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Not content with Hollywood ending, Pizzotti reprises role as Harvard hero

CAMBRIDGE - Classic Western movies traditionally ended with the cowboy riding off into the sunset. The credits rolled, the curtains shut, and that's it for the hero.

That was the case for Harvard quarterback Chris Pizzotti last season. He came in during the third game to replace an injured starter, led his team to seven straight wins - all in conference play - and won the Ivy League championship with a brilliant game against favored Yale.

Martin Scorsese would have ended it there. Same with Coppola, Spielberg, Lucas, and the rest.

"Nine out of 10 guys would've ridden off into the sunset because it's legendary status," said Crimson coach Tim Murphy. "He goes from second-string quarterback to leading a team to an undefeated Ivy League championship to the single biggest performance by a quarterback in the Harvard-Yale game against the No. 1 defense in Yale history."

Murphy was real with Pizzotti. Instead of pleading with him to come back, even though had a year of eligibility left, he told him to think about it.

The 6-foot-5-inch Reading native did. He asked his family, certainly a good source for football wisdom. Pizzotti's late grandfather, Francis Dancewicz, played at Notre Dame; father Steve at Northeastern; brother Dave at Boston University then Harvard. A cousin, Mark Spinney, is currently a redshirt freshman center for Boston College, several uncles also played college football, and there's a pair of grandmothers who go to every one of his games.

"My family was great," Pizzotti said. "The whole time they said, 'It's up to you. It's 100 percent your decision.' I understand they love watching me play . . . but they told me if I wanted to hang up the cleats and be done with it, it's my decision, 100 percent."

His decision was simple.

"When I committed to Harvard, I committed to play four years of football," he said.

Though he was a senior, Pizzotti had played only three seasons. His 2005 season was robbed by a herniated disk in his lower back and he worked to contend for the role he wanted: starting quarterback.

Last summer, Murphy told Pizzotti he needed to work on his arm strength, game management, ability to scramble, and touch on deep passes. Pizzotti did, so much so, in fact, that Murphy couldn't believe it.

"You cannot believe he was the same player," Murphy said. "You just can't believe it."

But to start the season, Pizzotti was second-string. That changed when a helmet-to-helmet hit knocked starter Liam O'Hagan out of the Lehigh game. Pizzotti's story is heroic from there, and it peaked in the Yale game when he threw for 316 yards and a career-high four touchdowns against the league's top defense, ending the Bulldogs' perfect season. He could have walked away after that, but he didn't.

"He had such a great experience with the coaches and players," said father Steve. "He just wasn't ready to leave it behind."

"It's funny. After the season, a lot of people try to give you advice - different sources you wouldn't expect - and people would kind of question, 'Why not just go out on top?' " Chris Pizzotti said. "But if you're a competitor and you want to keep playing and win a championship, that's an opportunity you can't turn down."

So he's back after throwing for 2,134 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. Returning with Pizzotti is 6-6 wideout Matt Luft and running back Cheng Ho. The defense returns eight starters, including first-team All-Ivy cornerback Andrew Berry, but the challenge Pizzotti is looking forward to most is the chance to repeat as league champs, a feat not accomplished at Harvard since 1974-75. In fact, that was his biggest motivation to come back.

"You look at the Ivy League, there's so much history, but when you look at it closer, there's not a lot of teams that win back-to-back Ivy League championships," he said.

"I really wanted to be part of something special this year."