Pizzotti, Harvard rally past Crusaders

The first Friday night game at Harvard Stadium attracted a crowd of 20,462, and senior quarterback Chris Pizzotti sent the spectators into the night buzzing, throwing for 370 yards as the Crimson roared back with 19 fourth-quarter points to beat Holy Cross, 25-24.

Pizzotti, who completed 30 of 44 passes for a touchdown and two interceptions, threw himself into fourth in the Harvard record book for passing yards in a game, but it wasn't until he scored on his second 1-yard touchdown run in less than five minutes, with 1:42 remaining, that the Crimson (1-0) went ahead.

"We were very, very fortunate to win that game," said Harvard coach Tim Murphy. "We made too many mistakes against a good team. The saving grace was that we had great character and found a way to win.

"Our defense played tremendously overall. We put their back to the wall too many times with turnovers, but in the end our kids just fought and found a way to win. We need to get a whole lot better, but if we play that hard, we'll have a chance against anybody."

The Crimson defense registered eight tackles for loss, and had six quarterback hurries.

"They made the plays in the second half and we didn't," said Holy Cross coach Tom Gilmore. "I thought we had control even in the third quarter. But there were two red-zone chances when we didn't come away with anything."

Holy Cross led, 17-6, to start the fourth quarter and was poised to increase its lead when Harvard's Eric Schultz dumped Crusaders quarterback Dominic Randolph for a 9-yard loss, forcing a fumble. Schultz recovered.

On the ensuing drive, Pizzotti floated a pass to Marco Iannuzzi (11 catches, 174 yards), who hauled it in at the 31 and outran a pair of Holy Cross defenders for the 68-yard score. The 2-point conversion failed, but Holy Cross was reeling.

"No question it changed the whole complexion of the game, gave us that momentum and gave us energy," said Murphy. "From there on in, we just played inspired football."

After Randolph answered with a 1-yard TD run, Gino Gordon powered the next Harvard drive, rushing four consecutive times to move the Crimson from their 34 to the Holy Cross 29. Pizzotti found Matt Luft for a 28-yard gain, and after Holy Cross twice stopped Ben Jenkins from the 1, Pizzotti ran it in to bring Harvard to 24-19.

Harvard got the ball back with 5:11 left, and went 60 yards in 11 plays, Pizzotti again taking it the final yard, for a 25-24 lead.

Holy Cross had 1:35 remaining, but the Harvard defense stiffened, ending the possession when Glenn Dorris knocked receiver Nick Cole out of bounds 6 yards short of a first down on fourth and 12.

"It's a brutal way to lose a football game," said Gilmore. "That's two in a row we've lost late in the game like this. We're just going to have to continue to work on our stuff and get a little better because for the second consecutive game we gave up big, big plays and made brutal mistakes in all three phases of the game and let a team come back and beat us."

Harvard couldn't find its way to the end zone for a long time, despite Pizzotti's success through the air (9 for his first 9). The Crimson twice settled for Patrick Long field goals, both from 29 yards. Harvard was 0 for 9 on third-down conversions in the first three quarters.

The Crusaders (0-2), on the other hand, saved their best for first, scoring a pair of first-half touchdowns, as well as a field goal. Holy Cross connected on a 9-yard pass from Randolph (27 of 52 for 239 yards, 1 TD, 1 interception) to Jon Brock in the right corner of the end zone.

Matt Partain tacked on a 24-yard field goal, before Terrance Gass scored on a 1-yard run for the Crusaders after Michael Wright picked off Pizzotti.