No. 9 Harvard Football Crushes Columbia 31-14 in Manhattan to Move to 8-0

NEW YORK, NY — In the concrete jungle where dreams are made, the No. 9 Harvard football team proved that there’s nothing it couldn’t do, crowning itself as the king of New York as it crushed the Columbia Lions 31-14 on Friday night.

“This week was a challenging week, short week. A lot of people telling us how great we are in the media and to get the win and get out of here and play how we did in the first half, I'm just relieved and excited to get to the next one,” Head Coach Andrew Aurich said.

Star quarterback Jaden Craig passed for two scores, junior tight end Seamus Gilmartin had his second straight multi-score game, and junior running back Xaviah Bascon rushed for two scores of his own as the Crimson (8-0, 5-0 Ivy) maintained its spot atop the Ivy League and opened the season with eight straight victories for the first time since 2015.

“It’s an awesome feeling. I want to do everything I can for my brothers, put my body on the line at all times, and when I can succeed and come out there and make a difference for the team, it's a great feeling,” Gilmartin said.

After being seeded ninth in the final FCS Playoff Committee bracket preview on Wednesday, Harvard needed to come out of the matchup with a strong performance to boost its resumé and push for a coveted first-round playoff bye. Now, with two upcoming matchups against strong Ivy League teams in Penn and Yale, the Crimson is in position to run the table and burst into the top eight in its first year competing for postseason considerations.

On the other side, the Lions (1-7, 0-5) suffered their sixth straight loss as their offense couldn’t get anything going against the Harvard defense. With interceptions by junior linebacker Sean Line and junior defensive back Jack Donahoe, the Crimson defense locked down Columbia in another stellar team performance.

The Lions started the action with a 19-play drive that ate up nearly eight minutes of clock, but on the 28-yard field goal attempt, Hugo Merry missed the kick to give the Crimson offense the ball on their own 20-yd line.

Harvard completed three straight passes to start its first drive, and after a few short rushes to bring the ball into Columbia territory, Bascon found a hole in the defense and ran the ball 29 yards to the 5-yd line. After a short pass to bring the ball inside the 1-yd line, Bascon found the end zone, giving the Crimson an early 7-0 lead.

On the Lions’ next drive, they quickly faced a fourth down in their own territory, but after an odd bounce on the punt was muffed by freshman defensive back Akeil Lomotey, Columbia quickly regained possession in Harvard territory with newfound momentum.

The Lions kept driving, and after converting a fourth down to push the ball into the red zone for the second straight drive, it looked grim for the Crimson. Never dismayed, however, the defense quickly rebounded, as Line picked off Chase Goodwin on the next play to compensate for the muffed punt.

Senior quarterback Jaden Craig drops back during Harvard's decisive victory over Columbia. By Nicholas T. Jacobsson

After Harvard was stopped near midfield and forced to punt, Columbia had the ball at their own 12-yard line with hopes of evening the score. On their first play of the drive, however, the Crimson defense had different plans, and Donahoe picked off Goodwin to set up his team at the Lions’ 2-yard line.

On the very next play, Gilmartin caught an easy touchdown pass from Craig to extend the Harvard lead to 14-0 with nine minutes left in the half.

With the defense forcing a quick three and out, the Crimson was set back up at its own 32-yd line with a comfortable lead it wished to extend.

On the second play of the drive, Craig looked deep down the middle to senior wide receiver Caydon Coffman, who extended himself for a 58-yd reception that brought the ball in the red zone. Three plays later, Harvard faced a 4th-and-three, but rather than sending out sophomore kicker Kieran Corr for a field goal attempt, Aurich decided to trust his offense and go for it.

Getting the snap in the shotgun, Craig was quickly forced out of the pocket to his right, and he soon passed to the side of the endzone, hoping the six-foot-five freshman Ryan Tattersall could use his length to pull in the ball. Instead, the ball was tipped to the back corner of the endzone, right into the hands of Gilmartin, who kept his toes in bounds for his second touchdown of the game.

After Corr made his third extra point, the Crimson suddenly saw themselves holding a 21-0 lead with four minutes left in the first half.

Forcing yet another three-and-out, the Harvard offense had the ball with less than three minutes in the second quarter for one last drive in the half. Utilizing their multifaceted offense, Craig and his unit drove the ball downfield in a 12-play, 64-yard drive that culminated in Bascon’s second touchdown rush of the game. With the score and subsequent kick, the Crimson entered their locker room with a 28-0 halftime lead.

Harvard maintained its lead throughout the third quarter thanks to strong defensive play and a 22-yard field goal from Corr, holding a 31-0 lead as they entered the final frame.

In garbage time, the Lions managed to find the paydirt on a 15 yard strike from Goodwin for their first score of the game, cutting the Crimson lead to 31-6 after failing the two-point conversion attempt with thirteen minutes to play.

With under two minutes remaining, Goodwin found Evans yet again in the right end zone corner to pad onto Columbia’s garbage time scoring, narrowing the Lions’ deficit to 31-14 after a successful two-point conversion.

Looking forward for the Crimson, it will face Penn in its final regular season home game in what will look to be a crucial Ivy League matchup.

“I saw them as one of the biggest challenges in this league this year,” Aurich said. “Even though they got picked further down the list.”

“I'm glad our guys get a day to rest up, and then we're going to attack this thing.”

– Staff writer Connor Castañeda can be reached at connor.castaneda@thecrimson.com.

– Staff writer Praveen Kumar can be reached at praveen.kumar@thecrimson.com.