On another occasion, he might have just taken a couple of passes thrown his way and picked up a few short gains. But this was Veach’s afternoon in the sun and the Crimson defense just couldn’t touch him.

Catching four passes for 46 yards and one touchdown, Veach wiggled his way through the Harvard secondary, his lateral motion in the open field baffling the weary and banged up Crimson cornerbacks.

His touchdown catch in the second quarter that extended Princeton’s lead to 14-6 should have just been a shovel pass for a three-yard gain. Instead, Veach slipped through a tackle and darted past two would-be pursuers for his second score on the day.

“It was absolutely part of our game plan,” Hughes said. “We felt that [getting] our running backs isolated on their linebackers was a key and that was a matchup we were trying to get all day.”

But fate would not allow the day to be Veach’s and in the end Princeton’s failure would be his.

With the game on the line in the first overtime, the Tigers turned to Veach. Finally, Harvard was ready.

As he took the first handoff of the first overtime possession and darted across the line, senior linebacker Juano Queen put him to the turf immediately after just a one-yard gain. Senior defensive end Brad Payne and junior linebacker Bobby Everett saw to it that Veach met the same end on the next rush.

Veach didn’t touch the ball again and, for Princeton, the game was already over.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.