When wide receiver Buddy Farnham '10 snuck into the end zone to tie the score at 34-34, with 11:02 to play in Saturday's football game, the Brown Stadium crowd cheered in disbelief. At halftime, the Bears faced a seemingly insurmountable 31-10 deficit, but the team charged back into contention in its matchup against the College of the Holy Cross.
Unfortunately, the crowd had little to cheer about for the rest of the game. The Crusaders pulled away from the Bears (1-3, 0-1 Ivy League) with two fourth quarter touchdowns to hand Brown its third straight loss, with a final score of 48-37.
"We have to come together as a team," said co-captain Eric Brewer '08. "We couldn't get (defensive) stops when it counted. The defense just couldn't get off the field, and that's what hurt us."
Trailing 31-10, Brown received the ball first in the second half and confidently marched up the field. In contrast to the rest of the game, the Bears gained most of their yardage on the ground in their opening drive. Quarterback Michael Dougherty '09 ran twice for 21 yards, Jonathan Edwards '09 broke free up the middle for a 28-yard gain to the Holy Cross 6-yard line, and Chris Strickland '10 ran into the end zone from two yards out at the 11:03 mark to cut the deficit to 14.
"At halftime we talked about believing in ourselves, believing we could score and could make stops," said Head Coach Phil Estes. "But we gotta click in the first half (on offense). We have to start scoring early and often."
The Brown defense came up big on the next possession. After a one-yard loss and 10-yard completion, defensive lineman James Develin '10 stuffed the Holy Cross running back for no gain to force a punt.
"We came out in the second half with a lot of excitement," Brewer said. "It was encouraging to see there was no quit."
After trading field goals with Holy Cross, Brown's serious comeback came on a drive that started with 1:33 left in the third quarter. On 2nd-and-18 at the Brown 36, Paul Raymond '08 made a diving catch on a lofted ball from Dougherty for a 31-yard gain. Two plays later, tight end Colin Cloherty '09 took a short pass and rumbled 19 yards to the two, where Strickland punched the ball in for his second touchdown of the game at 14:11 in the fourth quarter.
A big play on special teams gave Brown great field position for its game-tying drive. Facing a 4th-and-four at the Brown 47, Holy Cross sent out its offense but elected to have quarterback Dominic Randolph pooch punt, an attempt which was blocked by linebacker Frank Nuzzo '09.
Dougherty then hit Farnham for 24 yards, wide out Bobby Sewall '10 for 17 yards and found Farnham in the flat for a seven-yard catch-and-run which tied the score at 34.
"At halftime, we knew we were going to have to put up some points," Dougherty said. "We really started throwing the ball, and in the second half things clicked on offense."
Dougherty finished the game 42-for-65 for 422 yards and two touchdowns and also had no interceptions. His 65 passing attempts set a Brown single-game record. Farnham, Sewall and Raymond were the primary targets, finishing with 99, 100 and 138 yards, respectively.
"Spreading the ball around is just a part of our offense," Dougherty said. "Different guys do different plays well - we had a lot of variety."
Holy Cross responded to Brown's game-tying score with another passing touchdown from Randolph, but Brown drove back down the field once again. On first down from the Crusader six, Sewall lined up at quarterback and ran into the end zone, but the touchdown was called back due to a holding penalty and Brown was forced to settle for a field goal with 5:46 to play.
"That holding call was a big, big play," Estes said. "We didn't want three (points) there."
The penalty "took the wind out of our sails a little bit," Dougherty added.
Needing to stop Holy Cross to have a chance on the ensuing drive, Brown's defense was pushed aside by the Crusdaers who scored on a 19-yard touchdown pass to seal the Bears' fate.
That Brown was unable to pull out the victory hurt even more due to the steep hill it had climbed to get back into the game. In the first half it looked like a long shot for Brown to make the game interesting.
The Bears got off to a good start after Holy Cross opened the scoring. The Crusaders started with an impressive drive capped by a 19-yard touchdown run, but Brown responded when Dougherty hit Sewall in stride on the right side of the field. Sewall made a move to the middle, split two defenders and dove into the end zone for a 31-yard touchdown.
The visitors drove straight down the field for a field goal and touchdown on successive possessions in the first quarter, giving them a 17-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Brown then drove to the Holy Cross three-yard line, but after Dougherty was tackled behind the line of scrimmage and was sacked on consecutive plays, the team settled for a 30-yard field goal from Steve Morgan '08 with 10:44 to go in the second quarter. Morgan's field goal gave the senior the all-time Ivy League record for points from a kicker.
But the field goal only halted the Crusaders' onslaught temporarily. They scored on 14- and 30-yard passing touchdowns to open up a 31-10 lead that remained until halftime.
In a last desperate attempt, Brown drove to the Holy Cross 12, where Dougherty was pummeled for a sack and three-yard loss on 2nd-and-8. Clearly shaken, Dougherty threw a quick, nervous pass on third down before throwing low to Paul Raymond on fourth down to end the drive a minute before intermission.
When asked whether he should have called a time out before the fourth down play to allow the Bears offense more time to regroup, Estes responded, "Yeah, probably."
Estes emphasized that the team cannot "let teams get ahead of us like that," especially in next week's game against Princeton. Brewer said the key to turning around the team's season is the defense.
"It was just poor execution," he said. "We missed a lot of tackles. We have to cut down on mistakes and get back to the basics."
Despite the improvements the team needs to make, Brewer is optimistic about the team's Ivy chances, with a loss to Harvard their lone blemish.
"I'm looking forward to getting out there and getting a win under our belts," he said. "We just gotta put these losses behind us because we still have a great shot at winning the conference."
