Crimson Treks to Lafayette

A lot has happened in 12 years.

What hasn’t happened for the Lafayette football team, however, is beating the Harvard Crimson on the gridiron since its 17-7 victory in 1996. Tomorrow, head coach Frank Tavani will lead his squad against the visiting Crimson (1-1, 0-1 Ivy League), hoping to come out on top for the first time in his nine-year tenure. Not surprisingly, the Leopards enter this game with a chip on their shoulder.

‘’Any time you’ve been defeated by an opponent seven straight times, you start to get a little bitter,’’ Tavani said.

Lafayette (3-0, 1-0 Patriot League), coming off of a 7-4 season and picked to finish fourth in the preseason, finds itself at the very top of the Patriot League standings, undefeated and looking to win its fourth conference title in five years.

While its 24-17 victory over winless Penn last week may not have been indicative of its typical display of offensive running firepower, Lafayette nonetheless enters Saturday’s game with a threatening offense that includes seven returning starters from the 2007 season. Senior stud tailback Maurice White has already accumulated an astonishing 402 total yards, averaging 131.7 yards a game and 6.0 yards a carry. If that isn’t impressive enough, the Leopards are stacked at the running back position. All-league fullback Joe Russo and junior backup Tyrell Coon are more than capable of filling in for White. Handing the ball off will be junior quarterback Rob Curley, who won the starting position halfway through the 2007 season. So far, he has done an adequate job, passing for a modest 450 yards and four touchdowns.

Crimson inside linebacker Eric Schultz, defensive end Peter Ajayi and the rest of the defensive front seven must stop Curley, White, and Co. and force turnovers—seemingly the only weakness in Lafayette’s rushing attack. Already, Lafayette has fumbled the ball nine times and lost five of them.

“Protecting the football is always a big issue,” Tavani said. “We make no excuses; you can’t afford to turn the ball over maybe more than once against a good football team like Harvard.”

Likewise, Harvard must also protect the football and avoid sloppy play in order to win. Last week in its defeat to Brown, the Crimson erred in the form of three costly fumbles, a missed extra point, and seven penalties. As a result, Coach Tim Murphy harped on protecting the football all week.

“We’re at the bottom of the league in turnover ratio, and it’s a very unfamiliar place,” Murphy said.

Not all went wrong, however, as senior quarterback Chris Pizzotti continued to pick apart the defense, completing 25 of 35 passes for 320 yards and two touchdowns. On the receiving end of most of those passes was electrifying junior wide receiver Matt Luft. Luft had a spectacular game, catching 10 passes for a total of 148 yards. When asked about how to limit Pizzotti’s and Luft’s production, Tavani joked that he hopes the two “become seriously ill or [do] not get off the bus.”

“You don’t shut down players like [Pizzotti and Luft],” Tavani said. “They’re going to make plays, and you simply contain them the best you can.”

While the Pizzotti-Luft tandem will continue to flourish, other receivers must step up now that sophomore Marco Ianuzzi is done for the year with a fractured collarbone. According to Murphy, Harvard must rely on receivers sophomore Levi Richards, freshman Adam Chrissis, and junior Mike Clarke to give Pizzotti more options.

The Crimson must also establish a credible running game against a stout Leopard defense in order to free up the pass. So far this season, running backs sophomore Gino Gordon, and juniors Ben Jenkins and Cheng Ho have accumulated an average of only 106 total rushing yards per game. Expect more from Ho this weekend, who has played well in practice all week.

“Cheng’s really competed well in practice and hopefully he can take it up the next notch and get some more carries this week and I think that could occur,” Murphy said.

While most nonconference games serve as tune-ups for conference play, Harvard will indeed have its hands full playing a confident Lafayette team. The Crimson can’t afford to look past Lafayette and ahead into the Ivy race.

“All you can focus on is the next day and the next game, because for us to even remotely think about whoever the hell we’re playing after Lafayette, that isn’t going to help us,” Murphy said. “We’ve just got to get better.”