With two regular starters battling injuries, a pair of freshmen—tailback Clifton Dawson and cornerback Danny Tanner—stepped in and stepped up.

Sophomore tailback Ryan Tyler was used sparingly due to bruised ribs suffered in last week’s 28-20 win over Northeastern, leaving Dawson to carry the load. Receiving the large majority of the carries, Dawson finished with 71 yards, just over four yards per carry.

“We were going to try to use [Tyler] as little as possible,” Murphy said. “That’s why Clifton got most of the carries, and he played very well. He ran hard.”

Tyler finished the game with 17 yards on only four carries, while catching two passes for 25 yards.

Meanwhile, when junior cornerback Gary Sonkur left the game with a high ankle sprain early in the second quarter, Tanner came into replace him, playing most of the second half.

The 5’10” true freshman from Cheasapeake, Va. was the third freshman—along with Dawson and wide receiver Corey Mazza—to see significant playing time this season.

For his part, Mazza posted the longest catch of the day, a 64-yard TD catch that gave Harvard its only score of the second half.

—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.