In front of a sold-out home crowd of 2,504 fans, the Georgetown football team (2-4, 0-1 Patriot League) fell to Harvard (3-0, 1-0 Ivy League) 34-3 in a game much closer than the final score indicated. Mistakes and poor execution plagued the Hoyas throughout their second-consecutive loss and first-ever meeting with the Crimson.
“We have a theme around here, it’s either ‘win or learn,’ and we learned lots of things,” said Georgetown Head Coach Rob Sgarlata. “We played an excellent opponent, and when you do that you have to execute at a high level.”
On the opening drive of the contest, the Crimson asserted their offensive prowess as they put together a 55-yard scoring drive, culminating with senior running back Andrew Casten’s 2-yard touchdown run, his first of four touchdowns on the day. The Hoyas answered on the ensuing drive, as senior quarterback Kyle Nolan marshaled the offense down the field to the Harvard 19-yard line with ease. The offense, however, failed to gain further ground and settled for a 36-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Henry Darmstadter. The field goal turned out to be the Hoyas’ only score of the day, which cut the Crimson lead to 7-3.
The Crimson responded with a pair of Casten touchdowns, including a 22-yard run at the 4:13 mark of the first quarter and a 6-yard run with 55 seconds remaining in the second quarter. Harvard went into halftime with a comfortable 20-3 lead and never looked back. Casten’s final touchdown, a 3-yard run, and a 27-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Scott Hosch to freshman receiver Joseph Foster capped the scoring for the Crimson.
Despite scoring three points, the Georgetown offense moved the ball effectively for most of the game, especially in the middle part of the field. Junior quarterback Kyle Nolan completed 16-of-33 passes passes for 153 yards and no interceptions, while junior running back Jo’el Kimpela rushed for 55 yards on 16 carries. Sophomore wide receiver Justin Hill was Nolan’s most popular target. He finished the day with five receptions for 44 yards. Sgarlata found a lot of positives in his team’s offensive performance.
“We moved the ball against one of the better defenses in [Division 1-AA],” said Sgarlata. “You’re not going to see a better looking football team than that as far as from a physical standpoint. We talked to our kids about ‘aim small, shoot small,’ focusing on just one play, one technique, one thing that we’re doing. I thought for the most part we did that.”
The offense, however, failed to translate this effort onto the scoreboard, as costly mistakes, such as penalties and missed assignments at inopportune times, prevented the Hoyas from mounting a comeback. “We got to do a better job on third down,” said Nolan.
“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot [on offense],” said Nolan. We just have to finish drives…we’ve just got to find a way to get it into [the end zone].”
The Blue and Gray will look to snap their two-game losing streak when they resume their Patriot League schedule at Lafayette this Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Sgarlata feels they will bounce back.
“We always tell the kids it’s not a one game season. This whole thing is a journey, not a process. We’ll flush this out, see what we can learn from it and move forward.”
Photo by Carolyn Zaccaro
