Three years ago, in Joe Restic's last game after 23 years as the coach of Harvard football, host Yale held off a furious fourth-quarter Crimson charge and escaped with a 33-31 victory.

Saturday, in Carm Cozza's last game after 32 years as the coach of Yale football, host Harvard held off a furious fourth-quarter Eli charge and escaped with a 26-21 victory.

Which just goes to show you: what goes around comes around in one of the most ancient of gridiron rivalries.

Harvard (4-6, 2-5 Ivy) established a 21-0 first-half lead over abominable Yale (2-8, 1-6), but the Elis turned the trampling around with an intense charge and three touchdowns in the second half. Yale recovered an onside kick and promptly put six points on the board for its second touchdown and only a five-point deficit, but Harvard's tremendous defense held off a final Bulldog attack and sealed the triumph.

Despite the late-game jitters, how sweet success is for coach Tim Murphy and Harvard. Murphy can put the final feather in his inaugural cap--an Ivy League home victory--after three long seasons at the helm.

The Crimson held off a late Eli rush, unlike last year when Harvard snatched victory from the jaws of the Bulldogs in the game's final minutes.

And Cozza got the ultimate Harvard farewell: a loss at The Stadium.

"I'm just happy," senior tailback Eion Hu said. "Happy, happy, happy."

In the second half, Yale stormed back to the tune of three touch-downs, two of which came in the fourth quarter. The Elis attempted an onside kick with two minutes remaining in the game, but Jeff Compas dove on the ball, and the Crimson took possession.

Although a first down would have kept the Bulldog offense off the field for the rest of the game, Harvard gave the ball back to Yale on three plays. Hu ran the ball thrice from scrimmage but could not get the requisite 10 yards.

With the edge of the field lined with sets of Harvard and Yale student fans ready to celebrate one outcome or the other, the Harvard defense--the one thing the Crimson has been able to count on this season--held firm. Well, sort of. The Bulldogs advanced the ball across midfield but could not score. It was good enough.

The Harvard defense also scored the game winner. Junior defensive linemen Tim Fleiszer and Brendan Bibro ganged up on Yale tailback Jabbar Craigwell in the end zone for a safety at the start of the fourth quarter.

"We were a little worried, but in the end we wanted it a little bit more," defensive linemen Chris Smith said.

Yale rose from the dead in dramatic fashion. Quarterback Kris Barber Yale  21 Harvard  26

connected with Clint Rodriguez for 43 yards over the middle on third-and-19 from the Yale 31-yard line. Barber then scrambled left for a 19-yard pickup. The senior then took the ball in on a two-yard keeper for the score.

Barber hooked up with Health Ackley for a 20-yard pass for Yale's second touchdown of the fourth quarter after Tony Kim recovered a John Lafferty onside kick at the Harvard 46-yard line.

A decision in the second quarter undid the Elis. Trailing 7-zip, Cozza decided to go for it on fourth-and-eight at the Harvard 40-yard line. Quarterback Blake Kendall connected to Ackley, but Ackley had his feet out of bounds.