NOTEBOOK: Turnovers Key in Close Victory

A contest as close as Saturday’s matchup between Harvard and non-conference opponent Lehigh was, as expected, reflected in the statistics. The Mountain Hawks racked up 393 yards on 74 plays, while the Crimson managed 368 on 75 plays. Despite being slightly outgained, Harvard came away with the 27-24 victory.

The difference maker? Turnovers.

Each quarterback threw an interception, but the difference lay in the fumbles—Lehigh lost two of its three fumbles, while the Crimson recovered both of its. In addition, one of Harvard’s defensive fumble recoveries as well as its interception resulted in instant scores, and the second fumble recovery ended a Mountain Hawk red zone threat in the waning minutes of the game, preserving the win.

“I was rushing off the edge there, and a back came to block,” senior defensive end Peter Ajayi said of his forced fumble at the end of the game. “I just kind of disengaged and jumped at [Lehigh quarterback J.B. Clark]. I hit his arm a little bit and the ball popped out.”

“All the credit’s got to go to Peter on that one,” senior linebacker Glenn Dorris added about recovering the fumble. “I was chasing down the play...and all of a sudden there was the ball right there. It wasn’t that hard of a play for me.”

The first fumble came after Harvard was unable to convert on a third-and-11 play from the Mountain Hawk 20-yard line and junior kicker Patrick Long missed a field goal from 33 yards out. On its first play of the ensuing drive, Lehigh fumbled the ball, and rookie corner Matt Hanson scooped it up at the Mountain Hawks 26.

Wasting no time, the Crimson’s senior quarterback Chris Pizzotti went straight for the end zone, dropping the 26-yard pass over two defenders into the waiting arms of junior Matt Luft, putting Harvard up 7-0.

The Crimson benefited from a defensive touchdown midway through the second quarter, when senior Eric Schultz tipped a pass from Clark to Dorris, who had a wide-open lane for the 21-yard touchdown.

“They were both Christmas gifts,” Dorris said of the turnovers.

HITS KEEP COMING

Harvard also suffered from a lack of diversity in its running game that it had enjoyed all season long. Usually splitting runs between three running backs—juniors Cheng Ho and Ben Jenkins and sophomore Gino Gordon—the Crimson went to just Jenkins.

Ho was on the sidelines not dressed for action and Gordon made only a brief appearance with no carries.

“Both those guys [Ho and Gordon] are injured, we had to go to No. 3,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “You’re playing your third tier running back, fifth, sixth, and seventh wide receivers. We feel blessed that those kids keep rising to the occasion.”

Fortunately for the Crimson offense, the top two running backs aren’t out with season ending injuries like the three wide receivers—junior Mike Cook, and sophomores Chris Lorditch and Marco Iannuzzi.

“Both guys should be ready to go against Princeton [next week],” Murphy said. “Both guys should be in good shape.”

But with just one primary running back, Harvard’s generally solid running game—which averages 121.6 rushing yards per game—was held to only 78 net rushing yards, 68 of which were supplied by Jenkins.

BITS AND PIECES

Lehigh’s co-captain Matt McGowan rushed for 105 yards, the first time Harvard’s defense has allowed an individual opponent to rush for over 100 yards since Nick Hartigan of Brown 33 games ago...Pizzotti was sacked three times for the second straight week—prior to this two-game stretch, he had only been sacked twice on the season.

—Staff writer Dixon McPhillips can be reached at fmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.