled on some more on its next possession when Stanton found the end zone off of an option play with less than a minute left.

Early in the third quarter, sophomore linebacker Eric Medes pressured Donnelly into making an errant throw, which Hodges picked off, but Harvard was unable to turn it into points.

With sophomore running back Zach Boden out with a knee injury, sophomore Paul Stanton carried the bulk of the rushing plays for Harvard, netting 91 yards and two scores.

Despite entering halftime with a lead for the second game in a row, Harvard once again lost the time of possession battle in the first half, holding the ball for only eight minutes before halftime. Penalties also plagued Harvard all night—the Crimson ended up with 12 infractions for 89 yards, one of which brought back a 60-yard kick return.

—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samantha.lin@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @linsamnity.