Football: Harvard 40, Cornell 3

A semblance of a competitive game becomes a rout.

Ben Braunecker got the Crimson on the scoreboard in the first quarter with a 47-yard catch-and-run.
Ben Braunecker got the Crimson on the scoreboard in the first quarter with a 47-yard catch-and-run.
Photograph by Patrick Shanahan
Picking his hole between the blocks of Cole Toner (78) and Larry Allen Jr. (73), Paul Stanton Jr. glided for a batch of his game-high 101 yards.
Picking his hole between the blocks of Cole Toner (78) and Larry Allen Jr. (73), Paul Stanton Jr. glided for a batch of his game-high 101 yards.
Photograph by Patrick Shanahan
Jake Lindsey wrapped up Cornell receiver Ben Rogers after a nine-yard gain. The Crimson limited the Big Red to 112 yards through the air.
Jake Lindsey wrapped up Cornell receiver Ben Rogers after a nine-yard gain. The Crimson limited the Big Red to 112 yards through the air.
Photograph by Patrick Shanahan
Justice Shelton-Mosley provided a spark for Harvard with two superb kickoff returns, an 18-yard punt return and a 46-yard touchdown reception.
Justice Shelton-Mosley provided a spark for Harvard with two superb kickoff returns, an 18-yard punt return, and a 46-yard touchdown reception.
Photograph by Patrick Shanahan

With four minutes and 54 seconds remaining in the first quarter this past Saturday at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York, Cornell’s Joe Pierik booted a 33-yard field goal. By jumping ahead 3-0, the Big Red had accomplished what no other opponent had managed to do in the 2015 football season: take a lead over Harvard.

As if the gods had been angered, that superiority lasted 17 seconds. On the ensuing kickoff, the Crimson’s Justice Shelton-Mosley ’19 caught the ball at his five-yard line, cut toward the right side and took it all the way to the Cornell 47. On the next play quarterback Scott Hosch ’16 caught the Big Red in a safety blitz and found tight end Ben Braunecker ’16 behind the defense. (“To try to stop the run, they had to go to man-to-man coverage on the receivers,” Braunecker said later. “The safety ran with [fellow tight end, junior Anthony] Firkser, and that left me wide open.”) Hosch threw; Braunecker caught and ran over the goal line. Kenny Smart ’18 added the extra point. Harvard would go on to score 33 more unanswered points and sail to a 40-3 win. The Crimson now stands at 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Ivy League. Cornell (which will win some games the rest of the way) dropped to 0-4, 0-2. The victory was the Crimson’s eighteenth straight, a streak second in NCAA Division I only to Ohio State’s 19.

“For the third straight game, we haven’t had a turnover,” said Harvard coach Tim Murphy, for whom the win on a brilliant autumn day was a belated birthday gift. (He turned 59 the day before.) Harvard’s offense was the definition of balance: 250 net yards passing, 249 rushing. “Defensively, we continue to play great football,” Murphy added. The Crimson held the Big Red to a measly eight first downs (Harvard had 24) and 192 yards of total offense while yanking down three interceptions and recovering a fumble. Coupled with the previous week’s shutout of Georgetown, this was the first time since 1973 (when the Crimson shut out Boston University and Columbia) that Harvard had surrendered three points or fewer in back-to-back games. Defensive tackle Dan Moody ’16, who had a game-high two quarterback sacks, symbolizes the line in the absence of now-graduated pass rusher par excellence Zack Hodges ’15: no overwhelming stars but a collection of highly skilled workmen whose toughest tasks might come during the week against their own All-Ivy blockers. “Going against our offensive line in practice makes it easier on Saturday,” claims Moody.

In the second quarter, the defense created the short field that led to the second score. On a first-and-25 from the Cornell 15, linebacker Eric Ryan ’17 read Cornell quarterback Robert Somborn’s intentions perfectly. He intercepted Somborn’s pass at the Cornell 28 and ran it back to the 20. Three plays later Hosch (sporting a new full beard, in the manner of his predecessor Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05, now of the New York Jets) fired to Firkser, who made a nifty catch past the end-zone pylon. Smart kicked the point. Harvard 14, Cornell 3.

