Football Survives Late Push by Lafayette

A big play each from junior receiver Andrew Fischer and junior running back Paul Stanton moved the Harvard football team to 5-0 for the third straight year with a 24-14 win over Lafayette Saturday at Harvard Stadium.

The Leopards (3-4, 1-1 Patriot) outgained the Crimson (440 yards to 367) and tallied more first downs (23 to 16), but were held scoreless on two red zone trips while Harvard (5-0, 2-0 Ivy) took advantage of its scoring opportunities and scored from farther out.

On a second-quarter third-and-20 back in Crimson territory, junior quarterback Scott Hosch swung a screen pass out to Fischer, who did the rest with the help of his blockers, taking a step inside before bouncing to the sideline and outsprinting the entire Leopards defense.

The 78-yard catch-and-run, the eighth longest touchdown pass in Harvard history, put the Crimson up 10-0.

“My main goal was to work to get the first down and once I saw it open up, it was just me and the end zone,” Fischer said, remembering the play. “The tight ends are always working. They block incredibly out there, [so] a lot of that is on them doing an incredible job blocking.”

A possession later, Stanton took a handoff at Lafayette’s 43, cut back, broke one tackle and then ran untouched into the endzone to put Harvard up by 17.

The Crimson’s final score came midway through the third when Hosch hit junior Ben Braunecker on a 31-yard score. It was the tight end’s first touchdown of the year. He finished with 78 yards on three catches.

Those three scores are three of the four longest Harvard has registered this season.

“You see three big long touchdown plays and you take a couple of those away and it’s 3-0 at the half,” Leopards co-captain James Coscia said. “For the most part we handled them pretty well except for those big plays.”

Thanks to his 78-yard sprint, Fischer led the Crimson with 107 yards receiving. Stanton finished with 102 yards on the ground, while Hosch had 203 yards passing in place of injured senior Conner Hempel.

Fellow seniors Seitu Smith, Ricky Zorn, and Tyler Hamblin were also out with injuries, leaving the juniors to run the offense. Harvard coach Tim Murphy said he hopes Smith and Hempel will be able to play next week at Princeton, but was not willing to commit further.

Hosch’s biggest mistake came in the third quarter, as a third-down screen pass was intercepted and taken 35 yards to the end zone by Lafayette’s Phillip Parham to give the Leopards their first score of the game.

In the fourth quarter, Lafayette inched closer on a 20-yard touchdown pass to Ross Scheuerman.

Scheuerman presented issues for Harvard all game, ending up as the leading Leopard runner with 105 yards and the team’s top pass-catcher with 125 yards on eight receptions.

But as the visitors attempted to mount a late comeback, the senior was on the sideline with an ankle injury.

Lafayette put together a 53-yard drive in the waning moments but turned the ball over on downs after a false start and sack set up a fourth-and-21.

Scheuerman’s injury was the last in a string of impactful ones for Lafayette Saturday. Quarterback Drew Reed started the game after missing multiple weeks, but was knocked out of the game during his second drive. In his stead, sophomore Blake Searfoss threw for 274 yards on 23-of-42 passing with no interceptions.

Senior left tackle Luke Chiarolanzio was also forced out of the game with a torn bicep.

Searfoss and Scheuerman had success but they moved the chains on just five of their 17 third-down plays and kicker Ryan Gralish missed both of his field goal attempts after a couple drives stalled in Harvard territory.

“The most frustrating stuff we did to ourselves: seven dropped passes [and] two missed field goals certainly changed the complexion of the game,” Lafayette coach Frank Tavani said. “Obviously you can’t win like that and particularly against an undefeated team and as talented of a team as Harvard is.”

Harvard was no better on its third downs, getting a first down less than 20 percent of the time. It failed to convert on all seven of its third-downs in the second half.

“We need to be a more consistent offense, there's no question about it,” Murphy said. “That's a combination of a lot of factors, and we've got to do it with whatever personnel's available. We had two wide receivers out today, a tight end out today, our left guard out today, our quarterback out today, and despite that, at times played very well but we need to—regardless who's in there—be in sync, eliminate mental mistakes, we have to eliminate penalties, and we have to play better.”

Still, Murphy credited the mental toughness in his team to remain unbeaten.

“Our goal was to be undefeated tonight…so mission accomplished,” he said.

—Staff writer Jacob D. H Feldman can be reched at jacob.feldman@thecrimson.com.