“I had some great blocking,” Perry said after the game. “I haven’t run that far since high school.”
As much as it appeared that Perry’s touchdown had been a nail in the Huskies’ coffin, McCafferty’s score ended up being the final blow.
Northeastern senior running back L.J. McKanas dominated the third quarter with 112 yards rushing in that stanza alone, and the Huskies had possession with three minutes left in the quarter, trailing only 28-20.
But Fried came free on another pass play and crushed Galli, forcing his second fumble. This time, McCafferty took advantage and returned the fumble 19 yards to give Harvard a 35-20 advantage and crush the Huskies hopes of a comeback.
After the game, Fried credited his two forced fumbles to the overall defensive gameplan.
“It was a good scheme that allowed me to get into the backfield,” he said. “I didn’t make any special plays.”
Extra Special Teams
Special teams play was a key factor in the Crimson victory as Harvard’s first two scores occurred as a result of plays made by the special teams.
The fake punt run by Fratto took advantage of an overzealous Northeastern punt rush to put the Crimson in position for Farley’s touchdown catch.
On the ensuing Husky drive, a punt snap that sailed high over the head of Husky punter Tyler Grogan resulted in a kick that ended up 22 yards behind scrimmage and gave the Harvard offense possession at the Northeastern 15.
Four plays later, Rose snuck into the end zone from one yard out to give the Crimson a 14-0 lead just under seven minutes into the game.
Trench Wars
For the first time this year, the Harvard offensive and defensive lines met their matches in the battle at scrimmage.
After outrushing Brown and Lafayette by a combined margin of 439 yards to 214 yards in the first two games of the season, the Crimson managed only 141 yards rushing compared to Northeastern’s 287.
Northeastern’s L.J. McKanas finished an outstanding performance with 44 carries and 220 yards against the Harvard defense, just five yards shy of his career high.
Husky senior fullback Sean Connor also had a good day on the ground, averaging nearly 11 yards per carry with a touchdown.
For the Crimson offense, the running attack was shut down for most of the game. Through three quarters, Harvard had managed only 69 yards rushing, and Matt Fratto was the leading Crimson rusher with 28 yards on a fake punt.
Junior tailback Nick Palazzo, still filling in for the injured Josh Staph, ended up with 62 yards on 15 carries, with 41 of those yards coming on the Crimson’s final possession.