CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - From the tailgating scene outside venerable Harvard Stadium to an electrifying 63-yard touchdown catch and run by Paul Raymond '08 and bone-crushing hits from the Brown defense, Saturday night's football game at Harvard was memorable in every way except for one - the final result.
Brown lost to Harvard 24-17 under the lights in the first night game at Harvard. While the Bears offense proved proficient in the first half, the team was shut out in the second after failing to put together any sustained drives.
The Bears' night began on a sour note when Harvard marched straight down the field for a touchdown in its opening drive, capping its eight-play, 80-yard drive with a wide-open 21-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Liam O'Hagan. On the first play of the Bears' ensuing possession, the Bears' starting running back Dereck Knight '08 hobbled off the field with a foot injury. Knight immediately applied ice to his foot and re-entered the game for a few plays, but it became obvious that his injured foot would render Knight ineffective and the co-captain missed the rest of the game.
When asked whether Knight's injury hurt his team's chances, Head Coach Phil Estes said, "Absolutely. I mean, he ran for 208 yards last week. We didn't think we were going to have to run, run, run the football, but it certainly makes a difference when you have your big back out of the game."
As the first quarter progressed, the Bears began to receive big contributions from other performers. On a 3rd-and-10 for Harvard midway through he first quarter, defensive end Wale Adedokun '09 sacked O'Hagan for a 5-yard loss. After receiving the ball back, starting quarterback Michael Dougherty '09 found Raymond on a slant over the middle. Raymond made a move to elude a tackler, got to the outside, sprinted down the sideline and dove into the end zone. The score, which came with 4:12 left in the first quarter, was Raymond's second receiving touchdown this season - both were longer than 25 yards.
Brown allowed a Harvard touchdown drive in the second quarter, but Dougherty led another impressive drive to answer. Dougherty, who finished with 249 passing yards and two touchdowns, found receivers Bobby Sewall '10 and Buddy Farnham '10 four times to lead the Bears down the field. On 4th-and-1 from the Crimson 10-yard line, Estes rolled the dice and elected to go for the first down conversion. Backup running back Jonathan Edwards '09 plowed forwards for two yards and the first down, and two plays later Dougherty found Farnham at the 5-yard-line. Farnham spun away from two Harvard defenders and scampered into the end zone to tie the score at 14.
Estes said afterward that the game plan called for getting the ball into the hands of the receivers and letting them run after the catch.
"We tried to create some match-ups and we got them at a certain point there," he said. "We had some good runs after the catch, but we didn't have any consistency in it. In the first half we had some offensive flow, in the second half it was more hodgepodge."
The Bears got the ball back later in the second quarter and drove to the Harvard 15. On 2nd-and-5, Dougherty's pass to Raymond was disrupted by an early hit from a Harvard defensive back for what appeared to be blatant pass interference and a 1st-and-goal. But the referee ruled that the ball had been tipped, making the early contact legal.
"I did not see that ball get tipped," Estes said. "The ball had a clear window and the referee saw that the ball was tipped. I don't think there was another official that saw it. I'm not criticizing, it might get me in trouble, but I didn't see it and I don't know what he saw there."
After Brown settled for a field goal, Harvard returned the kickoff to the Brown 46-yard line and threw a long pass to the Bears' 5. A few plays later Harvard went into the end zone to take a 21-17 lead into halftime.
The second half was a completely different game. In contrast with the wide-open offense of the first half, both defenses clamped down. When O'Hagan scrambled out of the pocket on the Crimson's first possession of the second half, he was crushed by three hits from the Bears defense leaving him woozy and knocking him out of the game. When backup quarterback Chris Pizzotti came in on the next series, Darrell Harrison '09 picked off his first pass and returned it 19 yards to midfield. After that the Crimson relied on the run, but it had little success as the Bears' run defense, spearheaded by Kai Brown '08 and co-captain Eric Brewer '08, held the hosts to less than three yards-per-carry on the day.
"We watched a lot of film this week, we knew what they were gonna come with on the run," Brewer said. "We shut them down and made them pretty one-dimensional, we made them go up top on the pass. We let up on too many big plays, but we stopped the run all night."
After a scoreless third quarter, the Bears recovered a fumble on the Harvard 24-yard line. But after three straight incompletions, Steve Morgan '08 pushed a 41-yard field goal wide left. The Crimson then marched down the field and earned a first-and-goal at the Bears' 8-yard line. When the defense held fast to hold the hosts to a field goal, Brown received the ball on its 20 with just over three minutes to go, needing a touchdown to tie the game. But Dougherty threw an interception and later threw his third pick of the game to ice the Harvard victory.
"It was a great football game," Estes said. "There was a lot of hitting going on out there. It was very typical of a Harvard-Brown football game. I admire (the players), we played hard. I don't walk out of this thinking it's the end of the world ... we're going to get better."
