SILVER LINING: With gritty victory in 119th Game, Football salvages second place in Ivies

In The Game of the year, it took the Harvard football team nearly an entire half to return to its most effective offensive weapon—the mobile attack of sophomore quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick.

And on a cold and blustery Saturday afternoon, the move paid off as the Crimson (7-3, 6-1 Ivy) beat Yale (6-4, 4-3) 20-13 in the 119th playing of The Game before 30,323 fans.

With Fitzpatrick at the helm in place of ineffective captain Neil Rose, the Crimson exploded for 20 uninterrupted points in a span of just 6:43 in the third quarter.

“The third quarter was really the crucial part of the game for us,” said Harvard coach Tim Murphy. “If you’re going to win the Harvard-Yale game you’ve got to capitalize. And we did.”

Even this victory was bittersweet, however, as Penn defeated Cornell Saturday to seize sole possession of the Ivy crown. Harvard had needed the Big Red to upset the Quakers to have a chance at sharing the league title. Instead the Crimson settled for second place.

“We set out to win the championship,” said Harvard senior Carl Morris. “We came up a little short, but we ended on a high note. We beat Yale.”

After an unimpressive first half offensively, the Crimson scored on its first possession of the third quarter. Fed by a steady dose of runs from Fitzpatrick and senior tailback Nick Palazzo, the Crimson mustered a six-play, 29-yard drive, capped off by a four-yard touchdown scamper by Fitzpatrick to pull ahead of the Bulldogs 7-6.

On the day, Fitzpatrick amassed 72 yards on the ground on 18 carries, including two touchdowns.

Yale coach Jack Siedlecki touted the toughness of the Crimson signal caller.

“He’s a big kid running with the football,” Siedlecki said. “Every play he gets that extra yardage. He’s not a tailback, but he ran the ball well enough to keep you honest.”

Fitzpatrick also made his mark through the air, completing 7 of 12 passes for 135 yards.

On perhaps the biggest play of the game, Fitzpatrick made a long distance connection to Morris. The ball sailed out of Fitzpatrick’s hand at Harvard’s own 42 and Morris gained just enough separation from the Yale defender to grab the spiral in stride.

The 50-yard completion advanced Harvard to the eight-yard line. Fitzpatrick finished the 58-yard drive by outracing the Yale defense to the left edge of the end zone on a five-yard sprint.

Senior kicker Anders Blewett followed up with the first missed PAT of his career, putting Harvard ahead by a crooked number.

The Crimson’s third and final score came with 4:19 left in the third quarter.

Starting at its own 43, a 39-yard Fitzpatrick-Morris collaboration moved Harvard to the Yale 18. The drive culminated in a one-yard touchdown burst from Nick Palazzo.

In his last game in a Crimson uniform, Palazzo ran the ball 26 times for 95 yards.

“We didn’t want to go out on a somber note,” said Palazzo “We wanted to go out the right way. You don’t get what you deserve, you get what you earn.”

Early in the game, the Crimson didn’t seem to be on the track to victory, however.

In the first half Harvard’s offense was forced to punt four consecutive times and turned the ball over twice, once on downs and once on a Rose interception.

Morris was virtually silent as he netted minus-1 yard going into halftime. In fact, the Crimson was held scoreless for the first half for the first time since the 1998 Harvard-Yale contest.

“Neither team wanted to lose the game,” Murphy said. “It was like two boxers who didn’t want to get hit by the knockout punch. You just didn’t want to screw it up.”

The Yale offense performed well early, mounting an impressive 76-yard drive on 13 plays late in the first quarter.

Sophomore tailback Robert Carr capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown dash, but the Elis botched the extra point, giving themselves a 6-0 lead.

On a day where the weather was less than ideal, bobbled snaps and botched punts were aplenty as a number of special teams mishaps characterized a gritty game.

“Obviously, early [on,] it was hard to adjust to that kind of wind,” said Yale tight end Nate Lawrie. “We got back on track, but it was too little, too late.”

With the Crimson comfortably ahead 20-6, Yale drove 56 yards on nine plays, capped off by a 24-yard touchdown toss by Bulldog quarterback Jeff Mroz to junior wideout Rob Benigno. Sophomore John Troost kicked the point-after, putting Yale within 7.

Harvard was unable to counter on its next few drives, but it did shave a considerable amount of time off the clock to further frustrate the sputtering Eli offense.

With 42 seconds left in regulation, Yale had one final chance, starting on the Harvard 20-yard line. The Bulldogs advanced to their own 35 after a pass interference call on sophomore linebacker Brian Niemczak. Yale’s hope for victory glimmered just 65 yards away.

On the next play, however, Harvard junior cornerback Benny Butler drove the final nail into the Elis’ coffin, intercepting a Mroz pass and dashing any hopes of a Yale comeback.

“I thought our defense did a tremendous job,” Murphy said. “Our defense made them do what they weren’t as happy doing, which was throwing the football.”

In a bow to his fifth-year senior, Murphy sent Rose back out onto the field to take two final kneel-downs.

With that, The 119th Game was over: Harvard 20, Yale 13.