For the Crimson, it became the exclamation point on an historic season, a perfect Ivy season. No Harvard team in the modern era had scored as many points as the 2011 version.
On Saturday, it showcased the many reasons why.
Of course, there’s Winters, who combined for three touchdowns on the day. But Winters has an arsenal at the ready with the best receiving corps in the league. In addition to four talented wide receivers, Harvard also has the two best tight ends—junior Kyle Juszczyk and sophomore Cameron Brate—in recent memory. On Saturday, the two combined for 145 receiving yards, highlighted by Juszczyk’s 60-yard touchdown catch.
The backfield tandem of junior Treavor Scales and freshman Zach Boden also wrought havoc on the Bulldog defense. Scales averaged 4.5 yards per touch, and the wunderkind Boden continued to make a very compelling case for Ivy League Rookie of the Year with 63 receiving yards and 20 more on the ground.
The vaunted Harvard defense followed suit. The Bulldog rushing game managed just 2.5 yards per rush against the most dominant front seven in Ivy League football. And through the air, Yale didn’t have much success either, though part of that can be attributed to Yale quarterback Patrick Witt’s subpar performance.
But overall, on a Senior Day at the Yale Bowl that was designed to celebrate the Bulldog seniors, it was the Crimson seniors who stole the spotlight.
And not just Winters. Wide receiver Alex Sarkisian tallied 97 receiving yards and one touchdown reception.
Captain and middle linebacker Alex Gedeon earned nine tackles—tied for second best on the team—and stepped in front of Witt’s pass late in the fourth quarter for a pick-six.
Defensive tackle Josue Ortiz, double-teamed nearly all game yet again, managed to break free and earned his 10th sack of the season. His biggest play, though, came after the final whistle.
And so ends the career of this senior class, the one that helped produce the most prolific offense in Harvard history, the one that brought the Ivy title back to Cambridge, the one that produced, in Harvard coach Tim Murphy’s mind, one of the all-time great captains of Crimson football.With those big holes will come even bigger questions.
But with a host of underclassmen already playing and the most efficient passer in the Ivy League waiting in the wings, Harvard should return to Soldiers Field next year as the favorite to win it all once more.
—Staff writer Robert S. Samuels can be reached at robertsamuels@college.harvard.edu.