PROVIDENCE- All appeared lost for the Brown Bears on Saturday afternoon when Harvard was lining up to kick a late field goal that would have put the Crimson up eight with under one minute left. Instead, an errant snap went over the head of the Crimson punter/holder Sebastian Tasko and it was scooped up by Bears defensive back Nick Hudson who returned it to the Crimson 27.
On the first play from scrimmage, senior quarterback Jake Willcox hit fellow senior wide receiver Mark Mahoney on a 27 yard touchdown pass down the right sideline to put the Bears up 29-28. The two would connect again on the two point conversation to make 31-28 Bears.
It was a fitting ending to a wild finish. After the game, Willcox talked about the win and what it means.
“I am kind of at a loss for words right now. I had confidence throughout the game but the way that played out is awesome though” Willcox added: “I am just glad we got the win. We have worked hard.”
Both Willcox and Mahoney were asked if they had ever seen an ending like that. Mahoney summed it up best.
“No. Not even close.”
Mahoney did add however that the play gave the team life and they knew they were going to win at that point.
“It was a massive injection of energy for us,” Mahoney said. “Once we got the ball back, I think everybody knew we were scoring.”
Bears Coach James Perry attributed the win to hard work and making your own breaks.
“It might seem like that was magical — and in a way, it was — but I know they’ve put the hard work in,” Perry said. “Good things do happen to you. I think you make your own luck sometimes.”
It did not start off great for Brown. Harvard throughly outplayed them in the first half building a 21-3 lead. The game changed right before the half however when Brown defensive back Elias Archie intercepted a deflected Jaden Craig pass and returned it to the Harvard one yard line. Two plays later, Nate Lussier punched it in to make it 21-10 at the half.
“It’s always great to end the half with a score,” Mahoney said. “That was huge for us. It built some momentum.”
Harvard however would add to their lead to start the second half, making the score 28-10 but Brown kept making plays specifically freshmen running back Matt Childs who scored on a 75 yard touchdown pass to make it 28-17. Willcox found Mahoney for a 9-yard score with 5:07 to play to make 28-23 but a failed two point conversion attempt left the Bears trailing by five with under two minutes to go.
After going four and out, Harvard took over deep in Brown territory with 1:42 left. The Crimson ran the ball three times to kill the clock. Instead of electing to go for it again on fourth down, Crimson Coach Andrew Aurich made the decision to kick the field. An ill-fated decision that proved to be costly.
Aurich took responsibility after the game for the management of the situation.
“That’s on me,” Aurich said. “I didn’t manage it well. There never should have been time at the end there for them to get the ball and go down and score.”
The Bears snapped Harvard’s 13 game winning in the series. Ironically enough, it came on the same day as the school was celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1999 Ivy League championship team. A team Perry was on.
“The 99 team, me being a part of it is something special. One of the things when I got hired was, you were never going to hear a bad word about Brown Football from me.” Perry continued: “I hammer home my classmates. They were great players and now they are successes in life. But it’s every class. It was fun to see some of the old guys like me but it was also fun to see some of young ones.”
Brown is back home next Saturday when they host in state rival Bryant. Harvard will look to bounce back on Friday night when they host UNH.