Football Carries Memories of Triple Overtime into Opener

Not many football teams get the chance to play into triple overtime. Scarcely any must endure two in one season.

In 2013, Harvard played just two games that extended past regulation, but both turned into triple overtime games, a taxing task during an Ivy League season that features zero bye weeks.

While both of those matches were emotionally and physically exhausting, the Crimson most of all does not want a repeat of its most recent one that needed three extra periods—a drawn out battle with Princeton that ended in heartbreak. But even though Harvard’s first foray into three overtimes last year ended in victory, it’s still not likely an endeavor it wishes to revisit.

And given everything that’s changed since last season, it shouldn’t have to. The final score of last season’s Holy Cross matchup—41-35, advantage Crimson—certainly made it seem like the contest was an offensive shootout.

With an inexperienced quarterback in Conner Hempel making just his third start behind a battered offensive line, however, it was anything but. Indeed, the only score of the first quarter came off of a recovered fumble and excellent field position for the Crimson.

Following a trend that persisted through Harvard’s first few games of last season, the offense sputtered through the first half before finally picking up steam to survive through extra periods.

“That was the most adversity I think I’ve ever faced in one game,” Hempel said. “I don’t think we had one play where we didn’t have an assignment mistake until the last drive and the overtime drives.”

When Harvard (0-0) opens up its season against Holy Cross (2-1) tonight at Harvard Stadium, the now-senior will again line up under center, this time with an Ancient Eight Championship and a season of play under his belt.

Returning junior running back Paul Stanton and a bevy of talented wideouts, the Crimson’s offensive production should look markedly different from the uncoordinated group of early last season.

Though the Crusaders will be playing their fourth game of the season, Hempel actually views the Crimson’s later start as something of an advantage, as the Harvard squad has already had game-time simulations via scrimmages and should have fresher legs heading into Friday.

“We have had two inter-squad scrimmages and then the Dartmouth scrimmage, so technically, this is game four for us,” Hempel said. “So it’s not like we’re coming out for the first game expecting a bunch of mistakes, we’re coming out for game four, ready to go.”

On the other side of the ball, the Crimson still has questions to answer. Most of this uncertainty lies in the secondary, which returns only captain Norman Hayes.

None of the rest of the defensive backfield has ever been a starter for Harvard, and only a few have had valuable game experience.

This would present less of a problem if the Crimson were playing a rush-happy team, as the front seven hold the bulk of the experience on defense. But Holy Cross’s most dangerous weapon lies in its dual threat quarterback, Peter Pujals.

Just a rookie last year, Pujals was able to pick apart Harvard’s secondary for 345 yards, four touchdowns, and no picks. With another year of experience, Pujals, who also leads the team in rushing, presents potentially an even more difficult challenge to the young and inexperienced secondary.

“You have an idea of what they do offensively, just like they do of us, but when you have really athletic quarterbacks who can sort of distort your defense by doing something else, by improvisation, it’s kind of hard to predict, so it’s hard to defend,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said.

Though the battle with the Crusaders won’t have implications for the Ivy title race, Friday should provide the Crimson with answers to some of the team’s preseason questions.

And if the squad isn’t restless enough after going 300 days without playing for a win, this game has an added element of excitement. “Friday night lights, there’s nothing like it,” junior wideout Andrew Fischer said. “It reminds us all of high school, so we’re ready to come out and do well.”