THE GAME THAT GOT AWAY

One thing that is important to understand about Harvard football is that there is always The Game.

In the minds of the fans and, to a certain degree, the players and coaches, The Game is the ultimate parachute; you could lose every other contest, but if you win The Game, the season was a success.

Harvard's approach to the 1993-94 football season war similar. In fact, The Game took on new meaning. It was to be Harvard Coach Joe Restic's last game, and the 25th anniversary of the greatest version of The Game ever.

"We're going to be aiming to give Coach Restic a good send-off," Captain Brian Ramer said at an early press conference. "We plan to get a lot of wins during the regular season, and we plan to do what we have to in The Game."

Of course, the first of those promises was not kept. As it had the year, the team had trouble getting into the win column in its pre-Game games.

The first game of the season was a notable exception. Opening at home against Columbia, the team garnered an impressive 30-3 win, as the offensive line opened up big holes for quarterback Mike Giardi and fullback Larry Sprinkle, and the defensive line stuffed the Lion running game.

It was a big win, big for opening day, but as the team celebrated on the field afterwards, there was a sense of restraint. It was going to be a long season, and besides, there was always The Game.

After the Columbia game, the team confidently swaggered down to the heart of Virginia, expecting to at least make a game of it against William and Mary. It was rudely surprised, however, as the Tribe used its superior physical skills to outpower and outrun the Crimson, winning 45-17.

It was a devastating loss, and as the team boarded the bus, their was a sense of urgency. It was a bad loss, for sure, but it wasn't devastating. There was always The Game.

The Lafayette game, the third of the season, proved that the William and Mary defeat hadn't been the end of the world. At home, Harvard avenged a two-point loss suffered the year before on the strength of Giardi and its defensive backfield.

The team won, 21-16, and afterwards gave an enthusiastic press conference. A number of players were ebullient, but not as much so as cornerback Jae Ellis. Asked about the future, he said: "It's only going to get better. We're improving every day, and should peak at The Game."

With a 2-1 record--its first winning mark in two years, the team traveled to Ithaca, N.Y., to take on Cornell. The Crimson had beaten the Big Red the year before, and were hoping to do the same again, as the Big Red was supposed to finish behind the Crimson.

But it was not to be. In the cold rain, Cornell's running game dominated as the Big Red won, 27-0. It was a whopping loss, a major strike against the Crimson's confidence. But as the team walked away in the rain that day, damp and depressed, there was hope. There was the Game.

The fifth and sixth games of the season, against Holy Cross and Cornell, respectively, were the best of the season. The team picked itself from the Cornell lose against Holy Cross and stormed to a 41-25 win.

It continued its high level of play in its next game against Princeton when, in losing, 21-10, it gave the defending league champs a big scare. As the crowd filtered out that day to watch the Head of the Charles races, one student said, excitedly: "If we can scare Princeton, think what we can do to Yale in The Game."

The team continued to play well through the next three weeks of the season, although not quite up to the Princeton game standards.

First, it finally put in a good performance on the road at Dartmouth, only to lose on a great comeback by the Big Green and its star quarterback, Jay Fiedler.

Then it traveled to Brown and, although playing decently, got beat by a fired-up Bear contingent, 43-29.

And finally, the team returned home for its final game against Penn. In Joe Restic's last game, it played well and hard, but lost again, 27-20. It was disappointing, sure, but heck, at least there was still The Game.

The Game came and it was a beauty. In a plot similar to that of the The Game of all Games 25-years earlier, the Crimson found itself down by 16 with six minutes left, only to score two touchdowns to make it close. But Harvard did not repeat the legendary 1968 tie, failing to convert a two-point conversion after the first of its touchdowns. Once again a good, hard effort went unrewarded as the Bulldogs won, 33-31.

Afterwards, Giardi, the engineer on the comeback, walked around the field aimlessly, looking stunned.

Asked later what he was thinking, he replied: "I was just thinking how fitting it was that the season would end like that. Finally, in the end, The Game was like all those other games--it just got away."

FOOTBALL

Record: 3-7

Ivy League: 1-6

Key Players: Mike Giardi (114-244-1, 734 pass., 123-451 rush.), Mark Cote (116-569 rush.), Brian Ramer (99 tackles)

Key Seniors: Mike Giardi, Brian Ramer, Mark Begert, Chris Andre, Peter Cahill, Jae Ellis, Nick Isaacson, Joseph McClellan, Bill Madden