Late in the period the Crimson went 46 yards in 10 plays behind the running of Paul Stanton Jr. ’16 (a routine game-high 101 yards on 17 carries) and a pass from Hosch to David Trompke ’16, one of a corps of wide receivers employed in the absence of the ailing Andrew Fischer ’16 (upper-body injury). When the drive bogged down, Smart, who had missed an earlier field-goal try, nailed one from 28. At the half, it was Harvard 17, Cornell 3.

To this point we had the semblance of a competitive game, partly thanks to the exceptional punting of the Big Red’s Chris Fraser, who would average a mighty 52.4 yards for the game. This was the second straight season that Fraser, one of the best Ivy punters of recent vintage, was outstanding against the Crimson. But on the first drive of the second half Harvard, plowing behind its mighty offensive line, put the hammer down. Shelton-Mosley made another excellent kick return, then Hosch took the Crimson 68 yards in 10 plays, once even hoofing it himself for 13 yards. (For the afternoon, a nimble Hosch ran, opportunistically, for 78 yards on seven carries.) Stanton and Noah Reimers ’19 did the heavy work. On fourth-and-four from the Cornell 32, Murphy went for it—and got a first down when Braunecker was held by Big Red defender Rush Imhotep. (The call was a bit of karma for a couple of previous non-calls on which Braunecker had been mugged.) Stanton went the final two yards for the 34th touchdown (and 32nd rushing) of his Harvard career. Smart’s kick was good. Harvard 24, Cornell 3.

As often happens when teams get behind, Cornell began to force things. Somborn threw a pass that never should have been thrown, and Crimson linebacker Luke Hutton ’18 picked it off and returned it 29 yards to the Cornell 10. The Big Red held at the 3, whereupon Harvard lined up to kick a field goal. Then came a Murphy trademark—a fake. The holder, backup quarterback Jimmy Meyer ’16, took the snap and tried to run with it. Cornell was ready and stopped him, taking the ball over on downs. It was a very reasonable gamble, though, given that the worst that would transpire was that the Big Red would have to go 98 yards for a touchdown.

Instead, three downs later Fraser was forced to punt from the back of his end zone. He unleashed a boomer—64 yards—but perhaps outkicked his coverage, allowing Shelton-Mosley to make a return of 18. Two plays later the quicksilver freshman from Sacramento got past the defense and took a pass from Hosch into the end zone. Smart converted. Harvard 31, Cornell 3.

Later in the period Hosch led another scoring drive: seven plays and 56 yards that culminated in a 28-yard Smart field goal that made it 34-3. Two plays into the next series, Harvard defensive lineman James Duberg ’16 forced Cornell’s James Hubbard to cough the ball up at the Cornell 41. Eight plays later, following passes to Tanner Wrisley ’16 and Ryan Halvorson ’17, Hosch took it in himself from the three. Smart shanked the extra point. Harvard 40, Cornell 3.

Quibbles? Hosch (now 10-0 as a starter) perhaps was not as sharp passing (14 for 30) as previously. Maybe the placekicking. Concerns? Princeton and Dartmouth, the Crimson’s next two Ivy opponents, are putting up points in bunches. Their visits to the Stadium, in two and three weeks, respectively, loom as grand theater.

 

Weekend Roundup

Princeton 44, Colgate 20
Fordham 48, Penn 45
Brown 25, Holy Cross 24
Dartmouth 35, Yale 3
Columbia 26, Wagner 3 (finis to the Lions’ 24-game losing streak!)

 

Coming up: Next Saturday, Harvard travels to Fisher Stadium in Easton, Pennsylvania, to play Lafayette. Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. The game can be heard on WXKS 1200 AM and WHRB 95.3 FM. The Leopards, a member of the Patriot League, are 1-5 overall and 0-3 at home. On Saturday, they lost to Georgetown 38-7; on October 2 the Crimson defeated the Hoyas 45-0. Harvard leads the series 15-3, having beaten the Leopards 24-14 last year in Cambridge.

 

The Score By Quarters 

Harvard710176  40
Cornell3000    3

Attendance: 7,092

Read more articles by: Dick Friedman

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