No. 24/25 Harvard Stifles Georgetown, 45-0, as Murphy Wins 150th with Crimson

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts – No. 24/25 Harvard football delivered a steady rushing attack and an imposing defense, shutting out Georgetown to win its 17th consecutive game under the lights at Harvard Stadium Friday night. Tim Murphy, The Thomas Stephenson Family Head Coach for Harvard Football, earned his 150th victory at the helm of the Crimson.

Freshman running back Noah Reimers rushed for 64 yards and a career-high three scores on the ground. Paul Stanton Jr. led the Crimson with 113 yards on 15 carriers and added two rushing scores as part of a six-rushing TD effort by Harvard.

The six rushing scores marked the most for the Crimson since Nov. 3, 2012 against Columbia (six).
Harvard (3-0) got on the board first, as Kenny Smart split the uprights from 31-yards out to give the Crimson a 3-0 advantage at the 9:48 mark.

After the Crimson defense forced Georgetown (2-3) to turn the ball over on downs, Paul Stanton, Jr.
extended Harvard's lead in style, rushing for his 30th career touchdown on a four-yard sprint up the middle to make it a 10-0 game with 5:12 remaining in the opening quarter. Stanton moved into sole possession of second-place in all-time career rushing touchdowns and is the second player in Harvard history to reach the 30 rushing TD mark.

Stanton wasted no time in finding the endzone again, opening the second quarter with a 37-yard TD run less than two minutes into the second quarter to extend the Crimson lead to 17-0.

Minutes later, Miles McCollum forced a strip sack on the ensuring Georgetown drive and senior captain Matt Koran recovered the fumble to set Harvard's offense up deep in Hoya territory. Scott Hosch connected with Ben Braunecker for a 23-yard gain. Noah Reimers, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Week, finished the Crimson drive on the next play with a 2-yard dive into the endzone to push Harvard's lead to 24-0.

Hosch closed out the first half with Harvard's third rushing score to cap a methodical 10-play, 67-yard drive, keeping the ball from one yard out and diving past the goal line to give the Crimson a 31-0 lead.

Seitu Smith II opened the second half with a 47-yard return to the Georgetown 38-yard line. Hosch and Reimers provided the rest of the yardage, as Reimers plunged into the endzone from two yards out for his second score of the night to give the Crimson a 38-0 lead three minutes into the third quarter.

With two minutes remaining in the same stanza, Reimers crossed the goal line again from a yard out for the Crimson's sixth rushing score of the game as Harvard cruised to a 45-0 victory.

The Crimson will hit the road and visit Cornell in a game shown live on FOX College Sports Saturday, Oct. 10. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.