Holy Cross 49er Runs Over Crimson

Number-49 takes the hand-off and pounds out seven yards off the right guard. Number-49 snags the pitch from quarterback and steam-roll his way to eight yards off of left tackle. Number-49 charges up the middle for nine more.

Holy Cross's number-49, Jerome Fuller, was a familiar sight last Saturday at the Stadium.

A fresh Harvard 'D' contained the bruising fullback in the first half, when Fuller banged out 43 yards on nine carries.

But Fuller is one of those athletes who gets better as the game wears on.

Fuller, who had averaged under five yards a pop in the first half, hammered away at the Crimson defense in the second half.

The yards came in bunches. Six, seven, eight yards.

Fuller averaged over six a carry, as he amassed 125 yards on 20 carries in the second half.

"I think towards the end of the second half," Fuller said, "we began to wear them down a little bit. It got to the point where the line was making the right block, and I was making the right cut."

It is very hard to stop a team which gets healthy yardage on first down, and faces second-and third-and-short situations series after series.

Harvard, which cut the Holy Cross lead to a touchdown (21-13) with six-and-a-half to play, needed to stop the Crusaders' offense.

But in its crucial moment, the Crimson could not shut down Fuller. He tore up the middle and the straining Harvard defense was helpless.

Just when Harvard thought it had Fuller tackled, he sprung loose for three, four, five yards.

"He had a nice stiff arm," defensive end Spencer Neumann said. "A couple of times, I thought he was down, but he got up and gained four more yards."

Fuller doesn't fit the mold of a fullback at a lanky 6-ft., 200 lbs. Fuller's bruising play might merit a selection to the All-John Madden team, but he doesn't look the type: he is clean cut, speaks clearly (as opposed to grunting like a true All-Madden player) and definitely doesn't eat raw meat for breakfast.

But he is fast and for Crimson tacklers, he was about as difficult to take down as the Redskins' John Riggins was in his heyday.

Fuller's second and third efforts, according to Neumann, had the Crimson defense "turning to the sideline, looking for a rest."

Fuller was also helped by a sprint-draw play that deceived Harvard defenders into thinking pass, when in reality, the Crusaders went up the middle to Fuller.

"They had him coming off-tackle," Neumann said. "It looks a lot like a pass. That softened us up."

That is exactly what Fuller did to Harvard: soften up its 'D', and help Holy Cross notch its 20th consecutive win against Ivy competition.

'I think towards the end of the first half we began to wear them dow a little bit. It got to the point where the line was making the right block and I was making the right cut.' --Holy Cross Running Back Jerome Fuller