The Game '09
The Do-It-All-American
Family man. Self-starter. Entrepreneur. Winner.
Meet Derrick Barker, senior cornerback for the Harvard Crimson.
Not Just a Game
A heartbroken Harvard football team (6-3, 5-1 Ivy) will seek to release its frustrations from last weekend’s loss to Penn against Yale (4-5, 2-4) in the 126th edition of The Game in New Haven, Conn. this afternoon.
Coming off a loss that takes its Ivy League title hopes out of its hands, the Crimson and busloads of supporters will head to the Yale Bowl looking to end the season on a positive note.
Veteran Linebackers Burst into the Spotlight, Wreak Havoc on Opposing Offenses After Years Waiting in the Wings
Last November, on a cold Saturday afternoon, a Harvard linebacker stepped up big. With the score 10-0 and less than four minutes remaining in The Game, Yale was threatening on the two-yard line. That is, until Eric Schultz ’09 burst through the line of scrimmage and laid a fumble-forcing sack on Bulldog quarterback Brook Hart, sealing a second straight Ivy title for the Crimson.
With Schultz and classmate Glenn Dorris ’09 getting all the attention—and much of the playing time—on last year’s linebacking corps, many of the then-junior linebackers spent the majority of the season on the sidelines. Only two of those juniors, Conor Murphy and Sean Hayes, recorded a tackle in last year’s game.
Under the Radar, Offensive Line Clears the Way for Crimson Playmakers to Shine
They are the “heart and soul” of the team, according to Harvard coach Tim Murphy. They are the main reason why Harvard leads the Ivy League in both scoring and rushing offense. But you’ll never see them in the box scores and rarely see them mentioned in the headlines. They are the senior offensive linemen—John Paris, Ben Sessions, Alex Spisak, and James Williams—and each is happy to play the role of the unsung hero.
“I’ve never been a guy that wants to be in the limelight,” says Spisak, who made the switch from backup defensive lineman to starting offensive lineman last year. “The running backs know it’s up to you, the quarterback knows you need to do it, but the fans don’t. And that’s fine. We go to work every day, put in the extra time, watch the extra film, and nobody really knows that. When it boils down to it, we don’t need the glory.”
Cooking Again
You never know what you have until it’s gone.
For senior wide receiver Mike Cook, these words reflect an injury-riddled junior football season.