Football Capitalizes On Huskies' Miscues

Last year a fumble in the final seconds of the game cost Harvard a chance to beat Northeastern. The Crimson made it perfectly clear who was in control this time around, forcing a fumble on the Huskies’ opening kickoff and quickly grabbing the lead a scant two minutes into play.

The turnover was the first of three on the afternoon for Northeastern. Two of those times Harvard was able to punish the Huskies for those mistakes, scoring touchdowns on both the opening fumble and on an interception by junior defensive back Gary Sonkur in the second quarter. The Crimson’s ability to take advantage of Northeastern miscues from the get-go proved to be the foundation of its eventual 28-20 victory.

“It was great to get the ball back on the opening kickoff,” said junior quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. “[The defense] set the tone all day, and we were able to follow their lead.”

The Huskies were not ineffectual at converting on turnovers, turning Fitzpatrick’s third interception in as many games this season into a touchdown-scoring drive early in the fourth quarter. Fitzpatrick also coughed up only the second lost fumble of his career in the third quarter, leading to a Northeastern field goal.

But the Huskies were clearly frustrated by Harvard’s early success with turnover conversion, and were never really able to recover from the first gut-wrenching lost fumble.

“There were three or four situations in that second half where hey, we make a big stop, or the ball’s fumbled, or we make a pick, and we need to respond,” said Northeastern coach Don Brown. “We didn’t respond enough.”

Weak Ankles

With junior wide receiver Rodney Byrnes still recovering from an ankle injury sustained while returning a kickoff against Brown last week, Harvard relied heavily on junior wide receiver Brian Edwards to contribute. Edwards did not disappoint, amassing a career-high 180 yards on seven receptions, including two touchdowns.

“I think it’s really critical that Brian played well today, because we don’t have Rodney Byrnes,” said Harvard coach Tim Murphy. “All of a sudden we’re very thin in the receiving core. We went from being in great shape about a month ago to losing [senior wide receiver] Kyle Cremarosa and then Rodney this week.”

Harvard also lost junior offensive tackle Mike Frey to a broken right tibia in the third quarter. During a Fitzpatrick carry, Husky defensive end James Abosi fell on Frey’s ankle, and Frey stayed down on the field for about 10 minutes until he was taken off on a stretcher.

He is expected to have surgery this weekend.

Lineback-to-back

Saturday’s game featured two of the top linebackers in Division I-AA football in Harvard captain Dante Balestracci and Northeastern’s Liam Ezekiel. Both defensive standouts have been named to the Buchanan Award watch list this season. Balestracci has 22 tackles and four and a half sacks through three games, while Ezekiel has 56 tackles and four and a half sacks through six games. Ezekiel also grabbed an interception off Fitzpatrick Saturday.

“I think [Balestracci] provides them with good leadership and he’s a very solid football player, no doubt about it,” Brown said. “But I like my guy better.”

—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.