Football Beats Penn, Clinches Ivy Title

The Harvard football team, continuing its best season in more than 30 years, won the Ivy League Championship today in one of the most important and thrilling games in its history.

The Crimson scored 28 straight points and held off a late Penn surge to top the Quakers 28-21 in front of a rowdy crowd of 14,818 at Harvard Stadium.

The dramatic win gives Harvard (8-0, 6-0 Ivy) at least a share of its 10th Ivy League title and its best record since the 1968 squad went 8-0-1. It also marks Harvard’s first win against Penn (7-1, 5-1) in four years and only its second triumph in the series over the last decade.

“This is the best win in my head coaching career,” said Harvard Coach Tim Murphy. “These guys are a special group, not just because they are 8-0, and not just because they are champions, but because of how they did it.”

In only the fifth match since 1910 between Ivy unbeatens this late in a season, Harvard prevailed with a formula that has worked since September—an emphasis on limiting turnovers, explosive production from offensive playmakers and timely plays from the defense and special teams units.

For the fourth time this season, Harvard played 60 minutes of football without a turnover. The Crimson leads the nation with the fewest turnovers (7) and today was no exception to the trend.

“When you can play in a game of this magnitude and not turn the ball over once, you give yourself a great opportunity to win the game,” said Penn Coach Al Bagnoli.

The Crimson capitalized on the Quakers’ sole turnover—a momentum-shifting interception by senior cornerback Willie Alford—as well as a blocked punt by senior tailback Rodney Thomas, and another record-setting performance from All-Ivy and potential All-American wide receiver Carl Morris.

Despite only being a junior, Morris—who had nine catches for 155 yards and two touchdowns against Penn—set new Harvard standards for touchdowns in a season (10), receptions in a season (66) and receptions in a career (150). Morris exploded in the third quarter, catching a 20-yard TD pass from senior quarterback Neil Rose that tied the game at 14 and adding another touchdown on a nifty 62-yard pass play that included a fingertip catch and an ankle-breaking juke.

Rose also turned in another stellar performance, throwing for 270 yards and three touchdowns on 18-for-26 passing. Rose put Harvard up for good with a 30-yard strike to senior tailback Josh Staph, giving the Crimson a 28-14 cushion with 8:42 left in the game.

Penn, to its credit, didn’t roll over. After a Crimson punt that placed Penn at the 49 with 2:24 left in the game, Quaker quarterback Gavin Hoffman wasted little time in cutting the Crimson lead in half.

Hoffman rifled a 29-yard pass to sophomore receiver Joe Phillips and lobbed a 22-yard TD strike to senior wideout Rob Milanese. The touchdown, which made the score 28-21, capped a drive that covered 51 yards and only took 12 seconds off the clock.

After an unsuccessful Penn onside kick, Harvard went three-and-out and Penn regained possession at its 14 with 33 seconds left. Hoffman, who was last year’s Ivy League Player of the Year, marched the Quakers to the 42 with five seconds to play.

But Hoffman—who two years ago stunned the Crimson with a fourth-down, 50-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass—didn’t have enough magic to overcome a late Harvard lead this year.

As time expired, Hoffman launched a last-ditch bomb from midfield towards a cluster of Harvard and Penn players near the endzone. Instead of another miracle for the Quakers, sophomore linebacker Dante Balestracci deflected the ball harmlessly away at the five-yard line to seal the victory for the Crimson.

With the riveting final play, the student section at the Stadium erupted and charged the field in celebration of the first time in four years that Harvard had won its final home game.

“I thought the fans at the Stadium were just unbelievable,” Murphy said. “It was really the greatest thing I’ve seen since I’ve been at Harvard.”

Today’s battle was a contrast in strengths. Harvard entered the game with the best rushing offense in the league (averaging 189 yards a game), while Penn possessed the best rushing defense in the league and in the country (allowing only 43 yards a game). Harvard boasted the league’s best pass efficiency offense going into today’s contest and Penn had the league’s best pass efficiency defense. Harvard had scored at least four touchdowns in each game this season, and Penn had not given up more than 20 points in any game.

Heading into the contest it was obvious that something had to give. In the end, Harvard was more successful in imposing its will by running over the vaunted Quaker defense.

“They ran the ball better than most teams have been able to against us,” Bagnoli said. “That was the key to the game.”

Junior tailback Nick Palazzo and Staph combined for 142 yards on the ground and Palazzo punched in a one-yard touchdown in the second quarter to begin the Crimson’s comeback. Though Penn tailback Kris Ryan racked up 138 yards, most of those were the result of a 66-yard TD scamper in the first quarter that gave the Quakers a 14-0 lead.

Another big score in the first quarter—a 37-yard TD strike from Hoffman to senior receiver Colin Smith 13 minutes into the game—comprised the Quakers’ first-half offense and was good enough to ensure a halftime lead.

Next week, the Crimson will travel to New Haven for the 118th playing of The Game. If Harvard can beat Yale, it will cap one of the program’s finest seasons and would be the first time since 1913 that a Crimson squad had survived a season undefeated and untied.

“[Harvard-Yale] is the biggest game of the season, and the seniors have yet to beat Yale,” Rose said. “We’ve got the guys to do it, we’ve got the heart, we’ve got the focus, and that will pay off next Saturday.”