Gordon Steps Up in Grand Fashion

After its disappointing loss at Brown the week before, the Harvard football team’s offense was salivating at the chance for redemption on Saturday afternoon at Lafayette. With the untested arm of sophomore Colton Chapple on the field in place of injured senior starting quarterback Andrew Hatch, the spark for the Crimson would have to be found in the hands, and legs, of its running game. Senior running back Gino Gordon took the opportunity—and the ball—into his own hands and ran with it, leading Harvard to a 35-10 victory.

“Gino’s always been elite on this team,” said sophomore and fellow running back Treavor Scales. “He always plays his game and gives it his all every time he steps on that field.”

A first-team All-Ivy selection a year ago, Gordon spearheaded a dominant Crimson running attack that trampled over the Leopard defense for the entire game. The Ivy League’s most prolific rushing offense from a year ago has slowed down a bit this season with the successful addition of Hatch at quarterback.

But on Saturday, the offensive unit came to do work, gaining 311 yards on the ground and more than doubling the team’s total rushing yardage on the season. This was also Harvard’s highest rushing total in a game since the 2008 season.

Gordon himself rushed for 170 yards on 12 attempts for an impressive average of 14.2 yards per carry and tallied two touchdowns in the victory, giving him a total of 231 yards on 28 carries on the season with three touchdowns. He also did not have a single turnover.

After a great return on the opening kickoff, the offense marched down the field in just under four minutes. The opening drive was then capped off by Gordon’s two-yard option run into the end zone, putting the first points on the scoreboard.

Gordon’s second rushing touchdown was one to remember, especially for the senior himself. On Harvard’s first possession after halftime, the offensive unit found itself backed into a tight spot: on the 26-yard line on its side of the field in a third-and-long situation. With 15 yards to go for the first down, an inexperienced quarterback at the reins, and a comfortable lead, Harvard coach Tim Murphy decided to go for the smart, safe play.

The plan was to give Gordon the ball to tack on a couple more yards before punting on fourth down or possibly even get a first down to just keep the drive alive if they were lucky. Instead, Murphy got a 74-yard run from his senior tailback and another touchdown to boot.

“Our offensive line does a great job, you know, making holes,” Gordon said. “Our wide receivers also do a great job staying on their blocks...That’s why I was able to make those cuts, you know, to cut all the way back [across the field]. The back side wide receiver was able to make sure that corner didn’t get me.”

His 74-yard run was the longest of his collegiate career, and it was also the longest run for the Crimson in four years since Clifton Dawson ’07 had a 74-yard touchdown run of his own against Dartmouth in 2006.

Gordon has been a standout his entire career at Harvard, and the Crimson running back has compiled a hefty resume of accomplishments over his four years in Cambridge. His leadership, experience, and success have garnered respect for him from all of his teammates, especially his fellow running backs Scales and sophomore Rich Zajeski.

“[He] is a great guy, a constant mentor to the running back corps,” Scales said. “He gets on guys’ cases if he thinks they’re slacking. He is one of the driving forces for this team. He’s always pushing everyone to reach their fullest potential, to be as good as they can possibly be.”

There is healthy competition growing amongst the three tailbacks and, unsurprisingly, that has pushed Gordon to strive to improve his game even more.

“He has a drive like no other and such a high energy level,” Scales said. “He is always flying across the field no matter what we’re doing, anything from footwork drills to first-team offense-defense scrimmages to the games themselves. But he still maintains such a humble, grounded air about him. He is who I strive to emulate, the type of player and type of person that I want to grow into.”