Mercurial Season Continues for RB Menick

The 1998 football season has been a roller coaster ride for Harvard thus far, and it sure looks like junior running back Chris Menick is leading the way with his arms up in the air.

After its first three games, the Crimson was 0-3 and Menick had rushed for 151 yards in 35 attempts, with one game missed because of hand and ankle injuries. The last two games--both Harvard wins--Menick carried the ball 68 times for 347 yards. But Saturday's 20-14 overtime victory over Holy Cross showed just how much of an impact Menick has on the fortunes of the Crimson.

Against the Crusaders, Menick scored all three Harvard touchdowns en route to joining Eion Hu '97 and Vic Gatto '69 as the only backs in school history to rush for more than 2,000 career yards. He scored on the ground, he scored through the air and he scored in overtime. But he also had two fumbles in the second half, giving the Crusaders the chance they needed to tie the game. Menick's play dictated the momentum of the game.

In the first half, the offense struggled. Junior quarterback Rich Linden completed five passes for 50 yards. Still, Menick was the anchor of Harvard's lone scoring drive, running for 34 yards on four carries. He wove through the Crusader defense for the final 18 yards of the drive and his first touchdown of the season. But Menick and the Crimson failed to establish the ground game and held possession for only 11:51 of the first 30 minutes before heading into the locker room deadlocked with Holy Cross, 7-7.

When junior quarterback Brad Wilford replaced Linden to open the second half, the Crimson went to the passing game. But Menick still got in the action, wrapping up an 11-yard bullet from Wilford for his second score of the day. Once Wilford had established himself as a passing threat, Harvard Coach Tim Murphy returned to the ground game to eat up the clock and nurse his 14-7 lead. Menick ran 20 times for 122 yards after halftime.

However, Harvard did not send the Crusaders back to Worcester when it had the chance. In the fourth quarter, Menick had two big runs for 19 and 20 yards, respectively, as the Crimson drove to the Holy Cross 7-yard line. Even a chip-shot field goal would have forced Holy Cross to score twice in less than seven minutes.

But Menick fumbled on second-and-goal, and Crusader linebacker Joe Saunders grabbed the football and sprinted 78 yards to the Harvard 11-yard-line. That set up a three-play scoring drive for the Crusaders and sent the game to overtime.

"I felt like punching myself in the face after that fumble," Menick said. "I felt so guilty after the defense had played so well and we had a chance to put the game away on their eight-yard-line. I was just watching [sophomore wide receiver] Josh Wilske chase down their player and saying, `Get 'im, get 'im, get 'im.'"

In overtime, Harvard went to its bread-and-butter: Menick and the running game. After Holy Cross failed to score, the Crimson offense trotted out to the 25-yard-line and put the football--and the game--in Menick's hands. The 5'10, 185-pound back took a pitchout on the left side for two yards. On second down, he sprinted to the right for seven yards. Then he picked out a hole in the defensive line and charged up the middle for 16 yards and the game's final touchdown to give Harvard a 20-14 victory.

"It was definitely nice to score and get the monkey off my back after that fumble," Menick said.

Menick has been taking more of the monkey off his back each week while rebounding from a disappointing start at Columbia. The biggest surprise of that 24-0 shutout was his 37-yard performance, which nobody expected after he set the single-season rushing record last year with 1,267 yards and tied the single-season rushing touchdowns record with 13.

Menick sat out the 34-14 defeat at Colgate with a broken left thumb and a sprained ankle, but he bounced back in a big way against Lehigh with 114 yards on the ground. The Crimson jumped out to a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter but surrendered 21 straight points to the Mountain Hawks.

Harvard had a chance to take back the lead after recovering a fumble deep in Lehigh territory in the fourth quarter, but Menick's personal foul forced Harvard into a passing situation, and Linden threw an interception to end Harvard's chances.

But Menick continued to improve his play against Cornell. He rushed 39 times for 176 yards in the rain against the Big Red in Harvard's first win of the season, 19-12. Menick's numbers were looking a lot like last year's statistics, and that spelled victory for the defending Ivy League champs.

And it was very important that the backbone of the Crimson offense found the end zone against Holy Cross for the first time this season. With the strong recent performance from junior wide receiver Terence Patterson and Wilford's promising debut, the offense has been scoring more points each week.

But for the last two years, Harvard has relied on Menick's ability to take two or three handoffs, find enough holes in the defense to get the first down, and keep the defense rested on the sidelines. Such dependence on the running back means that any mental errors on Menick's part, such as fumbles or penalties, could affect the outcome of the game.

"Chris's greatest attribute is that he believes in himself," Murphy said. "He is so focused and intense about the game that I don't have to worry when he fumbles because I know he'll come back and execute the next time. He is a kid that we can depend on."

The Holy Cross game showed that as Chris Menick goes, so goes the Crimson. Hopefully for Harvard, Menick's 167-yard, three-touchdown performance against the Crusaders is a sign of things to come. If Menick can continue to break records and find the end zone, the Crimson (2-3, 1-1 Ivy) will be able to make a run at a second straight Ancient Eight championship.