In the second half things got no better. The teams traded interceptions in their first possessions, and when Columbia took over on the Harvard 48 after a Dave Nickerson pickoff, the Lions began the drive that put the Crimson away, or so the partisan crowd thought.
Santos completed consecutive passes to Mark Milam and Hill to bring the ball to the Crimson 21.
A penalty pushed Columbia back to the 26, but Santos continued his mastery by firing a strike to Hill at the six.
The Lions just missed their third touchdown of the afternoon when a wide-open John Pennywell let a Santos flare pass slip away, but Chirico came back on the next play to bull the ball to the Harvard 1-yd. line.
The Harvard defense finally rose to the occasion, stopping Chirico cold on a crucial third down play. Larry Walsh then came in and booted a 21-yd. field goal to put the Lions up, 17-0.
Three scores behind, the Crimson finally woke up from a deep slumber. On the first play from scrimmage following the Columbia field goal, White lofted a 51-yd. pass to wingback George Sorbara, who leaped between a pair of earth-bound Lion defenders to make the grab.
Two plays later, White handed off to Santiago, who in turn gave the ball to Greer. On the reverse the sophomore speedster--playing hist first game in a Harvard uniform--turned around right end and pranced 15 yards into the end zone. A Steinberg point after and the Crimson trailed by 10.
The Crimson defense, led by middle guard Jerry Garvey, stopped the Lions on three plays and Chuck Shirey brought the ensuing Columbia punt back 36 yards. Columbia took a penalty on the play, moving the line of scrimmage to the Lion eight.
White kept on the option right, scampering into the end zone to cut the Columbia lead to three at 9:41 of the third period.
Less than four minutes later the Crimson took their first lead of the afternoon.
After the Crimson nailed the Lions on three plays, Shirey returned a short punt to the Columbia 46. Santiago took an off tackle play 11 yards, and two plays later Jones swept 25 yards into the endzone. The Steinberg PAT made it 21-17 with 1:37 left in the third period.
After kicking off, the Crimson again caged the Lions in three plays, got the ball back, and scored in quick succession.
On the second play from scrimmage, White lofted a 64-yard touchdown pass--the longest of his career--into the waiting arms of Santiago.
That score gave the Crimson, which had appeared hapless at the half, four touchdowns in less than eight minutes.
And Harvard wasn't through. After the Crimson defense bottled the Lions up on three plays for the fourth consecutive time, Santiago struck again.
This time the senior took a pitch from White and ambled six yards into the end zone untouched. The score at 4:31 topped a six-play, 40-yd. drive.
With just 1:04 left in the contest, O'Neil got his second score on a five-yard run, topping the final Harvard drive.
The Crimson, which had taken an enormous first half beating had come back and paid the hosts back times two.
THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard has now beaten the Lions seven straight times and nine of the last 10.