No. 15 Lehigh Grounds Football's 'O'

The No. 15 Lehigh football team was too fast, too strong and too experienced for Harvard to expect to win on Saturday. Regardless of the team's strength on paper, the Crimson (2-3, 1-1 Ivy) didn't give itself any chance as it committed five turnovers.

Though Harvard gained more yards (437) than Lehigh (431), the Mountain Hawks took advantage of the good field position that the Crimson gave them and, perhaps more importantly, controlled the momentum of the game from the opening kickoff.

Early in the first quarter, Lehigh (6-0, 1-0 Patriot) took its first possession at their own 45-yard line. Harvard lined up in its pressure eight-man front on defense throughout the drive and throughout the game.

This defensive scheme forced Lehigh to throw the ball and put the burden on junior quarterback Brant Hall--a player more noted for his running ability than his passing--who was also nursing a sprained ankle and turf toe.

The Mountain Hawks' initial possession was a three-and-out. On first down, junior running back Phil Pleasant was gang-tackled for no gain up the middle by the Crimson interior defense. On second down, Hall's pass was incomplete, intended for senior wide receiver Brian Endler.

Facing third down and 10 yards to go, Hall found junior wide receiver Josh Snyder for a gain of only seven yards, forcing a punt.

Harvard sophomore wide receiver Carl Morris attempted to gather in a punt bouncing towards the goal-line, but the ball took a wild bounce and Morris could not control the ball and Lehigh recovered the first Harvard fumble of the day at the Crimson 12-yard line.

Lehigh elected to spread the field in the red zone with three wide receivers, but junior defensive end Phil Scherrer and freshman linebacker Dante Balestracci penetrated into the Mountain Hawk backfield and hit Pleasant, who fumbled, but Lehigh recovered the ball for a six-yard loss.

On second-and-16, Hall found Endler out of the shotgun for a gain of nine yards to the Crimson 9-yard line.

The Mountain Hawks then brought in five wide receivers, a formation that the Crimson has been unable to defend all season, to spread Harvard out. Hall found junior wide receiver Aron Mack running a slant pattern into the end zone for a touchdown.

The ensuing extra point gave Lehigh a 7-0 lead with 10:12 to go in the first quarter.

After sophomore running back Matt Leiszler returned the Mountain Hawk kickoff to the Crimson 34-yard line, Lehigh was called for roughing the passer on first down. The 15-yard penalty was tacked on to the end of a Carl Morris reception and put Harvard at Lehigh's 24-yard line.

On first-and-10 from just outside the red zone, sophomore running back Nick Palazzo ran between the tackles for a gain of one yard. On the next play, junior quarterback Neil Rose dropped to pass and found junior wide receiver Sam Taylor open on a short route downfield. Immediately after he caught the ball, Taylor was hammered by two Mountain Hawk defenders and fumbled the ball away to Lehigh.

"If you have five turnovers against Lehigh, this is the type of score that you end up with," Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. "The fumble on the first punt was a critical error."

Though the score was only 7-0 after Taylor's fumble, Harvard was reeling and Lehigh had control of the momentum of the game.

The Mountain Hawks never let up, using superior team speed on defense to keep the pressure on and relying on Hall--who completed 24-of-38 passes for 305 yards and three touchdowns--on offense.

Though the Crimson narrowed the score to 10-6 at the end of the first quarter, even Harvard's lone touchdown of the first half was the result of a lucky break.

After a Lehigh field goal with 2:10 to go in the first half, Leiszler returned the kickoff to the Harvard 25-yard line. On the first play of the drive the Crimson spread the field with three wide receivers and Rose found sophomore wide receiver Kyle Cremarosa at the Harvard 38-yard line.

Harvard then gave the ball to Leiszler who gained five and then 10 yards on consecutive plays.

At the Lehigh 47, on first-and-10, Rose dropped back and found Taylor over the middle between three Lehigh defenders. Taylor got hit hard by all three Mountain Hawks and should have been tackled, but none of the defensive backs held on to Taylor, who bounced off the vicious hit and, with the help of some good downfield blocking, ran into the end zone.

Harvard muffed the snap on the extra point attempt, and holder Cremarosa's desperation pass attempt fell short.

Even the touchdown play accentuated the difficulties that Harvard had with the Lehigh defense.

"Lehigh has lots of team speed on defense," Murphy said. "Their defensive backs were fast and they gave us very little margin for error in the passing game."

Rose--who threw two interceptions in this game, one that was returned for a touchdown--had to thread his touchdown pass between three Mountain Hawk defenders who missed tackling Taylor as soon as he touched the ball.

For most of the game, the Lehigh defenders did make their open field tackles. Harvard's receivers had very few yards after the catch in this game, something that had been the source of much of the Crimson's offensive production thus far this season.

After the Crimson touchdown, Lehigh reeled off 21 unanswered points over the second quarter and the first part of the third.

Lehigh completely dominated the second quarter, gaining 169 yards on 27 plays and holding Harvard to just 52 yards on 23 plays.

Hall passed for 137 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter alone.

Lehigh's first drive started at the Harvard 42-yard line thanks to a long kickoff return by junior kick returner Abdul Byron.

After an incompletion on first down, Hall found Endler at Harvard's 23-yard line for a first down. Lehigh then spread the field with five receivers and Hall threw to freshman wideout Stephen Hluschak for a 4-yard gain.

Pleasant lost two yards on the next play as he tried to run up the middle, but was stopped in the backfield by Scherrer.

On third-and-8, Hall found Endler on a slant route at the Harvard 9-yard line.

On first and goal at the nine, Lehigh lined up in a pro set--two running backs in the I formation and two wide receivers--and gave the ball to Pleasant on a sweep. Good blocking by the Mountain Hawk receivers and pulling guards sealed the corner and allowed Pleasant to dive into the end zone putting Lehigh up 31-6.

In the middle of the third quarter, the Harvard offense finally came alive and put together a 13-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. Highlighting the drive were a 14-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Sean Meeker, a 15-yard strike to junior wideout Dan Farley and a wide receiver screen on fourth-and-goal from the four to Morris who took the ball in for the score.

Palazzo gave the Crimson some semblance of balance on this drive by running up the middle for short gains in order to keep Lehigh from completely playing the pass.

By the third quarter, though, the game was out of reach. Lehigh added two more scores in the fourth quarter to finish the game up, 45-13.

Though the Crimson couldn't compete against Lehigh, this game was also the last one on Harvard's non-conference schedule.

Next week, Harvard travels to Princeton for the first game of the H-Y-P series this year. Princeton beat Brown on Saturday, 55-28, to set up a highly anticipated matchup this Saturday.

"The Princeton game will be hard fought," Murphy said. "We have beaten them the last four years, the first time Harvard has done that in a century so their kids will be fired up. It's going to be a war."