Two weeks ago, junior running back Chris Menick committed a costly personal foul in a 21-17 loss to Lehigh. He atoned last week with a 39-carry, 176-yard performance in a 19-12 win against Cornell.
Saturday at The Stadium, Menick committed a costly fumble at the Holy Cross 7-yard line with Harvard up 14-7 and under 7:00 to go in the game. He didn't have to wait long for redemption, however, as his third touchdown of the day, a 16-yard run up the middle, gave Harvard (2-3, 1-1 Ivy) a 20-14 overtime win. HOLY CROSS 14 HARVARD 20
Menick's fumble came just as it appeared Harvard, which inserted junior quarterback Brad Wilford for junior Rich Linden at halftime, was going to put the game away. On a sweep to the right, Holy Cross linebacker Ben Berger popped the ball loose. Linebacker Joe Saunders scooped up Menick's fumble at the 11-yard line and ran down the left sideline with an open field.
Sophomore receiver Josh Wilske made the hustle play to chase Saunders down at the Harvard 11-yard line, but Holy Cross (2-4, 1-0 Patriot) tied the game with a seven-yard screen pass from Matt Kives to fullback Antonio Thompson.
"Initially, I felt like punching myself in the face," Menick said. "I felt so guilty for the defense, that they had to come out. They were probably pissed off or whatever. They played so great, and I just tried to for get it. I knew I was going to get another chance. It was 14-14, so I couldn't get down on myself."
The fumble recovery and score, which came with 5:53 left, were just the beginning of a dramatic series of plays before the game finally went to overtime.
The Crusaders started driving again with 3:11 to go, but on third-and-four from Holy Cross' 26-yard line, Kives's pass hit senior defensive end Artie Jones on the helmet and popped at least 30 feet straight up in the air before falling incomplete.
Harvard made an all-out rush to try to block the punt and prevent overtime but was penalized 15 yards for roughing the kicker, and Holy Cross kept driving with 1:17 left.
It got down to the Harvard 38-yard line and had a third-and-two situation. With the crowd of 5,574 on its feet, Harvard safety Derek Yankoff and linebacker Clint Kollar stuffed an option pitch right to running back Joe Chambers, and Holy Cross chose to let the clock run down despite having two timeouts.
There were 30 seconds left in regulation, so the Crusaders appeared to have plenty of time to try to get a first down and move closer. They chose to settle for a Hail Mary, which was incomplete in the endzone as time expired.
"I was surprised," said Harvard Coach Tim Murphy. "I thought they were going to try to kick the field goal."
The drama continued in overtime, when Harvard won the toss and elected to go second. In the college format, teams start first-and-10 on the opposition's 25-yard line. Holy Cross attempted a halfback option pass on the first play, but Harvard's secondary didn't bite.
"In overtime, when every snap is so precious, you need to get positive yardage on the first snap, and we were fortunate," Murphy said. "They went for the home run on the first play."
Kives threw incomplete then scrambled for two yards on third down. Placekicker Dana Fiatarone missed wide right on a 40-yard attempt, and Harvard's offense took the field knowing a field goal would win the game.
Menick ran left for two yards then right for seven. With third-and-one at the 16 yard line, Harvard was within junior place kicker Jonathan Patton's range.
To no one's surprise, Menick got the ball again and ran straight up the gut. To everyone's surprise, he was practically untouched and ran cleanly for the last 10 yards into the endzone.
Harvard exploded off the sideline and mobbed Menick, who ran for two touchdowns and caught another. The rushing touchdowns were the first for him this year, a surprising statistic because he tied a school record with 13 last year.
Meanwhile, Holy Cross' defenders remained standing where they had ended the play, apparently shocked by how suddenly and easily the game ended.
