NOTEBOOK: Casten Leads Beatdown of Georgetown

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Starting running back Paul Stanton never made the trip to the nation’s capital. No matter. Even without the junior, the Harvard football team (3-0, 1-0 Ivy) still managed to rack up 265 yards rushing, including four touchdowns on the ground.

The majority of the yards and all of the scores came from senior halfback Andrew Casten, who shouldered the bulk of the running game once more as the Crimson put together what Harvard coach Tim Murphy called the team’s first “complete victory” against Georgetown (2-4, 0-1 Patriot), 34-3.

Casten tore apart the Hoyas’ defensive line for 139 yards at Multi-Sport Field on Saturday, averaging 7.3 yards per rush and providing a reliable cog for an offense with an inexperienced passing game. After Harvard scored on its first two drives, Georgetown held the Crimson scoreless until its final try before the half.

During that possession, Harvard elected to run on eight out of nine plays, including a reverse that saw Casten hand off to junior wideout Andrew Fischer for a 26-yard gain. Casten, who notched 34 yards of rushing himself on that drive, capped it off with a scene that would become familiar throughout the day—a six-yard jaunt into the end zone.

In the red zone, Casten has become the squad’s premier back, using his 210 pounds and experienced offensive line to pave the path to a touchdown.

“Any time the offensive line is clearing paths five yards wide you can drive a truck through, it makes my job easy,” Casten said.

With four minutes left in the first, Casten had already found himself in the Hoyas’ end zone twice. The senior bulldozed through the gap in the line for a two-yard score just two minutes into the game, and on Harvard’s ensuing drive, blazed ahead to convert on a 4th-and-2 before breaking free on a 22-yard dash to record his second touchdown.

Casten isn’t unfamiliar with the starting role—two weeks ago against Holy Cross, with Stanton sidelined by an ankle injury, the back took the lead again, rushing for 153 yards and three touchdowns.

“Paul [Stanton]’s our go-to guy, but when we get down [in the red zone], I take pride in running fast, running hard, and getting those tough yards,” Casten said.

BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY

Stanton wasn’t the only notable offensive starter missing from the field when the Crimson took on Georgetown for the first time in 141 years. Also not making the trip was senior quarterback Conner Hempel, out with a back injury suffered during the first drive of the season opener.

But looking at the stats of backup quarterback Scott Hosch, it certainly didn’t seem like Harvard was missing Hempel on Saturday. After tossing for his first collegiate touchdown last week against Brown while filling in for Hempel, the junior tacked on his second, en route to a 20-for-25, 293-yard passing performance.

“I think the offensive line and our quarterback were very in sync, and the combination [made for] a very solid day offensively,” Murphy said.

On the next Harvard drive after Casten’s final score, the Crimson gave the back some rest, calling seven passing plays on the 10-play drive. Without Casten on the field, Hosch proved that the offense could still score. The junior connected with four different receivers before finding sophomore wideout Joseph Foster wide open in the back of the end zone. The touchdown was Foster’s first in a Crimson uniform.

“Joey Foster, he’s from around [Washington], so a hometown kid being able to come on the trip and being able to get his first touchdown, that was pretty special for me to have a part in that,” Hosch said.

NO LAND FOR NOLAN

A large part of the reason that Georgetown only put three points on the board was the home team’s inability to convert on Harvard’s end of the field. The Hoyas found themselves in the red zone just twice Saturday despite making it past midfield on half its drives, kicking a field goal on its first drive and turning the ball over on downs at Harvard’s six-yard line on its opening possession after halftime.

The takeover happened after Georgetown’s most promising drive of the game—the Hoyas moved the ball 69 yards down the field and came the closest to scoring they had all day. After being relatively unsuccessful at pressuring Georgetown signal-caller Kyle Nolan through the first half, the Crimson defense turned up the heat.

On a 4th-and-3 at Harvard’s six, Nolan rolled left out of the pocket but, under hot pursuit from junior defensive end Dan Moody, overthrew his intended receiver.

“That was a very big stop,” Crimson captain Norman Hayes said. “All the coaches were proud of the defense. Once we came off the field, they said we proved our identity, established our identity, and [we] just [need] to maintain it.”

Indeed, on every drive of the second half—except the final one during which the Hoyas pulled Nolan—the Crimson was able to pressure or sack Nolan to end a Georgetown drive, drawing from its plethora of talent in the defensive front seven.

Along with Moody, sophomore linebacker Nate Wall and senior defensive end Zack Hodges registered quarterback hurries to set up fourth downs.

—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samantha.lin@thcrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @Linsamnity.