The two long passes Hall completed were both to tight end Nate Robbins - one was the 32-yarder where Robbins was left wide open on the final play of the game, and on the other play Harvard junior linebacker Mike Cataldo stayed with Robbins on the fly all the way downfield. The 31-yard completion was only made possible by a perfect pass from Hall.
It was hardly a successful game for Brooks, even though he proved himself capable of returning a blocked kick for a score for the second consecutive game. Brooks let a sure touchdown go right through his hands early on in the game. He also overran Hall on a wide-open blitz, and was nowhere to be found on Hall's long touchdown run.
Backfield Breakthrough
The spring before Leiszler reported to Harvard, he had reconstructive knee surgery. And on the first day of his freshman preseason, he re-injured himself and needed surgery on the same knee.
"I thought Matt Leiszler did a tremendous job," Murphy said. "I talked to our team about him as a great example of perseverance and fighting through adversity. I'm always looking for kids who can do that because they have a tendency to play a level up as opposed to some guys who won't ever have a chance to fight through adversity and won't know how to deal with it. That was a very gutsy effort by Matt today."