It took two games, but the Harvard football team finally looked like the team that went 9-1 last year. The reprieve was brief, however, and a meltdown by the Crimson's two offensive stars at the end of last Saturday's game left Harvard winless. LEHIGH  21 HARVARD  17

An obviously inspired Harvard (0-3, 0-1 Ivy) played its best football of the season and jumped out to a 17-0 lead against Lehigh (4-0, 1-0 Patriot) in front of a crowd of 5,270 at The Stadium. The Mountain Hawks clawed their way back with touchdowns in the second, third and fourth quarters, taking a 21-17 lead that held up for the last 12:40 of the game.

Although the Crimson had been staggering, its defense made a potentially huge play with 9:23 left to put Harvard in position for the win. Senior inside linebacker Scott Larkee, who had 16 tackles, stripped the ball from junior fullback Brett Snyder, and junior inside linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski recovered the ball at the Mountain Hawks' 27-yard line.

With a chance to save what had become a frustrating afternoon, Harvard's offense drove down to the Lehigh 11-yard line, where it would have had a third-and-seven. After his run, however, junior running back Chris Menick drew a personal foul penalty for shoving Lehigh senior safety Sam Brinley right in front of two officials.

"I don't know what he was thinking," Brinley said. "I hit him in the hole, drove him back and threw him down, and the kid hops up and double-fists me in the face. I just walked away, tried to shake his hand and say, `Thank you for the 15 yards.'"

"That penalty was, I don't know, like the guy kind of threw me down after the whistle a little bit," Menick said. "I just got up and kind of lost my cool, and that was a definite mistake. I shouldn't have done that, we were driving."

The 15-yard mark-off pushed Harvard back to the 26-yard-line, and it was forced to throw. Linden's pass missed high and was picked off by Brinley at his own 8-yard line, and the return brought the ball out to midfield. Just like that, Harvard's best chance for its first win of the season was ripped away.

"Defensively, in the second half, we stepped up, and they couldn't do anything," Brinley said.

In the end, it was Harvard's money players who threw the chance to win away and killedHarvard's momentum. Menick's penalty pushedHarvard into an obvious passing situation andmarred his 22-carry, 114-yard return performance.

Linden, who has not been sharp all year, thenturned the ball over. He only completed 16-of-32passes for 113 yards, dropping him to a paltry 119passing yards-per-game average.

"We didn't throw the ball as well as I thoughtwe'd be able to throw today," Harvard Coach TimMurphy said. "Right now, our offense in generaland our passing game in particular is not asdeveloped as we'd like it to be. Sometimes, Ithink Rich really misses [graduated receivers]Colby Skelton and Jared Chupaila, but those guysare long gone."

Lehigh scored the winning touchdown on a16-play, 91-yard drive that took 5:54 off theclock. The Mountain Hawks ran the ball 10 times onthe drive, including the 5-yard scoring run byjunior running back Ron Jean. There was an air ofinevitability as Lehigh methodically moved downthe field.

The Mountain Hawks took over after a 42-yardpunt by freshman Jesse Milligan, who emerged as aworthy replacement for injured junior MikeGiampaolo. Although it had to overcome a personalfoul, Lehigh got seven first downs, including aquarterback sneak on fourth-and-inches at its own35-yard line.

Despite the play selection, it was the MountainHawks' passing that pushed the drive along, andsenior Joe Falzone caught four passes for 49yards. Falzone was open all day on out patternsand crossing patterns, and he ended with sevencatches for 96 yards.

"[Quarterback Phil Stambaugh] saw meunderneath, he was making great reads," Falzonesaid. "He was going through his progressions fromone to two, and he was finding me underneath."

Harvard's secondary was riddled for 328 passingyards on the day, with Stambaugh completing24-of-39 attempts. Senior Deron Braswell addedseven catches for 124 yards, and junior widereceiver Kody Fedorcha had seven more catches for76 yards. Lehigh was able to run the ball late torun out the clock and finished with 501 totalyards of offense.