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THE BOOK OF SAMUELS: Last-Place Lions Exceed Expectations

When he needs a big play, he’s got senior Chris Lorditch. The two connected in 2009’s rendition of The Game, and after both missed much of last season due to injury, the duo is back and picking apart opposing secondaries once again.

At Wien Stadium, the two connected again. From the Columbia 41, Winters threw a Hail Mary downfield to Lorditch.

The senior leapt up, outmaneuvering the opposing defensive back to snag the ball. He then waltzed into the end zone, giving Harvard what proved to be an insurmountable 14-point lead.

But Winters has more than just Lorditch. He has two bruising tight ends, including junior Kyle Juszczyk, whose 118 receiving yards were second-best for Harvard on Saturday.

On one of the most impressive plays of the day, Winters hit Juszczyk near the right sideline. The junior then broke one tackle, broke another, and stumbled his way to the end zone, diving past the pylon for a 41-yard touchdown reception.

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When Winters needs a break, he has junior Treavor Scales and freshman Zach Boden in the backfield. Scales was one broken tackle away from a 87-yard touchdown against the Lions. Boden, who has come out of nowhere this year to be a stalwart, set up an important Harvard touchdown with back-to-back 11 and 12-yard runs in the Lions end zone.

In the end, the Harvard attack and the Crimson defense proved to be too much. But the Lions put up a hell of a fight and made it interesting until the end.

Ultimately, the victory is Harvard’s, and with two Ivy games left on the docket, and an undefeated league mark, the Crimson now sits pretty. A win against Penn or Yale will assure Harvard at least a share of the Ivy title. Two victories, and the title comes back to Cambridge.

If you didn’t look hard enough, you might’ve missed the biggest news from Wien Stadium, though.

There was no Gatorade bath, no huge post-game celebration. When Tim Murphy became the winningest coach in his program’s long and storied history, he wasn’t carried off the field. Sure he received the game ball, but even in his “thanks,” he just passed off the credit to others.

Murphy now has his eyes set on a different sort of prize: his sixth Ivy crown.

—Staff writer Robert S. Samuels can be reached at robertsamuels@college.harvard.edu.

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