Oct. 17, 2009
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Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Lafayette completed the sweep of Ivy League football foes by taking it to Ivy favorite Harvard, 35-18, on Saturday at Harvard Stadium. For the first time in school history Lafayette posted a 4-0 mark against Ancient Eight foes, with the previous best mark of 3-0 in several seasons, most recently in (1982).
Lafayette, which has been receiving votes in both Top 25 polls, improves to 5-1 overall for the second straight season and now faces a string of five Patriot League games to close out the regular season.
The Leopards created a pair of turnovers and capitalized on them in the first quarter, giving head coach Frank Tavani's troops the momentum they needed against Harvard (3-2). On the first play of the Crimson's initial drive, Harvard QB Collier Winters hit Chris Lorditch for five yards, but on the hit after the catch, Carlos Lowe forced a fumble and the Leopards' took over at the Harvard 27.
On the first play of the drive, an energized DeAndre' Morrow scampered 21 yards and followed it up with a six-yard scoring run to give Lafayette the 7-0 lead.
Michael Schmidlein's first career interception gave the Leopards' offense another scoring opportunity, starting in Harvard territory at the 47. A 16-yard strike from QB Rob Curley to TE Kevin Doty and runs of eight and 23 yards by Morrow put Lafayette ahead 14-0. The 23-yard jaunt by Morrow was his second TD of the game. He finished with 85 rushing yards and four catches for 54 yards to lead the team in both categories. Curley was 21-31-1 for 210 yards and two touchdowns.
Lafayette surrendered a 30-yard field goal by Patrick Long 44 seconds into the second quarter, but responded with a lengthy drive that covered 58 yards on 10 plays over six minutes. The Leopards actually punted on the drive on a 4th-and-3 at the LC 49, but a Harvard player ran into punter Tom Kondash, handing Lafayette a first down on the five-yard penalty. As the drive continued, Lafayette had the ball 2nd-and-4 at the Harvard 28 when Curley hit a wide-open Mitchell Bennett for a 20-yard completion. Two plays later, Tyrell Coon finished off the drive with a five-yard run as Lafayette led 21-3.
The Leopard offense created some more breathing room at the end of the first half, as Lafayette marched 11 plays and 65 yards in just 2:38. A 13-yard pass from Curley to Morrow, a 13-yard scramble by Curley and a 13-yard Harvard (3-2) interference penalty all resulted in first downs on the drive. Another 13-yard pass to Bennett was wiped out by a penalty. Bennett reeled in a 21-yard catch that set up Lafayette 1st-and-goal at the Harvard six. The drive concluded with a four-yard pass from Curley to Kyle Hayes for his first career TD and a 28-3 halftime lead.
After a scoreless third quarter, Harvard scored a pair of late touchdowns in the fourth quarter. On a 4th-and-8 at the Lafayette 14, Winters (19-36-1 for 233) hit Marco Ianuzzi for a 14-yard touchdown pass. The lengthy drive was not the quick score the Crimson were looking for, as it ran nearly five minutes off the clock while covering 87 yards.
Harvard's onsides kick went out of bounds and Lafayette took over at the Harvard 39. The Leopards initially stayed on the ground with White and Coon, but a 22-yard pass to Morrow set up a 1st-and-goal at the seven. On second down, Curley hit Jeff Cumming for a touchdown to run the score to 35-10 following Davis Rodriguez's fifth PAT of the day. The touchdown catch was the first reception by a Lafayette fullback this season.
Harvard added a meaningless final score on a desperation (4th-and -23) throw by Winters in the end zone, complete for a 47-yard TD to Lorditch with 1:52 left to put the final at 35-18.
Perhaps lost in the Leopards' top scoring output of the season, was the effort by the Lafayette defense. Lafayette stopped Harvard 14-of-16 times on third down and allowed just 110 rushing yards for a squad that was averaging 173 yards on the ground per game. Schmidlein led the team with 10 tackles. The Leopards had seven tackles for loss, including four sacks, three of which were literally at the hands of Ian Dell, with Mark Leggiero (6 tackles) accounting for the other.
Lafayette hosts Fordham on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. at Fisher Stadium.
