Football Thrashes Leopards, 38-14

Senior quarterback Neil Rose ran for two touchdowns and threw two more to junior wideout Carl Morris as the Harvard football team (2-0, 1-0 Ivy) raced to a 24-0 halftime lead and coasted to a 38-14 victory over non-conference foe Lafayette Saturday at Harvard Stadium.

Both Rose and Morris also reached individual career milestones in the win. Rose became just the fifth Crimson quarterback to throw for 3,000 yards in a career, and he passed Vin Ferrara ’96 to move into fourth on Harvard’s all-time passing yardage list. Morris’ nine receptions gave him 101 for his career, making him only the second junior, and fourth Crimson player, to catch 100 balls.

After the game, however, both players valued the outcome more than their particular accomplishments.

“[The records are] great,” Morris said, “but it’s good to get a win.”

As the offensive leader of a 2-0 team, Rose also focused on the state of the season.

“I’d sacrifice yardage for perfect ball security and victories,” added Rose. “We wanna win every game.”

The Crimson managed not to lose a step despite the absence of three key players due to injury. Senior tailback Josh Staph, sophomore linebacker Dante Balestracci, and senior defensive end Phil Scherrer were all major factors in Harvard’s win over Brown but sat out this weekend’s game.

Junior tailback Nick Palazzo, who had 740 rushing yards last season, stepped in for Staph and picked up 98 yards on 21 rushes as the offense didn’t miss a beat. On defense, senior d