Football: Comeback falls short at Harvard

A deficit is almost never easy to deal with. A deficit of 26 points is definitely never easy to handle. A deficit of 26 points on the road against a bitter rival that looks well on its way to winning the league might as well be insurmountable. But when he found his team down 35-9 early in the third quarter at Harvard on Saturday, senior quarterback Tommy Wornham would not let the Tigers simply roll over.

Wornham ran for two second-half scores and threw for another while leading the Tigers (1-5 overall, 1-2 Ivy League) in a valiant comeback attempt against the Crimson (5-1, 3-0). Princeton closed the gap to 42-39 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but Harvard quarterback Collier Winters, who finished with 403 yards and five touchdowns, sealed the game with two late touchdown passes.

“[Offensive coordinator James] Perry has been talking about it since last year — a three-touchdown flurry that will come,” Wornham said in the postgame press conference. “We just keep doing what we’re doing, keep playing fast. It was nice to see that, but it would have been nice to get the win, obviously.”

After two consecutive touchdown passes by Winters opened the second half, putting the Crimson up 35-9, Wornham and company set up on their own 38-yard line. With completions of 17 yards and 21 yards to junior tight end Mark Hayes and freshman wide receiver Matt Costello, as well as a 23-yard run from junior wide receiver Shane Wilkinson, Princeton swept down to the Harvard 2-yard line. Wornham took it in from there himself, closing the gap to 35-16 after the successful extra point.

Winters, not taking the Tigers’ response lightly, took his own offense down the field on the next drive. The senior capped it with a 17-yard pass to tailback Zach Boden, extending the Crimson lead to 26 once more.

The Tigers found an answer and more on their next drive. Two plays after a successful 11-yard completion from Wornham to Costello, freshman tailback Chuck Dibilio found daylight, reaching the end zone on a 42-yard touchdown run. Dibilio had 135 rushing yards, the majority of Princeton’s 267 yards on the ground, which nearly matched the league-best 277 that Harvard had allowed in the entire season up to that point.

“We got our checks right. We got into the right play call, which our quarterback did an exceptional job of this week,” head coach Bob Surace ’90 said. “I think we ran hard. We finished our runs. I thought our line did a good job. We had a good scheme. That’s an encouraging thing because I have such respect for those guys that play up front on [Harvard’s] defensive line.”

On the ensuing kickoff, freshman Brendan Sofen, who has seen action this season as a specialist on onside kicks, booted one that Princeton recovered on its 44-yard line. The Tigers pushed up to the Crimson’s 36-yard line with a 10-yard gain from Dibilio and a 13-yard completion from Wornham to Wilkinson. Three plays later, on third-and-13, Wornham hit Wilkinson again for a 36-yard touchdown pass, cutting Harvard’s lead to 11 points.

The Tigers allowed one first down on the next drive, but on the next set of downs senior wide receiver Isaac Serwanga, playing at defensive back, took Winters down two yards behind the marker. After a fair catch on the punt, Princeton started deep in its own territory on the 13-yard line.

Wornham could do no wrong on that drive, completing every single pass he attempted before finishing with a one-yard touchdown run. The following two-point conversion was successful, with Wornham completing to Costello, and the Tigers trailed just 42-39.

“We were pretty calmed down at halftime,” Wornham said. “Then we just got out there, and once the ball started rolling it just didn’t stop. It was one of those things where momentum just kept carrying us through. That was a fun third quarter.”

Unfortunately for the visitors, Winters and his offense did not sit down following the Tigers’ 23-point roar. Just like Wornham, the drive before, Winters was perfect on the series. Two straight tackles, including one for a loss by junior defensive lineman Matt Landry, brought up the only third-down play of the drive. But from the Princeton 18, with 12 yards to go for the first down, Winters completed a 17-yard pass to tailback Treavor Scales that turned the game. One play later, Scales found the end zone on a one-yard touchdown run, and the Crimson was again ahead by two possessions.

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On the next drive, the Tigers’ comeback fell short when Harvard linebacker Alex Gedeon intercepted Wornham’s pass at Princeton’s 43-yard line. Winters sealed the game on the drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass to tight end Cameron Brate with just under six minutes to play, and the Crimson stayed perfect in league play, 56-39.

“There’s a lot of plays we could have made,” senior defensive lineman Mike Catapano said. “I thought we had good energy, but bottom line is that there were a lot of leaky yards. Fifty-six points, no matter how you look at it, is too much.”

Princeton struck first in the game, starting with a short field after a good kickoff return from senior defensive back Ivan Charbonneau. Dibilio scored with a 9-yard touchdown run on the Tigers’ first drive, but senior kicker Patrick Jacob missed the extra point.

Harvard responded on the next drive behind a good rushing attack led by Scales, and Winters brought the ball into the end zone himself, putting the Crimson up 7-6. Two drives later, Winters extended the Harvard lead with three big passes, including a 29-yard touchdown to wide receiver Matt Brown.

The two teams traded possessions and punts until early in the second quarter, when the Princeton offense reached the Harvard 11-yard line. The Tigers were unable to capitalize, however, and Jacob kicked a 28-yard field goal, making the score 21-9.

After trailing by 12 points at halftime, the start of the third quarter did not bode well for the Tigers. Winters, returning to the field after sitting out four straight games due to injury, did not miss a beat as he hit wide receiver Chris Lorditch for a long 53-yard touchdown. After the Harvard defense forced a quick three-and-out, Crimson wide receiver Seitu Smith returned a punt 42 yards to set up at the Tigers’ 11-yard line. After a delay of game penalty on the Crimson, Winters wasted no time hitting wide receiver Alex Sarkisian for a 16-yard touchdown pass and a 35-9 lead.

Princeton gained 556 yards of total offense, its best output in more than four years. The Tigers will look to carry over that second-half momentum into their home game next week against Cornell, which has yet to win an Ivy League game.