Beneath the dazzling lights of Rhode Island FC’s Centreville Bank Stadium, the Brown football team (2-1, 0-1 Ivy) brought home the Governor’s Cup on Friday night. The Bears triumphed 28-21 over No. 8/10 University of Rhode Island (4-2, 2-0 Coastal Athletic Association), winning the hometown match-up for the first time since 2017.
Entering week three, the 2025 Brown Bears were still somewhat of an enigma. During the season opener against Georgetown, the team dominated, seemingly fueled by not only the desire to win, but also to humiliate and terrorize. But come week two’s match against Harvard, both sides of the ball looked cowed.
But on Friday night, facing a top-10 opponent and their state rival, the Bears took a stand. If there was any uncertainty about who the 2025 Bears are, the team had an answer: They’re a winning football team.
“It’s a special night,” Head Coach James Perry ’00 said during a post-game conference. “I’m really, really proud of our guys.”
“We’ve got fabulous kids to coach,” he continued. “I’ve got the best job in the world, and a night like tonight makes you feel good.”
From the opening whistle, Brown’s defense swarmed the field like sharks smelling blood. On the second play from scrimmage, safety Nevaeh Gattis ’26 screamed into the backfield, sniffing out the fake hand-off and sacking URI quarterback Devin Farrell for a loss of 7 yards. Now facing a third-and-long from inside their own 9-yard line, the Rams looked to pass.
With the chance to get an early stop, Week 1 Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week Tommy Dunn ’27 lined up wide, to the left of the offensive tackle. But as soon as the ball was snapped, Dunn stunted inside. Looping right, he surged through the A-Gap, splitting through the offensive line to barrel straight into Farrell’s chest. The ball went careening into the air, fluttering like an injured bird as it wound its lobbing arc into the arms of Elias Archie ’26, who pulled it in along the left sideline and returned the ball to the URI 10-yard line.
From there, it only took two plays for 2024 Ivy League Rookie of the Year Matt Childs ’28 to score. On second down, Childs bounced the handoff to the left and toward URI’s safety. One-on-one against one of the Ivy League’s best backs, the Rhody safety lunged for Childs’s legs. But instead of coming away with a tackle, he was left to peel his head from the turf, staring up to watch Childs strut into the endzone.
“It feels really good being able to play complementary football — the offense helping the defense, the defense helping the offense,” Archie said in the post-game conference. “It’s a good thing that we’re able to (capitalize) when the other team makes a mistake.”
Down by 7 less than 2 minutes into the game, the Rams proved why they’re a nationally ranked team. Taking the opening kick-off down just past the 40-yard line, URI marched down the remaining 59 yards to score in only eight plays.
Once in the red zone, Virginia Tech transfer Farrell looked to his Rhode Island born-and-bred receiver Marquis Buchanan. Slotted to the left, Buchanan made quick work of his defender, closing the gap and faking inside before fading out toward the sideline. As the boundary inched closer, Buchanan spun to reel in a perfectly placed back-shoulder pass.
With 10 minutes left to play in the first quarter, it was a tied game. But in the face of a roaring URI offense capable of usurping their lead, the Bears rose to the occasion.
On their next drive, wide receiver Tyler Pezza ’26, a hometown hero from North Kingston, led the charge. Since the season-opening game against Georgetown, it has been clear that Pezza is the favorite target of quarterback James Murphy ’27. And on this drive, their connection was magic.
Wide receiver Tyler Pezza ’26
Facing a tough third-and-long at their own 36-yard line, Murphy stood confident in the pocket as Pezza carved through the Ram’s defense on a dig route. Knowing contact was imminent, Murphy fired, hitting Pezza between the numbers for a 16-yard gain. On the next play, Murphy looked to Pezza again. And when the Bears faced a third-and-3 at URI’s 18-yard line, it was Pezza who saved the day once more.
Lined up opposite URI cornerback Trey Lubin, Pezza, standing at 6’4’’ and 225 pounds, was a clear mismatch for the smaller 188-pound defensive back. Usually, size undermines speed — but not in Pezza’s case.
Flying up the sideline, Pezza reached, then passed Lubin, streaking into the endzone. Murphy turned to his most sure-handed receiver, sending a beauty into the air, and with the lights at their brightest and 5,000 fans looking on, Pezza reached up and pulled down six.
“Murph had confidence in me, and I made a play,” Pezza said.
After a brief lull that saw both teams punt, URI reached the endzone again to kick off the second quarter.
On a third-and-4 situation from Brown’s 30-yard line, Farrell dropped back to pass. Pump faking, he drew in Bruno’s secondary before heaving a ball into the corner of the endzone. Omari Walker, a senior wide receiver who transferred from Arkansas State, bolted up the sideline, breaking past his defender and pulling in the touchdown grab. Following the 74-yard, seven-play drive, URI had once more tied the game at 14-14.
