Like Balestracci, senior defensive end Marc Laborsky is no stranger to the big plays. But he, too, found himself in an unusual role at the Yale Bowl.
The Crimson scored on its first drive of the game on a short pass to Morris in the end zone, and junior placekicker Anders Blewett led the special teams unit on the field for the point-after. But the snap on the attempt was high and senior holder Sam Taylor had to get on his feet once he corralled the ball to save the broken play.
Taylor lofted the ball to the right corner of the endzone—an area occupied by three Bulldogs and Laborsky, who had lined up apart from the line and was eligible on the play. Laborsky outjumped the surrounding defenders to haul in the ball and give the Crimson an 8-0 lead. The defenders bumped him and pass interference was called, but Laborsky’s sure hands made the flag a non-issue.
With only two tackles, Laborsky had a relatively quiet day in what had been a torrid, All-Ivy caliber campaign.
But his bizarre catch set the tone for what would be the only victory over Yale in his career.
Domo Arigato, Mr. Fratto
Going into Saturday’s game, the only Harvard receiving record Carl Morris did not hold was three touchdowns in a
game. By halftime, it looked as if little-known tight end Matt Fratto might beat Morris to it.
Prior to the Yale game, Fratto had only reeled in eight catches for 54 yards and one touchdown all season. But just yesterday, he caught Rose passes of two and 21 yards in the endzone in the second quarter to extend an 8-7 lead to 22-7.
After the first score, Fratto threw his hands up in the air in jubilation—and, perhaps, a bit of relief.
Rose had been throwing the ball Fratto’s way more frequently in recent weeks, despite an offense that has not used the tight end much since the graduation of Chris Eitzmann ’00. But Fratto had not been able to capitalize—most notably, he dropped a pass in the endzone against Columbia two weeks ago in New York.
Fratto finished yesterday’s game with 42 yards on three catches on a day when Rose spread the wealth among virtually all of his receivers. If Fratto does become a reliable offensive presence, it will only make Rose a more dangerous quarterback in 2002.
The Twelfth Man
The seniors on the Harvard side of the Yale Bowl yesterday had waited four longyears to storm the field at Harvard-Yale. By the end of the game, many of them couldn’t wait four more seconds.
With Harvard up 35-23, senior safety Andy Fried picked off a TJ Hyland pass in the endzone and ran it back to the 17-yard line.
The change of possession stopped the clock with four ticks remaining and Harvard only needed to take a knee on the next play to seal the deal. But hundreds of Harvard’s fans could not contain their enthusiasm, streaming onto the field as the teams lined up at the 17.
Despite the pleas of the public address announcer, it soon became obvious that the game was over. By the time the clock ticked down to triple zeroes, the field was already nearly full.
“It meant a lot,” Murphy said. “It’s just good to see the fans involved.”
A week earlier, Murphy had written a letter to Harvard’s fans thanking them for their support in the previous week’s competition against Penn. He likened the stadium presence to having a “twelfth man.”
Yesterday, Harvard’s twelfth man really was on the field in the closing seconds. By the game’s official end, so was the ten thousandth.