Football's Marco Iannuzzi Named Ivy League Special Teamer of the Week
PRINCETON, N.J. - Harvard football player Marco Iannuzzi was named the Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week in an announcement by the league office on Monday afternoon.
Joining Iannuzzi on the Ivy League’s weekly Honor Roll was senior LB Nick Hasselberg and senior RB Gino Gordon.
Iannuzzi, who was also named the National Kickoff Returner of the Week by the College Football Performance Awards, played against Yale in his first game since breaking his clavicle against Lafayette on Oct. 2.
And on his first kickoff return, to start the second half, Iannuzzi took it 84 yards for a game-tying touchdown to spark a 21-point run for the Crimson during its 28-21 win over Yale in the 127th playing of The Game.
Iannuzzi, who also pulled down a 46-yard pass in the first quarter, finished the 2010 season by averaging 34.5 yards per kickoff return, making him Harvard’s all-time leader in that category. For his career, Iannuzzi averaged 26.5 yards per return, which also places him atop Harvard’s all-time list. He is the first player to have two kickoff returns for a touchdown in a single season.
Gordon rushed for a pair of touchdowns against Yale in a 28-21 win. Gordon becomes just the fifth player at Harvard to run for at least 10 touchdowns in a single season.
Hasselberg tied a single-game record for tackles in a game with 20 against Yale. Hasselberg had 10 tackles in each half and finished with one tackle for a loss and on QB hurry.
Notes:
Harvard ends its 2010 campaign with a 7-3 overall record to finish
with at least seven wins for a 10th-straight season. Harvard is the
only Ivy team to even have a stretch of seven consecutive seven-win
seasons … Senior LB Nick Hasselberg tied a single game
record for tackles in a game (20), with 10 in each half, tying
Isaiah Kacyvenski '00, who did it twice in the 199 season (Colgate,
Fordham) … Senior DE Ryan Burkhead had a career-high 2.5
sacks for -20 yards … Four Harvard players finished with
double digit tackles (Hasselberg – 20, Alex Gedeon –
17, Chuks Obi – 97, Josue Ortiz – 11) for the first
time this season … Harvard's senior class went undefeated
against Yale (4-0 over four years) for just the fifth time in
school history but second time since 2000 (2001-04) … The
senior class went undefeated against Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth
(combined 12-0), marking the first time a class has done that in
school history … The seniors, who also swept Columbia and
Cornell, are one of just two graduating classes to go unbeaten
against Yale and Princeton (1912-15) … Harvard has
defeated Yale in nine of the last 10 years … Harvard senior
wide receiver Zar Zavala (El Paso, Texas) was notified minutes
after the game's conclusion that he had earned a Rhodes
Scholarship. Zavala, who played in three games this season, had
previously earned the Marshall Scholarship and just flew back from
his interview on Saturday, landing in Boston at 12:23 ... Harvard's
junior varsity team defeated Yale by an identical 28-21 score on
Friday … Harvard running back Gino Gordon, Harvard’s
first 1,000-yard RB since Clifton Dawson ’07, finished as the
school’s all-time leader in yards-per-carry (5.3) while
leading the Ivy League in that category this season with a 6.3 ypc
ledger. Gordon also became just the fifth player to score at least
10 rushing touchdowns in a season. Gordon finished the season with
1,059 yards, good enough for seventh on the single-season rushing
list to move past Jim Callinan ’82, who had 1,054 in 1981
… Marco Iannuzzi averaged 34.5 yards per kickoff return this
season, making him Harvard’s all-time leader in that category
… For his career, Iannuzzi averaged 26.5 yards per return,
which also places him atop Harvard’s all-time list …
Harvard has scored points in a school-record 128 consecutive games
… Iannuzzi is the first player to have two kickoff returns
for a touchdown in a single season … Defensive tackle Josue
Ortiz led the Ivy League in both sacks (7.5) and tackles for a loss
(13.5).
