football 16 princeton

It only took a minute and a half for the Harvard football team to begin erasing the bitter memory of last week’s loss to Lafayette.

In Saturday’s contest against Princeton (1-5, 0-3 Ivy), the Crimson (4-2, 3-0 Ivy) used three plays in its first drive—a pair of one-yard rushes and a 77-yard bomb from junior quarterback Collier Winters to classmate Chris Lorditch—to tack seven points on the board, en route to a 37-3 drubbing of the Tigers.

The funny thing is, according to Harvard coach Tim Murphy, the offense wasn’t even the highlight of Saturday’s game.

“It was overall, just a very solid team effort across the board: special teams, defense, offense—in that order,” Murphy said.

Though Princeton responded on its opening possession with a 58-yard drive—culminating in a field goal from the Harvard two-yard line—that would be the Tigers’ only redzone threat. Princeton crossed into Harvard territory only three more times in the game.

“They came out and moved the ball very well, and I think holding them to three on that drive was a morale builder for us,” Murphy said

And then the special teams unit took over.

On the Tigers’ second possession, a botched snap dribbled down to the Princeton three-yard line, and though the Tigers’ Brad Stetler managed to recover it, Harvard took over on the turnover on downs.

“The best part of our special teams to this point had been our punting,” Princeton coach Phil Hughes said. “And it was disappointing that we didn’t handle the snap, and the snap was not as good as it could have been. And that gave them field position early and easy field position early. And against good teams like Harvard, we can’t do that.”

The Crimson punched in the score on a short completion from Winters to rookie tight end Kyle Juszczyk, who finished the day with three receptions—good for 27 yards.

“He’s 6’3, 245, and he’s another one of those guys that we thought while recruiting, ‘Wow, this kid might be able to help us as a freshman,’” Murphy said of Juszczyk. “Usually when you say that, it’s the kiss of death, but since he’s got here, the transition has been a very smooth one.”

Harvard posted two more scores to close out the first half—a touchdown coming from a rush by Winters and a 23-yard field goal by senior Patrick Long in the waning seconds of the second frame.

Winters finished the day passing 13-of-19 for 190 yards with two picks and two TDs. He also added 26 net rushing yards on the day with a touchdown.

The running back platoon of junior Gino Gordon and freshman Treavor Scales rushed for 84 and 59 yards, respectively.

After Gordon punched in a touchdown from three yards out late in the third quarter to give the Crimson a comfortable 31-3 lead, Harvard brought in some of its third and fouth stringers. Freshman Colton Chapple and junior Matt Simpson both spent time under center in the fourth quarter, and senior Cheng Ho—who is third on the running back depth chart—managed a team-second 73 yards on just 12 carries and a touchdown in his limited play in the fourth quarter.