The four local Ivy League teams finally kicked off this weekend and went 4-0.
Yale took down Holy Cross 38-31, (check out Dante Iafrate’s story on the site), while Harvard got Andrew Aurich his first win as head coach over Stetson (35-0). Dartmouth hammered Fordham 45-13 and Brown took down Georgetown on the road 26-14.
Harvard sprinted out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back in a dominant effort at home. Jaden Craig went 12-20 for 217 yards and three touchdowns. The Crimson rushed a whopping 51 times as a team for 136 yards. Shane McLaughlin led the way with 16 carries for 64 yards and a touchdown. Cooper Barkate led all receivers with 76 yards and a TD on four grabs. Ryan Osborne (4-58) and Scott Woods (2-51) both hauled in touchdowns as well.
Defensively, Mitchell Gonser had a 37 yard pick-six and the Crimson held Stetson to just 101 yards of total offense, 16 yards on the ground and eight first downs.
“It feels great because I know the work that those guys put in to get to this point,” Aurich said postgame. “So, for them to see the success that they can have with the work they put in, it makes me feel really good as a coach. We didn’t pull off the gas (in the second half), what happened was we weren’t handling the weather very well. Offensively, bad things were happening and we we weren’t taking care of the ball the way we should, so it naturally slowed us down. But, the defense was playing so well the entire game that it didn’t really affect things…once I pop the tape on I know there’s going to be a lot of things I see that need to get corrected and it’s going to kind of take the celebration away.”
Brown got off to an extremely hot start as Jake Wilcox hit Solomon Miller for an 87 yard touchdown on the first offensive snap of the season and the Bears never looked back. Wilcox finished the day 17-33 for 268 yards and two touchdowns with a pick. Miller led the receivers with three grabs for 99 yards, but eight receivers caught at least one ball. Mike Mahoney also had a touchdown with three grabs for 78 yards. Ty Pezza had the most receptions with four (for 26 yards). Jordan DeLucia had 12 carries for 50 yards and a touchdown. Stockton Owen (10-18) and Wilcox (10-2) also had double-digit carries.
On defense, Tim Malo and Nevah Gattis each had an interception and the unit held the Hoyas to just 59 yards rushing.
Year two of the Sammy McCorkle era started with a bang as The Big Green put up 418 yards of offense and 45 points. Jackson Proctor was 14-18 for 185 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Paxton Scott had a huge day with six grabs for 121 yards while Chris Corbo (3-27) also had a TD catch. It was the ground game that really got it done for Dartmouth though. Eight players combined for 36 carries and 233 yards on the ground with three touchdowns. Q Jones led the way with 16 carries for 86 yards and a TD and he added a 19 yard TD reception too. D.J. Crowther added nine carries for 79 yards and a score and Grayson Saunier’s only carry of the game was a 30 yard touchdown run. Owen Zalc added a 40 yard field goal too.
Defensively, Dartmouth gave up just 257 yards of offense and held the Rams to a 2-11 clip on third down.
“You know, obviously going into this game, it’s the first one you’re just not quite sure, but really excited the way our guys prepared all preseason and prepared this week,” said McCorkle. “I really thought our energy was great, it really was.”