"That punt return really charged them up," said Crimson tackle Rob Shaw. "Before that, in the first half, they just didn't seem psyched up and weren't hitting that hard. But after that return, they were a different ballclub."
It was at this point in the game that the script called for the Crimson to fold over and for Dartmouth to mount a game-winning surge. But things didn't happen that way.
The Crimson took the ensuing kickoff, and marched 75 yards in nine plays to take back the lead. The key play in the drive came on a fourth and inches at the Green 34. Holt ran an option to the left, but decided to keep the ball and ducked inside the outside defenders. Holt took it all the way to the one, where Tsitsos scored his second touchdown.
The Crimson added a field goal after recovering a Dartmouth fumble at the Green 20 with 4:15 to go, and appeared to have the game safely in hand.
But Dartmouth had other ideas. Holt fumbled on the Green 46, and Dartmouth had a life. The Big Green moved the ball promptly to the Crimson 11. On a fourth down pass play, safety Fran Cronin was called for pass interference in the endzone, putting the ball at the one. On the next play, Dartmouth quarterback Mike Brait sneaked in.
"The second touchdown was questionable," said Harvard linebacker Eric Kurzweil. "I don't think the ref really knew what he was calling. We saw the films today, and I thought it was a pretty crummy call."
But even with the successful two-point conversion, Harvard still had a seemingly safe two-point advantage with only 1:22 to go. Harvard recovered the onside kick, but couldn't get a first down. McInally punted to the five-yard line, and Dartmouth had 11 seconds to move 95 yards. A first pass attempt failed. Then Brait lofted a beautiful pass to midfield, where Dartmouth's fleet Tom Fleming sped out of nowhere. It seemed as though he would take the ball and go all the way, when cornerback Joe Sciolla leaped at the ball, and deflected it with a finger.
Smooth and Fast
"That Fleming is an incredibly smooth and fast runner," Harvard safety Fran Cronin said. "I think we underplayed him on the last play, and he flew right by us. Joe made a great play to save it."
Thus ended the game of games, with a finish more frantic than it had any right to be.