Menick finished with 29 rushes for 167 "Chris's greatest attribute is that he believesin himself so much," Murphy said. "I truly don'tsweat it when he fumbles, and that's not a thingthat he does very often, but he's just a kid youcan depend on. It was a bit of a fluke, it was agood play by the defense, and it was costly, butI'm not at all surprised that he came through." Menick's partner in crime from last year didn'tenjoy repeat success this year, however. Linden,who also ran for three touchdowns in 1997, waspulled at halftime after completing 5-of-10attempts for only 50 yards. He has struggled allyear and averaged only 106.5 passing yards pergame before Saturday. Linden, whose passing keptdefenses honest last year, has not been asaccurate and may have lost some zip on his passes. Zip was the last thing Harvard had to worryabout when Wilford entered the game after gettinga pat on the back from Linden. Wilford completedhis first five attempts, all of which were thrownvery hard. "I think it was more of a reflection of theoffense rather than of Rich as an individual, butwe just needed a spark," Murphy said. After leading Harvard down to Holy Cross's11-yard line, Wilford rolled right until heappeared pinned against the sideline. He thenthrew a bullet back to the middle of thefield--normally a no-no. A diving Menick made thegrab as Wilford blew the ball past the linebackerin coverage for his first career touchdown pass. "We were just excited, and we had so muchconfidence in Brad," Menick said. "Brad was doinggreat all year in practice, and we saw it in hiseyes, we were just going to whup somebody, we wereconfident." Wilford put the Crimson in position to scoreagain on its second possession of the thirdquarter. At the Holy Cross 24-yard line, Menickran for two yards but fumbled, and the Crusadersrecovered. "[The quarterback change] was a good move onCoach Murphy's part," Allen said. "Our defense haddone a pretty good job in the first halfcontaining them, and they came out and changedthings up and went all no-huddle in the secondhalf." Murphy's quarterback move paid off Saturday,but now he has to make a decision for nextweekend's Ivy showdown with Princeton. Wilfordended the day 10-of-16 with 98 yards. "Obviously, it's something we have to sleepon," Murphy said. "By nature, loyalty is probablythe most important thing in the world to me. Youcan't just toss out what Rich Linden has done forthis program and what kind of person and what kindof football player he is. So we're going to dowhat it takes to win, but Rich Linden's not out ofthis thing. "This was simply a way to spark our offense asopposed to having real problems at quarterback,"Murphy added. "I don't think we have problems atquarterback, I do think we need to execute overalloffensively better. We've struggled a little bitthrowing the football, but we're going to get thatturned around, regardless of who the quarterbackis." Menick's performance, Linden's benching,Wilford's emergence and the end-of-game dramaobscured Harvard's defense in the second half,when it held Holy Cross to 73 total yards. Afterstruggling to contain the Crusaders' option attackearly (26 first-half rushes for 107 yards), theCrimson didn't allow a first down in the thirdquarter and ended the game with five sacks. HolyCross had possession for 18:09 of the first halfbut ended with only 29:32. "They made a few adjustments [against theoption]," Kives said. "I think they brought thecorner down to help out more, and the free safetyshifted over to where the corner was. When you runit that long in the first half, they're going tomake adjustments." Harvard got out to a first-quarter 7-0 leadwith an eight-play, 68-yard drive that ended withMenick's 18-yard touchdown run on an option pitchleft. The Crimson has not run much option thisyear, but Murphy said it was emphasized this weekbecause of Holy Cross's defense, which ispatterned after the University of Arizona's DesertSwarm. This scheme puts a lot of defenders on theline, meaning every offensive lineman is covered,making it tough to run between the tackles. The Crusaders answered in the second quarterwith a six-play, 54-yard drive highlighted byMichael Coleman's 20-yard reverse. Chambers dovein from two yards out to tie the game at 7-7. The win gives Harvard a two-game winning streakand some momentum as it travels to Princeton (3-2,2-0 Ivy), the current Ivy leader. A Crimson losswould almost definitely end its chance for arepeat undisputed league championship. Although Murphy has to sort out his quarterbacksituation, Saturday showed he can always rely onone formula on offense: make Menick feel guilty. First QuarterHar--Menick, 18 run (Patton kick), 7:06. Second QuarterHC--Chambers, 2 run (Fiatarone kick), 12:44. Third QuarterHar--Menick, 11 pass from Wilford (Patton kick),12:34. Fourth QuarterHC--Thompson, 7 pass from Kives (Fiatarone kick),5:53. OvertimeHar--Menick, 16 run, 0:00.
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