Crimson Masters Lafayette Playbook

Lafayette figured to have trouble covering Harvard receiver Carl Morris.

They never thought they wouldn’t belong on the same field with him.

Morris eluded Leopard defensive backs almost at will Saturday, catching nine balls for 123 yards and two touchdowns in about three quarters of work. Had the game been competitive, Morris would likely have been even more productive.

By halftime, Morris caught 7 of the 10 completions thrown by quarterback Neil Rose.

“Sometimes you feel like with everything we got on offense, that there’s not a lot the defense can do,” Morris said.

Can’t Stop Him, Can Only Hope to Contain Him

Morris’s nine catches in the game made him just the fourth receiver (and only the second junior) in team history to amass at least 100 catches in a career.

At his pace, Morris should easily set the all-time Harvard record for receptions of 146, held by Terrence Patterson `00.

At one point, the Leopards apparently decided that it wasn’t worth covering Morris at all. As Harvard lined up to run the ball in a goaline situation, the Lafayette cornerback responsible for Morris forgot to enter the game, leaving the Crimson star wide open on the right side of the field.

A bewildered Morris started jumping up and down to get Rose’s attention, but in his haste to change the play, Rose pulled back from center prematurely, resulting in a five-yard procedure penalty.

The Leopards were sure to put a man on Morris for the next play, but, predictably, it made no difference. Rose found an open Morris in the endzone for his final touchdown pass of the day.

“When things go so well on offense as a team, I feel like I can always get open,” Morris said.

The Big Laborksy

Any hope that Lafayette would be competitive ended in the first quarter when the entire Leopard offense was nearly stopped by one player.

Senior defensive end Marc Laborsky dominated the line of scrimmage from the opening snap Saturday. He spent much of the first quarter in the Lafayette backfield, sacking quarterback Marko Glavic once and forcing him to make several off-balance, errant throws.

“They were doing a lot of drop-back passes, and we felt we could take advantage of their young offensive line,” Laborsky said.

When Laborsky wasn’t applying pressure in the opposing backfield, he was stopping Lafayette scoring chances. His fumble recovery in the endzone at the end of the half eliminated any chance the Leopards had of staying in the game.

Later, Laborsky picked off a Glavic pass on the Harvard 11, thwarting yet another scoring chance.

Grounded Ground Game

One of the few disappointments for Harvard was its running attack, expected to be one of the best in the Ivy League.

The Crimson struggled to gain consistent yardage—particularly in the first three quarters—against what should have been a porous Leopard defense.

“We did not run the ball as well as we should have,” Harvard Coach Tim Murphy said.

Starting tailback Nick Palazzo in particular had an uneven game, despite finishing with 98 yards. Even with a consistent push from the Harvard offensive line, Palazzo had trouble breaking free for most of the game.

Third stringer Rodney Thomas turned in a respectable performance in relief of Josh Staph, rushing for 61 yards on 17 carries, but the team missed Staph’s newfound ability to break tackles.

In the team’s defense, Murphy said Lafayette focused primarily on stopping the run, leaving the team vulnerable through the air.

“Their game plan was to take away the run, especially on the tight-end side,” Murphy said. “So we made big plays in the passing game.”

Bulletin Board Material

Lafayette has now played the two teams picked to finish 1-2 atop the Ivy standings, Penn and Harvard, in consecutive weeks. And while Lafayette Coach Frank Tavani said the two teams would play a “heckuva game”, his comments seemed to indicate he thought Penn would win.

“Penn is just so physical, more so than Harvard,” Tavani said. “Their

quarterback [reigning Ivy Offensive Player-of-the-Year Gavin Hoffman] is as big as most tackles. Our guys just bounced off him.”

“And with [tailback Kris] Ryan, you’re looking at two NFL guys right there,” Tavani added.

Penn destroyed Lafayette 37-0 last week, beating them so badly that Tavani was relatively pleased with his team’s performance against Harvard. The Quakers looked far more mortal Saturday, however, barely edging perennial Ivy doormat Dartmouth 21-20.

Harvard will host Penn November 12.