The Game Heals All

It started off with promise and went downhill from there. Along the way, there was heartbreak coupled with disappointment. But in the end, the 1995 Harvard football season ended in glorious fashion with a thrilling win over Yale, providing a sneak preview into what could be a bright future.

There is no doubt the Crimson's performance this year fell short of preseason expectations. And although excuses are like rear ends--everyone's got one and they stink--explanations are important in providing an accurate evaluation of the teams accomplishment.

Harvard (2-8, 1-6 Ivy) played the entire season with a decimated offensive line, as injuries prevented all five starters from playing together in six of the Crimson's 10 games. And only twice in its eight losses did Harvard appear overmatched--four of these defeats were by less than one touchdown.

There were also standout individual performances along the way. Junior tailback Eion Hu broke the single-season rushing record with 1,101 yards. Senior quarterback Vin Ferrara eclipsed the 3,000-yard mark for career passing yardage and became the Crimson's third-most prolific passer in its history.

Senior Kevin Dwan's 241 career tackles and captain Justin Franz's 196 are now second and third, respective, on Harvard's all-time list. And senior Tim Griffin established the school record for most career punts with 176.

When one looks back at the entire season in retrospect, however, the one thing that looms the largest is a failure to capitalize. Too often Harvard was unable to come through in the clutch, and these missed opportunities always came against teams the Crimson could have defeated.

In the season opener against Columbia, the Harvard defense could not stop the Lions from marching down the field for the game-winning touchdown with only 55 seconds to play. Two weeks later, the Crimson was unable to hold a 21-0 lead versus Fordham and saw victory slip away on a lastsecond field goal.

A late touchdown by host Cornell left Harvard trailing 28-27. But the team put itself in a position to win, as it did all season, and came up short, as it did all season. The potential game-winning field goal bounced wide off the right upright, defining the entire fall for Harvard.

That gut-wrenching loss seemed to be the back-breaker for the Crimson. The following week, Harvard suffered an unexpected loss at the hands of Patriot League opponent Holy Cross, and the three subsequent games saw a struggling Harvard offense muster only 10 points. By the time Penn came to town, the Crimson seemed too frustrated and too tired to hold the Quakers in check.

The only time Harvard put all the pieces together for a victory was an early win at Colgate. But the Red Raiders failed to win any contests during their regular season and fired their coach at year's end, making the final result and unimpressive one for the Crimson.

A few inches to the left at Cornell, fewer turnovers against Princeton and Dartmouth, any defense down the stretch against Fordham and Columbia...Harvard could have just as easily been 6-3 instead of 1-8 going into The Game. The team had even been in great position to defeat eventual league champion Princeton, but fumbled the ball twice in the fourth quarter inside the Tigers' 15-yard line.

So close, so often--watching the Crimson defeat itself week after week when it could have cruised to victory was frustrating. The players knew that they were better that their record indicated, and every week Frantz, Ferrara and Hu reiterated this statement at the post-game press conference.

But 15,000 Harvard fans were still skeptical entering the Yale Bowl. The question on everyone's mind was, "How would Harvard lose today?"

The words of the Harvard players held true on that day, however, and the Crimson finally found the key to victory which had eluded it all season. The situation was familiar--Harvard was trailing late but was in a position to pull out the win. One never would have known that this team had suffered such miserable luck all season watching that final drive against Yale.

The ball, which had bounced away from Harvard all year, finally found its way into the Crimson's hands--literally. In a play that seemed to violate all the laws of this season's team, a twice-tipped ball landed into the hands of senior Adam Golla at the Yale 15-yard line. Harvard then scored the game-winner on a two-yard Hu run with 34 seconds left.

Every week it had seemed that some force of nature did not want Harvard to win, and every week the players came back fighting. But every week something new would go wrong for the Crimson. In its season finale, though, Harvard showed the ability to win, which many people knew it had all along.

The Crimson fell short too often this season, leaving images of what could have been in the fans' minds. But in the end, The Game told that it had been a successful campaign--and if The Drive and The Immaculate Reception are any indications of what this team can accomplish, this fall's journey should be just as exciting and far more rewarding.

Harvard Sports Stats 1995-96

Football

Record: 2-8, 1-6 Ivy

Ivy Finish: Eighth

Head Coach: Tim Murphy

Captains: Justin Frantz '96

Other Key Players: Vin Ferrara '95-'96, Eion Hu '97, Brian Borg '96, Troy Jones '99, Tom Reardon '96, Kweli Thompson '96

Harvard's Last Drive

Harvard quarterback Vin Ferrara completes a 19-yard pass to junior tight end Andy Laurence.

Ferrara completes a five-yard pass to senior tight end Adam Golla.

Ferrara unleashes a pass that tips off Eion Hu and a Yale defender's hands and winds up in Golla's. The pass takes the Crimson 23 yards upfield to the Yale 15-yard line.

Ferrara completes a nine-yard pass to senior wideout Mike Halligan, bringing Harvard within four yards of the end zone.

Yale strong safety Tony Mazurkiewicz blasts through the Harvard line on a blitz and tackles sophomore quarterback Jay Snowden, who had replaced Ferrara, for a three-yard loss.

Snowden scrambles to the left side on an option play and gains five yards.

Junior tailback Eion Hu takes a pitch out of the Crimson's inverted wishbone formation and runs two yards for the Game-clinching touchdown.