A young Harvard recruit takes to the field after Saturday's victory against Lafayette.

EASTON, Pa.—For all the strengths of the Harvard football team so far this year, the health of its quarterbacks hasn’t been one of them.

Since a hamstring injury that senior starter Collier Winters suffered in the first game of the year, he has yet to make an appearance.

His backup, junior Colton Chapple, has played well as a replacement, throwing for three touchdowns in a game and a half at the helm.

But he didn’t return on Saturday at Lafayette after the first half, suffering back cramps that kept him out of the game. By the time he left, Harvard already had a 17-3 lead.

Sophomore third-string quarterback Michael Pruneau filled in for the remainder of the game. Early in his collegiate debut, he looked uncomfortable and nervous, fumbling twice in his first three drives. Though he managed to recover both, he looked solidly outmatched by Lafayette’s secondary to start the third quarter.

“We felt comfortable that we could get the job done with Mike [Pruneau],” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “Our defense was playing so well we felt confident doing it and obviously didn’t want to put Colton in a position of having a serious injury.”

After recovering a fumbled punt, it finally looked like the quarterback settled down—but he caught a few key breaks that certainly helped.

Pruneau completed his first career pass to senior wide receiver Chris Lorditch, and two Leopard personal fouls on the same play put the ball on the Lafayette two-yard line.

On the next play, the Leopards deflected Pruneau’s pass into the end zone, but it landed squarely in the arms of sophomore tight end Cameron Brate for the third-stringers’ first-career touchdown.

The quarterback looked more comfortable in the fourth, but his role remained limited. Pruneau was four-for-six on the day, throwing for 44 yards in addition to his one touchdown.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS

The season is still just a few games old, but the play of Harvard’s special teams has been among the strongest elements of its game so far.

Junior punter Jacob Dombrowski’s performance on Saturday was his best of the year, and it highlighted the strength of the Crimson’s kicking units.

Dombrowski kicked six times, averaging 44.2 yards per punt, including one inside the Lafayette 20. The junior punter has averaged about 40 yards per punt this season.

“We’ve felt since we saw Jake at our summer camp a couple years ago that he had the potential to be a major college punter, and he’s worked really hard on his craft,” Murphy said. “He was banged up last year, and I think he’s just starting to come into his own in terms of feel and confidence.”