BETHLEHEM, Pa.—A win streak kept alive by countless Harvard comebacks concluded Saturday with one final rally, only this one was by the wrong team.
Playing on its home turf of Goodman Field, No. 12 Lehigh rallied for 15 unanswered fourth quarter points to slip by No. 24 Harvard, 36-35.
The victory snapped the Crimson’s 11-game win streak.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been in this position,” said Harvard coach Tim Murphy, “and it’s very frustrating. We knew that [Lehigh] sure had it in them to play this type of fourth quarter.”
Trailing 35-30 with 4:34 remaining in the game, Mountain Hawk quarterback Chad Schwenk marched Lehigh down the field in its most impressive drive of the afternoon.
The drive was highlighted by the play of the day.
Facing fourth-and-seven from the Lehigh 40, Schwenk hit a diving Michael Sutton over the middle for an 11-yard pickup and the critical first down.
It was one of Sutton’s 11 catches for 204 yards.
“We just tried to cover him as an entire defensive unit,” said Harvard junior cornerback Mante Dzakuma. “We rotated corners in because he’s faster than all our corners.”
The Mountain Hawks scored two minutes later on a 6-yard run by Pugh to take a 36-35 lead with 48 seconds on the clock.
After a desperation pass by sophomore quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was batted away from senior wide receiver Carl Morris on the 17-yard line as time expired, Lehigh had extended its home winning streak to 26 games.
“I think the bottom line was that we didn’t make any plays down the stretch,” Murphy said. “We made a living being pretty good against adversity, but we didn’t do very well today handling prosperity.”
Lehigh’s rally was catalyzed by Harvard’s only turnover.
Leading 35-24 deep in the fourth quarter, the Crimson was driving down the field in what appeared to be the game-clinching drive.
But with 7:25 remaining and the ball on Harvard’s 33 yard line, a swing pass from Fitzpatrick grazed through senior tailback Nick Palazzo’s fingers.
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