Football: Harvard 28-New Hampshire 23

Harvard football fans might have been permitted a sinking feeling of déjà vu during the fourth quarter at the Stadium last Friday night. The opponent had just scored to cut the home team’s lead to 28-23 and now the Crimson offense was charged with running out the clock. The previous week, at Brown, Harvard could not close the deal and the Bears pulled out a miraculous 31-28 victory. So here we were against New Hampshire…same score, same task. Would there be another collapse?

Not this time. Aided by a favorable spot of the ball and a successful fourth-down gamble, Harvard chewed up the remaining 5:54, and when the final gun sounded the final score was Harvard 28–New Hampshire 23. The Crimson moved to 2-1 overall on the season (0-1 in Ivy play). The Wildcats dropped to 3-2 overall; they are 1-0 in Coastal Athletic Association competition.

This was a good win for Harvard, over a good team. New Hampshire came into the game No. 16 in the Football College Subdivision rankings. The Crimson showed grit in coming back twice from deficits. Moreover, the victory was a needed restorative after the demoralizing defeat at Brown. Finally, it was achieved with two of Harvard’s best players, running back and senior captain Shane McLaughlin and senior defensive back Gavin Shipman, sidelined by injury.

The win tickled Andy Aurich, the Stephenson Family head coach for Harvard football. “I’m really happy with the guys, to exorcise the demons from the previous week,” he said during the postgame media session. “We learned from the mistakes we made in the [Brown] game.” Lauding his team, he declared, “They’re a resilient group.” Aurich also gave a shout-out to the assemblage of nearly 9,000 on this cloudy, balmy evening. “The crowd was awesome,” he said. “The student section was awesome. We gotta have them showing up every game.”

Harvard’s triumph overshadowed a superlative performance, particularly in the first half, by New Hampshire quarterback Seth Morgan. Now playing for his third school—he previously chucked ’em at Virginia Military Institute and Shepherd University (W.Va.), a Division II institution—he finished with 34 completions in 47 attempts for 267 yards and two touchdowns.

Morgan began firing with aplomb right away and completed his first 17 pass attempts. On New Hampshire’s opening drive, which started at the Wildcats’ 18, he completed eight; on another attempt Harvard was flagged for pass interference. On the tenth play, from the Crimson 14, Morgan tossed to Caleb Burke for a touchdown. Nick Mazzie booted the extra point. New Hampshire 7, Harvard 0. (By the way: This was the first time the Wildcats scored a touchdown against the Crimson in the eight games of the series, the most recent previous game having been in 1939.)

After Harvard was forced to punt, Morgan picked up where he left off. This time he completed five in a row. Early in the second period the Harvard defense stiffened, so Mazzie was summoned to try a 52-yard field goal. It was up, up and…good! New Hampshire 10, Harvard 0. It was beginning to look like it would be a long night.

The ensuing Crimson series lasted only two plays but it produced seven points. Aurich inserted erstwhile starting quarterback and new running specialist senior Charles DePrima into the backfield to accompany junior quarterback Jaden Craig. On the first play Craig handed to DePrima, who gained a quick 10 yards on a sweep. That play seemed to give the Crimson a jolt. On the next play Craig took the snap, dropped back, eluded rushers with two fakes, and flung a pass far downfield. Senior wideout Scott Woods II grabbed it at the Wildcats’ 27, shucked a tackle, and sprinted into the end zone. Freshman Kieran Corr kicked the extra point. New Hampshire 10, Harvard 7.

Back came Morgan. He opened the next series by connecting with Burke on a 49-yard completion that brought the ball to the Crimson 26. On this play two Harvard defensive backs ran into each other, leaving Burke wide open. But again the Harvard defense stiffened. (Stop the presses—Morgan threw an incompletion!) Again Mazzie kicked a field goal, this time a 29-yarder. New Hampshire 13, Harvard 7.

On the Wildcats’ next series, coach Rick Santos called for a fake punt on fourth and seven. This bit of trickeration—a pass from punter Sean Lehane to Morgan—failed by a mere yard. But the Crimson took over with splendid field position at their own 46. Again the strike was swift and lethal. On first down Craig threw to his roommate, wideout Cooper Barkate, who had run a deep post to the left. Barkate snagged the ball at the New Hampshire nine and advanced to the three. Two plays later sophomore Xaviah Bascon scored on a one-yard leap. Corr kicked the point. Harvard 14, New Hampshire 13.

At the end of the half the Wildcats took advantage of some Crimson clock mismanagement to grab the lead. Taking over with 2:25 left, Craig threw three incompletions; thus very little time was bled off the clock. A 55-yard punt by senior Sebastien Tasko (marvelous all night) sent New Hampshire back to its six. But for Morgan, 1:57 was time aplenty. He engineered a 10-play drive that resulted in a 43-yard Mazzie field goal. New Hampshire 16, Harvard 14.

