Football Overcomes Slow Start to Dispatch Brown, 32-22

On the very first play of its first drive in its Ivy League opener against Brown, Harvard football incurred a delay-of-game penalty, pushing the ball back to the Crimson’s own 15.

After 15 full minutes of play, this lapse of concentration seemed like a metaphor for the team’s play. Harvard failed to score in that first quarter and trailed the Bears, 3-0, a year after cruising to a 53-27 victory.

But a look at the scoreboard at the end of four quarters betrayed the real narrative: Harvard was still producing at an impressive level on both sides of the ball.

For the rest of the game, the Crimson picked up the pace and rolled to a 32-22 victory, spoiling Brown’s homecoming weekend in Providence, R.I.

“For me this was a typical Brown game at Brown in that nothing came easy,” coach Tim Murphy remarked. “We just made a few more plays than they did, and that was the difference in the game.”

Following a 30-point rout of Rhode Island the previous week, the Crimson offense limped out of the gate, looking out of sync and struggling to convert on third downs. Even after making some progress toward the end zone on its second drive, sophomore running back Noah Reimers fumbled on a screen play. The turnover was the first of the season for Harvard.

Toward the end of the opening quarter, however, the Crimson broke its streak of unproductive drives. A 12-yard completion to senior tight end Anthony Firkser was followed by a run and a slide by senior quarterback Joe Viviano for a gain of 21.

The second quarter began with a continuation of this drive, and eventually junior running back Semar Smith slipped by a potential tackler, diving with his hands outstretched to break the plane and put Harvard on the board.

This touchdown ignited a second quarter in which the Crimson’s offense efficiently and relentlessly punished the Bear’s front seven and secondary. Harvard accumulated 25 of its 32 total points in this quarter alone.

The Crimson’s ground game ended up as its key to success in the red zone against Brown, as Viviano and Smith combined for four rushing touchdowns. Coach Tim Murphy primarily utilized his receivers to pick up big gains and advance the ball downfield to set up scoring opportunities.

Sophomore wide receiver Justice Shelton-Mosley was slow to integrate himself into the aerial attack this week, but he ultimately tallied a solid 69 yards on six receptions.

Shelton-Mosley and Firkser were Viviano’s preferred targets for the second straight game. Firkser complemented Shelton-Mosley with four catches for 78 yards.

As the second quarter was winding down, Viviano spotted a streaking Shelton-Mosley near the sideline. The quarterback lofted the ball up for the second-year wide receiver, and he laid out at full extension, hauling the ball in just inches above the turf.

“I’d missed him a few times before, so I knew I had to get him that time,” Viviano said. “He just did a good job beating man coverage and going to make a play on the ball.”

This grab set up Viviano’s second rushing touchdown of the day and capped off a quarter in which Harvard found the end zone three times.

Earlier in the game, the Berwyn, Pa. signal caller darted out of the pocket on a third-and-five, sidestepped a pair of defenders with a subtle head fake, and jogged into the end zone.

Following this score, sophomore quarterback Cam Tripp took the field for the extra point, and the Crimson faked the kick to pick up the two-point conversion.

Along with Viviano, Smith dominated the rushing game. The Coral Springs, Fla. native gained 89 yards on 22 touches, adding two touchdowns.

Harvard’s secondary limited standout senior wide receiver Alex Jette to 79 yards. The Crimson also picked off senior quarterback Kyle Moreno three times. These turnovers were critical in reining in the Moreno-Jette duo and limiting the Bears’ offense to 22 points, since Moreno also racked up 302 yards in the air with three touchdowns.

“With the interceptions, it’s always nice to get off the field and kind of shift the momentum of the game,” senior safety Kolbi Brown said. “But [we] definitely have a lot to work on as a secondary unit. We’ll get back in next week, continue to get better as a unit.”

Perhaps the most important factor in forcing Brown to miss out on 10 third-down conversions and waste crucial scoring opportunities was the performance of Harvard’s defensive line. That front seven stifled the Bears’ run game throughout all four quarters, as junior Jalen Broome picked up the most yards on the ground with a mere 37.

Brown also missed one extra point attempt and one two-point conversion on the day. These three points could have made the difference late in the game if the Bears threatened to score again, but Brown was never able to get within striking distance in the fourth quarter.

The Crimson’s 2016 Ivy League opener did not take on the same flavor as last year’s 53-27 rout, but Harvard left Brown Stadium with its second consecutive quality victory over a Rhode Island opponent.

“It was closer this year,” Brown coach Phil Estes said. “We still have a lot of things that we have to correct. The things that stand out are three turnovers on our part. Not good.”

—Staff writer Jack Stockless can be reached at jackstockless@college.harvard.edu.