Josue Ortiz, football defensive tackle, dominates as Harvard clinches Ivy title

Defensive tackle Josue Ortiz came up big in the Penn game, where Harvard clinched the Ivy League title.

Josue Ortiz

Standout defensive tackle Josue Ortiz, a first-team all-Ivy player last year who was profiled this fall in Harvard Magazine, had  a huge game against the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday, November 12, as Harvard vanquished Penn, 37-20. The Crimson clinched this year's Ivy League championship outright when Dartmouth took down the only remaining rival, Brown, 21-16, the same afternoon.

The Harvard Crimson's feature on Ortiz, who has also drawn attention from the Boston Globe, narrrates his outsize performance in the Penn game, which included two sacks in the first quarter (he leads the Ivy League with nine sacks on the season), a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery to go with 10 tackles—despite Penn's double-teaming attempts to contain him. He was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week for his outstanding effort, and will bring that mantle with him into The Game at the Yale Bowl on November 19.

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