Harvard Trounces Yale 35-3 in the Game

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Posted 4:49PM on Saturday, November 20, 2004

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- Ricky Williamson scored on a 100-yard interception return and Brian Edwards ran back a punt for another touchdown to help Harvard complete a perfect season by beating Yale 35-3 on Saturday in the 121st edition of The Game. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for a touchdown and also ran one in as Harvard (10-0, 7-0 Ivy) finished unbeaten and untied for the second time in four years. Before 2001, the Crimson had not had a perfect season since 1913. The Crimson had already clinched at least a share of the Ivy title, and the 2004 banner had been added to the ring above Harvard Stadium. But no season is complete without a victory against Yale (5-5, 3-4), and Harvard finished them off for the fourth consecutive year; the last Harvard seniors to go 4-0 against their rivals was the class of '23. Despite the outcome - the most lopsided since a 45-7 Harvard victory in 1982 - The Game was played with the intensity befitting a 129-year-old rivalry, with a handful of personal fouls on the field and among the sellout crowd of 30,323. The lone consolation for Yale was the fact that some of its partisans managed to steal the Harvard flag at halftime. An incensed Harvard cheerleader went into the crowd of Yalies in an attempt to retrieve it; fists flew as he pursued the flag up the concrete seating bowl before security turned him back. Only a 28-yard field goal with 4:43 left in the first half helped Yale avert a shutout. Clifton Dawson, who opened the scoring with a 4-yard run in the first quarter, set the school's single-season rushing record with 120 yards on 26 carries. He totaled 1,302 yards before leaving to a nice ovation when Harvard coach Tim Murphy pulled his stars with nine minutes to play. Fitzpatrick, a senior trying to impress scouts from the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots, left a minute later and received the congratulations of his teammates and the fans. He finished 15-for-24 for 124 yards passing and 67 rushing and the school career record for total offense (6,721 yards). Yale punter Tyson Crawford struggled on his first two kicks and outkicked his coverage on his third, early in the second quarter. Edwards dropped it, but he picked it up and went to his right before finding a hole and streaking down the sideline for a 53-yard score that made it 14-0. A wide receiver with four touchdown catches this season, Edwards has four returning TDs and has also thrown for a score. Williamson is credited with a 100-yard return even though he was in his own end zone when he caught Alvin Cowan's pass and took it the length of the field to give Harvard a 21-0 lead. It was the third 100-yard interception return in school history and the first since 1969; in 1910, when the field was 110 yards long, Edward Graustein ran one back 104 yards against Cornell. Yale had a chance to make it close, driving to the Harvard 36 in the third quarter before Cowan's sneak attempt on fourth-and-inches was stopped. Harvard went long on the next play and drew a pass interference penalty that sparked a 10-play, 64-yard drive. Fitzpatrick ran twice on third downs to keep the drive going before carrying it in from the 1 to make it 35-3.