Box Score EASTON, Pa. – Harvard battered Lafayette
on the road Saturday as the Crimson churned out 311 rushing yards
in cruising to a 35-10 victory in Easton, Pa.
The victory was Harvard's ninth in the last 10 meetings between
the schools as the Crimson improves to 2-1 on the season. Harvard
has now defeated its two Patriot League opponents this season by a
combined score of 69-16.
With sophomore Colton Chapple
making his first start at quarterback for the Crimson in place of
an injured Andrew Hatch,
Harvard jumped out to a 21-0 lead before Lafayette (0-4) got on the
board with a 45-yard field goal in the final seconds of the first
half.
Harvard utilized a methodical running attack behind Gino Gordon and Treavor
Scales, as the Crimson collected 189 yards on 22 carries for an
8.6 yards per carry average in the opening session.
Gordon, who had 92 yards on 10 carries in the half by himself,
started the scoring with a two-yard option run in the first quarter
before Chapple hooked up with Kyle Juszczyk for
a nine-yard scoring pass early in the second. Scales added a
bruising five-yard scamper with 3:20 left before Lafayette scored
its field goal on an 11-play, 52-yard drive that was aided by a
pass interference call.
It was more than a Gordon-Scales attack for Harvard as the
Crimson also received 75 yards of offense in the opening half from
Michael Cook while Marco Iannuzzi
returned two kicks for a total of 92 yards.
Gordon started the second half with a bang as well, converting a
third-and-long and then some as he rattled off a 74-yard touchdown
to give Harvard a 28-3 lead at the 8:09 mark. After the run, he had
170 yards on just 12 carries and those would be his final numbers
for the afternoon as he sat our the remainder with a 14.2 ypc
average. It was the longest run of Gordon's career and the longest
for the Crimson since Clifton Dawson '07 had a 74-yard scoring run
at Dartmouth.
Rich
Zajeski added his first career touchdown with a one-yard plunge
at the 1:02 mark of the third to give Harvard an insurmountable
35-3 lead.
Lafayette finally got into the end zone with 4:59 left in the
game as reserve QB Andrew Shoop found Greg Kessel for a 18-yard
touchdown pass.
For the game, Harvard accumulated 402 yards of offense with 311
on the ground. The offensive line dominated play as the Crimson
averaged 6.6 yards per carry while attempting just 14 passes.
Lafayette was limited to 60 yards rushing (2.1 ypc). The Crimson
defense turned in nine tackles for a loss including four sacks
while the secondary broke up 12 passes. Blaise Deal led the
way with 10 tackles, one sack and two pass breakups.
Chapple finished his afternoon 6-for-11 for 82 yards and one
touchdown.
Harvard returns home for the next two weekends with games
against Cornell (Oct. 9) and Lehigh (Oct. 16). Both kickoffs are at
noon.
