Harvard pushed to its limits, football lasts until overtime

Five years of frustration could have come to an end, but on a play that lasted only four seconds, Harvard's Garrett Schires hit Rodney Byrnes in the back of the endzone and propelled the Crimson (6-1 overall, 3-1 Ivy League) to a 43-40 overtime victory over Princeton at Harvard Stadium on Oct. 25.

Princeton and Harvard battled in what some were calling the best Ivy League game ever, and over the course of four hours the two teams combined for 1081 yards of total offense.

For the second straight time, Princeton had a chance to knock off the Crimson on the road with a last-second field goal in regulation — both times they missed. In 2001 it was Taylor Northrop '02 who missed from 48 yards, and this year sophomore Derek Javarone missed from 43 yards out. The kick came out low and was well short to the left.

The kicking was atrocious by both teams as the Crimson went one for two on extra points and the Tigers missed one as well. Harvard coach Tim Murphy became so frustrated that he attempted four two-point conversions, failing each time.

When asked how hard this loss was to swallow, head coach Roger Hughes said, "I can't think of any taste worst than this."

He later amended that after finding out officials failed to call Harvard for only having six men on the line scrimmage on the second-to-last play of the game.

"The taste in my mouth just got a lot worse," Hughes added.

The game went back and forth for the entire 60 minutes and the overtime session. The largest lead by either team was only eight points, when Princeton took a 14-6 lead early in the second quarter on a pass from junior quarterback Matt Verbit to junior running back Jon Veach.

Harvard won the game because they took advantage of more opportunities. Harvard scored touchdowns on all six of their red zone opportunities while the Tigers were only able to score touchdowns on two of their three chances inside the 20-yard line.

Veach opened the scoring with a 49-yard touchdown run in the first when he took advantage of a huge hole in the right side of Harvard's defense. The Tiger's inexperienced offensive line was able to abuse the right side of Harvard's defensive line, and Veach ran mostly in that area to the tune of 205 yards on 34 carries.

Harvard pulled to within 7-6 on Byrnes' first touchdown catch of the game. After Veach put Princeton up eight, Harvard's outstanding freshman tailback Clifton Dawson took over. After rushing for over 200 yards the week before, Dawson followed with an encore performance that ended with 183 yards and three touchdowns.

Dawson and the Crimson never slowed down in a game that lived up to its billing. The teams would trade scores throughout the rest of the game.