Multi-faceted Crimson To Take on Leopards

Imagine playing Kill the Carrier on an open field. Now imagine playing it with 300-pound men. And you have the ball.

That’s what junior quarterback Collier Winters will be facing this weekend when the Crimson (3-1, 2-0 Ivy) takes on Lafayette (4-1).

“They have a really good secondary,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “They like to blitz like crazy, so [it’s] very tough to predict what they’re going to do as well.”

This philosophy has brought the Leopards victories against Yale, Penn, and Columbia.

“They’re always good when we play them,” Murphy said. “I think three out of the past six years they’ve been Patriot League champions and gone to the playoffs. They’re definitely a better team than they were a year ago and they were very good a year ago.”

The heart of Lafayette

Imagine playing Kill the Carrier on an open field. Now imagine playing it with 300-pound men. And you have the ball.

That’s what junior quarterback Collier Winters will be facing this weekend when the Crimson (3-1, 2-0 Ivy) takes on Lafayette (4-1).

“They have a really good secondary,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “They like to blitz like crazy, so [it’s] very tough to predict what they’re going to do as well.”

This philosophy has brought the Leopards victories against Yale, Penn, and Columbia.

“They’re always good when we play them,” Murphy said. “I think three out of the past six years they’ve been Patriot League champions and gone to the playoffs. They’re definitely a better team than they were a year ago, and they were very good a year ago.”

The heart of Lafayette is a dominating, blitz-oriented defense.

“A lot of defenses give away what they’re doing before the snap, but they do a pretty good job disguising it,” Winters said. “It’ll be good practice. [Blitzing is] something that we have struggled with and we need to work on.”

The Leopards’ defense includes senior linebacker Mark Leggiero, a two-time All-Patriot League selection and this year’s preseason player of the year. Leggiero was also named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week after his performance against Brown, in which he had 12 tackles, nine of which were solo efforts.

“When we’ve played them I think four out of the last five years, they’ve ranked in the top 10 in total defense and they’re right there again this year,” Murphy said.

A win against Harvard would give Lafayette its first 4-0 season record against the Ivy League schools in school history.

The Crimson, meanwhile, is looking to continue its three-game trend of winning with increasing margins.

In these wins, Harvard has demonstrated versatility in its attack.

“I think in the past games, we’ve shown that we can either run the ball or pass the ball,” junior wide-out Marco Iannuzzi said. “Now we want to do both in one game.”

Harvard hasn’t been pushed to deploy all of its weapons in its three victories but may have to this weekend.

In the last two weekends against Cornell and Lehigh, it was the running game that got the offense going.

Against the Big Red, junior Gino Gordon and freshman Treavor Scales combined for 251 yards and 4 touchdowns.

In the game against the Mountain Hawks with Gordon and Scales out, senior Cheng Ho led the way with 132 yards on 21 carries. Meanwhile, Winters was the star of Harvard’s night time thriller against Brown, throwing for 223 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for another.

“Having our two dimensions [on attack] helps us wi th the edge in getting us more versatile,” Ho added.

If the weather is as predicted, the Crimson may have to rely on its running game more.

“We’re football players, and we’re based out of Boston,” Iannuzzi said. “So if you’re not used to the weather, better get used to it quick.”

Iannuzzi does concede that rain could change the offense and the scoring.

“Weather conditions can obviously change the game, but it’s not a disadvantage,” he said. “Both teams are forced to run. Both teams have to deal with the same adversity.”

“If it’s a crummy day, it’s going to be a low-scoring game,” Murphy said. “Because both defenses are good, and if by weather or other ways, teams are forced to play one handed, you become predictable.”

Perhaps if the weather is bad enough to interfere with fans’ vision, it could become possible to confuse the two teams’ similar three-man rushing attacks.

“They literally have played, like us, three backs,” Murphy said. “So it doesn’t matter who’s in there, they can all carry the football. At least two of them have breakaway type of speed so there’s no question that if the weather gets bad, we’re going to have to keep those guys under wraps.”

“The key to their offense is going to be stopping the run,” captain Carl Ehrlich said. “I think the real battle is their offensive line versus our defensive line. The real battle is going to be holding the line of scrimmage.”

Harvard’s defensive line will have to fight through offensive linemen that Murphy estimates to weigh an average of 300 pounds.

“Patriot [League] linemen tend to be a little bigger,” Ehrlich said.

On both sides of the ball, the Crimson will face a talented Lafayette team that intends to go undefeated in Ivy League play.

“We had a great week of preparation,” Iannuzzi said. “I think we’re well prepared.”