But just as they had done before, Brown rose to the challenge.
In only seven plays, the Bears marched from their own 25-yard line down to the URI 15. On first down in the red zone, Murphy rolled to the right. Tight end Dillon Golden ’26 ran a crossing route, running in sync with Murphy along the 5-yard line. As URI’s defensive end came crashing into the backfield, Murphy fired a strike to Golden, who caught the ball and fought through contact to lunge into the endzone. For five glorious seconds, the Bears celebrated a touchdown.
But a tiny yellow flag, and the illegal-man-downfield call it represented, nullified the touchdown.
Disheartened but not defeated, Brown rallied. Following a short run to Childs and a 19-yard completion to Pezza, Brown got a new set of downs at the 3-yard line — and Childs only needed one to score. With his pad-level low, Childs speared through the line, barely breaking the plane to push Bruno’s advantage to 21-14.
The Bears maintained the 7-point lead heading into halftime.
When play resumed, the Bears delivered another crushing blow. On URI’s first possession, the Brown defense forced a fumble.
Following an excellent kick return, the Rams started a new drive at the 49-yard line. After a series of short passes advanced URI to the Brown 33, Farrell looked for the finishing blow. Standing tall in the pocket, Farrell lasered a ball to Greg Gaines on a post route. Reeling the ball in at the 7-yard line, Gaines fought against cornerback Alejandro Bello ’28, who was draped around his shoulders like a blanket.
But despite the stellar coverage, Gaines pushed forward, and for 6 yards, the two tussled in the direction of the goal line. At the 1-yard line, smelling his second score of the day, Gaines reached for the endzone.
And that’s when Elias Archie stepped up.
Flying from nowhere, Archie punched the ball out just inches shy of the goal line, sending it tumbling out of bounds and stealing a possession for Brown.
The Bears “talked about all week how (the Rams) weren’t very good with the ball,” Archie said. “That’s something we practiced a lot during the week — trying to get the ball out — and it ended up paying off and helping us out.”
With the chance to draw even further away, the offense delivered a beautiful drive. In 16 plays, they marched 80 yards down the field to pull ahead by two scores.
Solomon Miller ’26, a wide receiver with track-star speed, punched the ticket home for Brown. At the 8-yard line, Perry dialed up a play-action pass. Murphy faked a handoff before rolling right, and just past the hash marks, he tucked the ball and took a step up-field. But as soon as the URI defender bit, Murphy flipped the ball to Miller, who stood waiting at the 4-yard line.
With a URI defender bearing down on him, Miller twirled inside — sending the defender flying out of bounds — before tucking the ball and spearing forward to cross the goalline. With 4-and-a-half minutes to go in the third quarter, Brown led the game 28-14.
Though neither team scored during the rest of the third quarter, the Rams made things interesting in the fourth. With 8 minutes to go, URI launched a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown scoring drive, bringing the game to 28-21.
When the Bears received the ball, there were just over 4 minutes left to play. Brown was able to hang on until the 2-minute warning, but facing a fourth-and-2, the Bears punted.
With 2 minutes to go, URI launched a final offensive drive. They had one timeout, 90 yards to cross and one last chance to escape defeat. Thirty seconds later, the Rams had crossed to their own 31-yard line. And thirty seconds after that, they were at the 50. On pace to run out the clock and still cross the length of the field, it was Brown defense’s time to shine.
On third-and-10, Farrell looked for a receiver over the middle. Dunn, who had menaced Farrell on his first interception, was pivotal in forcing the second.
Just as Farrell released the ball, Dunn pounced. Dunn stunted inside, this time from the right edge. Crossing the offensive line at the A-Gap, he came through unimpeded and with a full head of steam, and an explosion of power struck the small of Farrell’s ribs.
The ball soared over the middle of the field, and Miles Brophy ’27, one of the team’s standout defensive backs, stepped in its way. Pulling the ball in at the 28-yard line, he returned it for 8 yards before taking a knee to end the game.
After seven torturous years, the Bears had finally done it: They had brought the Governor’s Cup home.
“It’s super special for these guys,” Perry said. “They’ve worked hard, they earned it tonight and, heck, they earned it in their preparation.”
URI Head Coach Jim Fleming didn’t share Perry’s enthusiasm.
“It’s been a while since we lost that cup, and it hurts,” Fleming said in the post-game conference. “It was six in a row and we wanted seven, but we were unable to get that done.”
The Bears look to keep their momentum going against Bryant University (2-3, 0-2 America East) next Friday at 7 p.m. in Smithfield.
Lydell Dyer is a sports editor for The Herald. A junior hailing from Bonn, Germany, Lydell is studying nonfiction English and political science, and if he's not off "making words sound pretty," you can find him lifting heavy circles at the Nelson.
