Four Veteran Defensive Backs Make Secondary a Standout Unit

Throughout Harvard’s rollercoaster season, including Saturday’s 27-17 win over Lafayette, a single unit has remained the constant: the secondary.

After the Crimson tied the game up at 17 at the end of the second quarter, the defensive backs really went to work on the Leopards wideouts. Lafayette marched down the field in the two-minute drill only to have senior safety John Hopkins—the reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week—pick off Mike DiPaolo’s pass at Harvard’s three-yard line.

Hopkins was all over the field: The senior finished second on the team with seven and a half tackles—including one for a loss—and a pass breakup. He added a second interception on the Leopards’ last-ditch fourth-quarter drive.

Only a fellow member of the secondary posted more. Senior safety Doug Hewlett led the defense with eight tackles.

“We’ve got such a great cycle right now, three terrific seniors and a junior who is as good as those guys,” head coach Tim Murphy said. “You very rarely have that accumulation of talent, experience, and playmakers. It’s just very tough on people. We can play zone, we can play man. It’s tough to find a guy you can pick on.”

Senior cornerback Steven Williams rounded out the top three in tackles, posting four, including one and a half for a loss. But it was not his tackling abilities that got Williams recognized on Saturday afternoon.

Harvard took a 20-17 lead in the fourth, but the Leopards were threatening on a third-and-one from the Crimson 10 when Williams teamed up with junior linebacker Glenn Dorris to force the interception that will haunt DiPaolo over the course of the next week.

Dorris was not baited by Lafayette’s play action and stuck to the senior quarterback, nearly taking him down for a 10-yard loss. DiPaolo managed to get the ball off, but the receiver was wearing crimson, not white.

Williams jumped on the short throw, and not only did he make the catch, quelling the threat, but he was off to the races. Williams ran it back 91 yards for the score that allowed the Harvard fans to breathe a sigh of relief.

“That play is the epitome of what we work on as a defense and that is everybody following the ball,” Williams said. “Glenn Dorris had the pressure, which unfortunately turned out wasn’t a sack for him. It just worked out well for me...that was his interception. I got to be the beneficiary of, the spotlight of, his hard work.”

DiPaolo’s second pick out of four was nabbed by junior cornerback Andrew Berry. Berry saw more balls thrown his way than in any other game this season. Being named a preseason All-American has meant teams shy away, throwing at Williams or inexperienced sophomore Derrick Barker.

Early in the game, Berry got beat a couple of times, but in the fourth, he showed the Leopards why he earned that early distinction. The corner went one-on-one against Lafayette senior Duaneo Dorsey and covered him perfectly, making it possible to come up with a one-handed—a left-handed—interception. The catch set up the 40-yard field goal that put Harvard up for good.

“Well, I’m actually left-handed,” Berry joked. “[Interceptions are] something that I spend a lot of time working on.”

The Crimson did, however, face a weakened Leopards receiving corps. Standout senior Shaun Adair came into the game leading the team with 23 catches for 301 yards on the season, but struggled to overcome an injury and was forced to take the second half off for precautionary reasons. Lafayette wanted to be sure to have its surest set of hands on the field for its Patriot League stretch run.

But Adair or no Adair, the secondary is making the statement that the air is not a safe place for the ball to be.

—Staff writer Madeleine I. Shapiro can be reached at mshapiro@fas.harvard.edu.