Football Cruises Over Columbia, 52-18, in Senior Day Victory

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—In its last regular season matchup at Harvard Stadium, the Harvard football team returned to the win column with a dominating 52-18 victory over the Columbia Lions. With today's victory, Harvard improves to 4-4 (2-3 Ivy) on the season, while the Lions fall to 4-4 and 1-4.

Senior Tom Stewart led the Crimson on offense with a record-setting performance, going 15-for-26 on 393 yards and five touchdowns. Stewart's standout performance marked the first time the senior surpassed 300 yards in a game, broke a career record for yards in a game set earlier this season against Holy Cross (272 yards) and tied the Harvard mark for most touchdown passes in a game. Stewart's 393 yards eighth most in school history. Sophomore Aaron Shampklin continued his impressive season, posting two touchdowns and a total of 92 yards on the day.

Senior Zach Miller led the defense, posting eight total tackles, 0.5 for loss, one breakup, and one forced fumble. Wesley Ogsbury made a career-high two interceptions, giving him five picks on the season.

On its opening drive, the Crimson took an early 7-0 lead off a 92-yard connection between Tom Stewart and Jack Cook, marking the longest touchdown pass in program history.

Keeping the Lions' offense to a field goal, the Crimson quickly returned to the end zone as Tyler Adamscaught a 75-yard pass from Stewart to put the Crimson up 14-3 with 7:22 left in the first quarter. Columbia would respond with a 29-yard field goal to cut down the lead to 14-6.

On another long ball from Stewart, Shampklin dashed for 75 yards to add another seven to the Crimson lead, putting Harvard up 21-6 to close out the first quarter.

After 12 scoreless minutes, Columbia broke through the Crimson defense to tally their first score off the game. But, a missed snap would prevent the Lions from securing the extra point, keeping the score at 21-12 with 5:51 on the clock in the second. With seconds left on the clock, Henry Taylor leapt to make a catch, pushing the Crimson to 28-12 as they headed to the locker room.

Shampklin added another to the scoreboard, rushing for six yards to extend the Crimson advantage to 35-12 early in the third.

Heavy winds and an overthrown Lions snap gave the Crimson a safety to kick off the fourth quarter, but Columbia quickly rebounded with a pass into the end zone to trim Harvard's lead down to 37-18 with 12:03 left of play.

With three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, senior Charlie Booker dashed for a touchdown, giving the Crimson 50 points over Columbia's 18. A blocked extra-point attempt allowed Cecil Williams to pick up the ball and dive into the end zone to give Harvard an extra two points to best Columbia, 52-18.

Harvard Highlights

• On the opening drive, Tom Stewart completed a 92-yard touchdown pass to receiver Jack Cook, marking the longest touchdown pass in program history.

• Stewart surpassed his career-high, throwing for 393 yards against the Lions, beating out his 272-yard game against Holy Cross earlier this season. His 393 yards also marks his first 300-yard game.

• Stewart's five touchdown passes puts the senior in a four-way tie for first in most touchdown passes in a game.

• Captain Zach Miller led the defense with eight tackles, 0.5 for loss, one breakup, and one forced fumble.

• Wesley Ogsbury led the team with a career-high two interceptions.

Game Notes

• Today's 52-18 victory over the Lions marks the first time since 2016 that the Crimson scored over 50 in a game. The last time Harvard completed this feat was on Sept. 16 when they topped Rhode Island, 51-21.

• With today's win, Harvard improves to 4-4 (2-3 Ivy) on the season.

What's Next The Crimson travels to Philadelphia to take on Penn next weekend, Nov. 10, in its final road action of the year. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.