FOOTBALL: Yale defeats Harvard in The Game
Yale football stuns Harvard, wins The Game for the first time since 2006
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — The streak is over.
A 2–7 Yale football team limped into Harvard Stadium on Saturday to face a Crimson squad that needed one win in order to lock up its fourth consecutive Ivy League title. But after 60 minutes of play, it was Yale that ended up celebrating on the field, a 21–14 victory in hand, while Harvard fans and players filed out of their stadium, shocked.
The Yale (3–7, 3–4 Ivy) defensive unit played its best game of season against an immensely tough challenge and held the Harvard (7–3, 5–2) offense to just 14 points after it came into The Game averaging 27.6 per contest. Bolstered by a cadre of freshmen — including quarterback Kurt Rawlings ’20, who likely became the first freshman to quarterback Yale to a win over Harvard — the Elis offense put up three touchdowns and did not turn the ball over a single time.
“There’s a long streak, we didn’t want to talk about it but it’s over,” Rawlings said. “Now it’s our streak and it’s the start of something new. I’m excited to get rolling in the off season and build on this.”
The Yale defense played its best when it mattered most, holding Harvard scoreless in the final 23 minutes of the game. Crimson quarterback Joe Viviano — who ranks third in the Ivy League in passing yards this season — completed just two passes in the first half, while his top receiver Justice Shelton-Mosley gained just 50 yards all game. As the game progressed, the Elis’ pass rush heated up and prevented Viviano from finding his receivers on late drives.
Reno made several gutsy play calls which proved crucial to Yale’s victory. Down 7–0 late in the first half, holder Andrew Johnson ’18 executed a fake field goal, completing a 16-yard pass to tight end Leo Haenni ’17 on fourth-and-four. Lamar’s touchdown came four plays later.
“The bottom line is that it was a great call, a great play and they executed,” Harvard head coach Tim Murphy said. “Obviously, we should have covered it better and that’s on me.”
Reno made an even bolder decision to start the second half when kicker Blake Horn ’18 attempted an onside kick, tapping the ball 10 yards and recovering it himself to catch Harvard completely off guard. Yale went on to score a touchdown five plays later.
While this season was, in many ways, a disappointment — five of the team’s seven losses were by 14 points or more — it ended on the highest of highs.
Saturday marked Reno’s first victory against Harvard as a head coach in his five-year tenure, though he was an assistant for the Bulldogs when Yale defeated Harvard in 2006.
“You grow as the season goes on, and this team grew every week,” head coach Tony Reno said. “Sometimes it wasn’t easy to see in the score … but what we saw today was the hard work these kids have put in all season long.”
The Elis finished the Ivy League season in a fourth-place tie with Brown. Penn and Princeton finished tied for first, and Harvard came in second.