Whips can't hold halftime lead
HARVARD -- Aided by three big first-half plays, Hampshire looked primed for an upset over host Harvard on Friday night in Big Northern Conference East Division play.
However, the second half was a whole different story. The Whip-Purs held a 20-13 lead at halftime before the Hornets scored 20 unanswered points to pull away for a 33-20 win in front of their homecoming crowd.
Harvard (5-1, 2-0)dominated both sides of the ball in the second half, putting up 239 yards of offense compared to the Whips' 55. Harvard running back Vince Gabrys ran for 195 of his 267 yards and three of his four touchdowns in the second half.
"I think in the second half they may have worn us down at the end," said Hampshire coach Dan Cavanaugh. "They drove the ball on us and had nice drives."
Harvard tied the game at 20 after Gabrys capped a nine-play, 66-yard drive with a 3-yard plunge with 5:17 left in the third quarter. After a Hampshire three-and-out, Harvard drove 74 yards to take a 27-20 lead with 10:27 left in the game.
Hampshire (1-5, 0-2, which likely saw its playoff chances disappear, finally put together its first efficient drive of the second half on its next possession. But that sputtered at the Harvard 30-yard line after quarterback Ryan Burke's pass was tipped at the line and fell incomplete on a fourth-and-1.
Harvard then put the game away after Gabrys scampered around the right side for a 15-yard touchdown run with 4:30 left.
"I give Harvard a lot of credit," Cavanaugh said. "They had to do it in the second half and they moved the ball on us and we couldn't get anything going."
Hampshire scored on its second drive of the game when senior Ron Laramie broke free up the middle for a 61-yard touchdown run with 5:25 left in the first quarter to put the Whips up 6-0.
The lead lasted only 12 seconds as Coty Kramer took the kickoff 78 yards to put Harvard up 7-6. Hampshire eventually fell behind 13-6 after Gabrys' first touchdown run of the night, but rallied to score two touchdowns in 36.8 seconds.
On a fourth-and-seven from its own 16-yard line, Harvard had its punt blocked by senior Cooper Smith, who fell on the ball in the end zone to cut the deficit to 13-12.
On the next drive, Harvard's Zach Fiegel fumbled the snap and Hampshire senior Caleb Kendrick picked the ball up and ran 68 yards for the touchdown as time expired in the half. Laramie converted on the two-point conversion to put Hampshire up 20-13.
"We made some big plays to hang tough," Cavanaugh said. "Our guys always fight to the end and play hard."
Laramie finished with 107 yards on 18 carries, while Burke completed 4 of 10 passes for 20 yards under a steady rain.
HARVARD 33, HAMPSHIRE 20
Hampshire 6 14 0 0 -- 20
Harvard 7 6 7 13 -- 33
Hampshire – Laramie 61 run (conversion failed) 5:25
Harvard – Kramer 78 kickoff return (Gonzalez kick) 5:13
Harvard – Gabrys 20 run (kick failed) 4:36
Hampshire – Cooper punt block, recovered in end zone (conversion failed) 0:36
Hampshire – Kendrick 68 fumble return (Laramie run) 0:00
Harvard – Gabrys 2 run (Gonzalez kick) 5:17
Harvard – Gabrys 5 run (Gonzalez kick) 10:27
Harvard – Gabrys 15 run (kick failed) 4:30
Team statistics Hampshire Harvard
First downs 10 17
Comp. att- int 4-10-0 5-8-0
Passing yards 20 35
Rush att- yard 33-125 43-313
Total yards 145 348
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 1-5 3-30
Individual stats
Rushing
Harvard – Gabrys 31-267, Kick 12-46
Hampshire – Laramie 18-107, Kendrick 10-24, Kuefner 3-19, Burke 2 (minus-6)
Passing
Harvard – Fiegel 5-8-0 35
Hampshire – Burke 4-10-0 20
Receiving
Harvard – Stephens 2-16, MacKenzie 1-7, Kick 2-12
Hampshire – Niccum 2-13, Quesada 1-6, Laramie 1-1
