Cashing In, Cashing Out

Unlike last week's effort, which saw the Crimson defense generate seven turnovers--six fumbles and one interception--but fail to convert, tallying only 14 points, a takeaway and aggressive special teams play supplied the bulk of Harvard's scoring chances.

And with Linden struggling to establish a passing game, completing only 16 of 32 passes for 113 yards, short-field drives were at a premium.

The Crimson's first touchdown, a three-yard scamper by Linden on an option right, came after senior linebacker Joe Weidle's punt block gave Harvard possession at the Lehigh 22-yard line.

Senior free safety Derek Yankoff upped the Crimson advantage to 17-0 with 8:25 remaining in the second quarter with the defense's first touchdown of 1998, a 64-yard interception return off Mountain Hawks quarterback Phil Stambaugh.

Flanker Joe Falzone ran a slant left across the middle of the field, but Yankoff read the route and stepped in front of Stambaugh's pass, taking it down the right sideline for an unimpeded score.

Crunched-Time

Both defense and special teams picked up Linden and company's slack in the first half, but tired in the second and allowed two time-consuming drives that locked the Crimson offense out of possession time and opportunities to recover.

The Mountain Hawks chewed up 268 total yards in the second half to the Crimson's 101, and more importantly, controlled the football for 12:40 of the game's final 18:34.

After freshman punter Jesse Milligan boomed a 40-yard punt which was downed at the Lehigh 9-yard line with 3:34 remaining in the third, Stambaugh and tailback Ron Jean marched back downfield, going 91 yards in 16 plays over 5:54 for the game-winning touchdown with 12:40 to play.

The drive--which included a gutsy fourth-and-inches conversion at the Lehigh 35-yard line--featured Jean carrying the ball in an empty set and churning yardage off the tackles on pitchouts from Stambaugh.

"I thought the defense did a nice job in the first half," Murphy said. "But in the second we just didn't hold up our end of the bargain. We didn't play run defense."

Stambaugh also found Falzone on 17-and 26-yard crossing patterns and junior flanker Kody Fedorcha on a 17-yard wide receiver screen--a route he had employed earlier in the afternoon--during the march.

The Crimson had one final crack at the lead late in the quarter, taking the ball at its own 20-yard line off a touchback with 6:25 to play.

A painfully errant Linden, however, fired three straight incomplete passes on short routes before Milligan was forced to punt again. The "drive" took just 29 seconds, and allowed Lehigh to bury the Harvard defense with another grinding sequence, this time 72 yards on 14 plays in 5:11.