Sept 21, 2002

BOSTON (AP) - Neil Rose completed 19 of 22 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns as Harvard beat Holy Cross 28-23 on Saturday, extending the Crimson's unbeaten streak to 10 games.

Carl Morris also made 11 catches for 210 yards and two scores for Harvard (1-0).

Ari Confessor returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown and caught a 24-yard pass from Brian Hall for another, but it wasn't enough as Holy Cross (2-1) saw a second half rally fall short.

Rose threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter as Harvard jumped out to a 14-0 lead. Nick Palazzo caught a 7-yard touchdown pass at 7:12, and Morris scored on a 60-yard pass with 1:24 left in the quarter.

Holy Cross cut the score to 14-7 with 6:42 remaining in the half, capping an 80-yard drive on a 28-yard touchdown pass to from Hall to Adam Martin.

Harvard answered with Rose's third touchdown of the game, a 5-yard pass to Rodney Byrnes with 1:01 left, giving the Crimson a 21-7 lead at the half.

Andrew Simons of Holy Cross blocked Adam Kingston's punt at the Harvard 5-yard line on Harvard's first possession of the second half. Four plays later, Chris Vella kicked a 21-yard field goal as the Crusaders sliced the score to 21-10.

With six minutes left in the third quarter, Byrnes threw a 34-yard pass to Morris, putting Harvard ahead 28-10.