In the first half Morgan had been unhurried. In the second half, though, the Crimson brought the heat, especially with blitzes, often by defensive backs, that put pressure on the Wildcats’ passer. In turn, that pressure on Morgan aided the harried Harvard coverage men. Morgan, who had gone 26 for 29 passing in the first half, would be eight for 18 in the second.

The new tone was set immediately. On New Hampshire’s first play of the second half, Crimson senior defensive tackle Jacob Psyk forced a fumble on a screen pass that senior linebacker Eric Little Jr. recovered on the Wildcats’ 13. Three Harvard plays reached the four. It was fourth and one. Field goal? Not on your life. In what may become a trademark of the Aurich era, the Crimson chose to go for it. “I told [offensive coach [Mickey] Fein, ‘Every time, we’ll go for it,’” said Aurich after the game. “I’m in the business of trying to win the game. I’m not in the business of not losing the game.” DePrima was inserted at quarterback. He took the snap and pitched to Bascon—who was stuffed. New Hampshire ball.

But when after a Wildcats punt the Crimson got the ball back, it was at its own 45—good field position. Shortly thereafter, on fourth and two from the New Hampshire 37, Harvard again went for it, and made the first down comfortably when Craig flipped to junior tight end Riley Osborne for 14 yards. On the next play Craig, throwing across his body, connected with Barkate, who reached the two. From there, Bascon charged into the end zone. Corr’s point-after kick was not without excitement; it banged off the left upright, then dropped over the crossbar. Harvard 21, New Hampshire 16. So there had been method to Aurich’s fourth-down madness. “We didn’t score on the immediate drive [after the fumble recovery],” he said. “But what we got was a two-possession touchdown drive.”

As the third quarter ended and the fourth began, the Crimson offensive line began to impose its will on the Wildcat defenders. “We had a lot of guys who when they were tired, they were still able to execute,” praised Aurich, himself a former offensive lineman. Now Craig led them on a nine-play, 58-yard drive, with 35 of the yards coming from Bascon’s crashes up the middle. Ultimately, at the New Hampshire 16, DePrima was inserted a quarterback. He took the snap, rolled to his left, made a nifty cut upfield, and accelerated into the end zone. Really, once DePrima gets going, he is close to uncatchable. Corr added the extra point. Harvard 28, New Hampshire 16.

A nice cushion, right? Surely you jest—this is Harvard football! Morgan led the Wildcats on a methodical 14-play, 73-yard drive that concluded in a three-yard touchdown pass to Logan Tomlinson. Mazzie kicked the point. Harvard 28, New Hampshire 23.

So we were right back where we were at Brown. But this time, as Aurich said, the Crimson exorcised those demons, maintaining possession for the final 5:54. The first key play was a 15-yard run by senior back Malik Frederick. The second came on third-and-14: a 15-yard completion from Craig to sophomore tight end Seamus Gilmartin, after which a propitious spot of the ball and a lengthy officials’ review gave Harvard a first down. The third came on yet another fourth-and-one on which Bascon busted through the line and scampered 17 yards to the Wildcats’ 15, then decided to fall down rather than continue to the end zone. This enabled the Crimson to run out the clock. (Although another touchdown, the potential clincher, seemed a viable option.)

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In all, Bascon did his best to replace McLaughlin, gaining a game-high 66 yards on 16 carries. Woods was the leading Crimson receiver, with four grabs. Little was magnificent, making a game-high 11 tackles and that big fumble recovery. As mentioned, Tasko’s punting was superb: He averaged 43.6 yards on five kicks, with three placed inside the New Hampshire 20. Meanwhile, the Wildcats’ leading tackler, with nine, was graduate transfer defensive back Wande Owens. Sound familiar? Last year Owens was captain at…Yale.

Unlike his predecessor Tim Murphy, who had his team sing “Ten Thousand Men of Harvard” in the locker room after a victory, Aurich has his men out on the field serenading the Crimson faithful. Very inclusive!

TIDBITS: Harvard has now won eight consecutive games, and four straight, against non-Ivy foes….The Crimson also has won eight consecutive games following a loss, and has not dropped two straight since 2021….Harvard is 20-3 all-time in night games at the Stadium.

Weekly Roundup

Albany 31, Cornell 10

Bryant 42, Brown 35

Columbia 34, Princeton 17

Dartmouth 20, Penn 17

Yale 23, Central Connecticut 22

Coming up: The Crimson travels to Ithaca, N.Y., to take on Ivy rival Cornell. Kickoff: 6 P.M. ET. The game will be telecast on ESPN2 and broadcast on 92.9 FM WBOS, 1330 AM, 1450 AM. The Big Red, under new coach Dan Swanstrom, is 1-2 overall and 1-0 in the Ivy League, with the victory being an opening game 47-23 shellacking of defending co-champion Yale. In a series that began in 1890, the Crimson leads 51-34-2 and has won the last four, including 41-23 last year in Cambridge.

THE SCORE BY QUARTERS

Attendance: 8,676