NOTEBOOK: Class of 2008 Wins 2nd Ivy Title

NEW HAVEN—For seniors with Ivy League titles as bookends to their collegiate careers, everything has come full circle.

Entering as freshmen into a dominant system, the Class of 2008 was a part of a perfect 10-0 championship campaign—more often than not, following it from the sidelines—and a 35-3 season-ending clobbering of Yale. Three years later, perfection returns, with the ’08ers leading the charge: a 7-0 mark in the Ivies capped by a 31-point drubbing of the undefeated Bulldogs.

“This is the ultimate perfect storybook ending,” said captain and defensive end Brad Bagdis. “I’ll have a smile on my face for probably four weeks.”

DEFENSE WINS...

Senior leadership started on the defensive side of the ball.

Although the Crimson registered just two official sacks, the Yale offensive line that had given up just eight all season watched senior quarterback Matt Polhemus get hit time after time.

In arguably his best performance of the season, in his final game, Bagdis registered six tackles, including two and a half for a loss, one of which was a sack. Junior linebacker Eric Schultz contributed five tackles, one and a half for a loss, and the other sack. Polhemus ended the day with two completions and as many interceptions.

But it was not the pass rush that started the shellacking. Facing Yale junior tailback Mike McLeod, who was averaging nearly 175 yards on the ground and more than two touchdowns per game coming in, the Crimson defense had to stop the run before Polhemus was forced to the air. And it did just that—before being taken out in the fourth quarter, McLeod managed just 50 yards on 20 carries.

“Our number one goal is to stop [McLeod] and make them do things they don’t want to do,” Bagdis said. “These guys in the middle, they were in the backfield all day long.”

Against the number one scoring offense in the league the ‘D’ allowed just 109 yards of total offense—66 rushing, 43 passing—and zero offensive scores. Harvard’s two-plus-year streak of holding individual rushers under the century mark remains intact.

“We really just had no answers offensively,” said Bulldogs head coach Jack Siedlecki. “They seemed to be in our backfield every play, whether we were running or throwing. Obviously it got us completely out of our style of play.”

SWEET CAR-O-LINE

After a poor performance off the bench in last year’s Game, senior quarterback Chris Pizzotti directed the offense on Saturday with poise, picking apart the Yale defense one play at a time. Pizzotti was 27-of-41 for 316 yards and a career-best four touchdowns.

But Pizzotti’s standout day was facilitated by an exceptional showing by the offensive line. Led by a pair of seniors, center David Paine and right tackle Andrew Brecher, the line gave Pizzotti great protection in the pocket. The unit surrendered just two sacks and consistently created holes big enough for the tailbacks to move the chains. Sophomore Cheng Ho, freshman Gino Gordon, and senior Charles Baakel teamed up for 118 rushing yards.

“We put a lot of pressure on those guys,” said Crimson head coach Tim Murphy. “We said right to them, ‘Last year, we got it handed to us up front, and we challenge you guys to go out and play the way we think you can play.’ And they controlled the line of scrimmage all day and that was the entire difference.”

Harvard racked up 434 yards of total offense and five touchdowns—the Bulldogs had surrendered 12 scores through nine contests coming into The Game.

EXTRA! EXTRA!

With a pick in the third quarter, senior cornerback Steven Williams tied the Harvard single-season interceptions record with eight, while moving into sole possession of the career mark with 16...Without a TD reception on the day, senior Corey Mazza ends his stint in crimson tied with Carl Morris ’03 for the most touchdown receptions in school history...Sophomore punter Thomas Hull posted a monster day, pinning half of his boots inside the 20...Classmate Matt Luft notched his biggest performance of the season with eight catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns...The win is the Crimson’s sixth in the last seven playings of The Game...31 points was Harvard’s biggest margin of victory in New Haven since 1914.

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