Another long Kesic field goal and another beautiful strike from Fitzpatrick to Edwards put the Crimson up 28-6 after the third quarter.

The Northeastern offense woke up in the fourth quarter, however. Brady was intercepted by senior Benny Butler on the Huskies’ first series of the final frame, but Fitzpatrick gave it right back on the very next play, throwing straight into Ezekiel’s waiting arms.

Brady capitalized on Fitzpatrick’s mistake, completing a 36-yard pass to wide receiver Quintin Mitchell to set up tailback Tim Gale’s one-yard touchdown run to pull Northeastern to within 15 points at 28-13.

The Harvard defense buckled down and stopped the Husky attack on two drives in the fourth, but Fitzpatrick was unable to convert for any first downs in the fourth quarter, going three and out on three separate occasions against a rejuvenated Husky defense led by the powerful Ezekiel.

“Being up by so many points on a great defense kind of hindered our ability to be aggressive on offense and we just kind of held on at the end,” Murphy said.

Finally, with 2:43 left in the game, Brady engineered an efficient drive downfield, completing passes four times to favorite target Mitchell. The offensive push culminated in a beautiful 23-yard touchdown pass right between the double coverage of senior back Mante Dzakuma and senior free safety Chris Raftery. However, Balestracci and Fratto combined to recover the onside kick and put the game out of reach for the Huskies.

Despite Edwards’ eye-popping numbers and Fitzpatrick’s solid performance, the defense clearly ruled the day for Harvard. In addition to Butler’s interception, junior Gary Sonkur also nabbed an interception for the second straight week. The defense combined for seven sacks on Brady and held him to 19-of-47 passing.

“That’s a team that had been able to run against a lot of teams almost at will, Murphy said. “[Defensive coordinater] Kevin Doherty and our defensive coaches had a great game plan and our team went out and executed.”

—Staff writer Robert C. Boutwell can be reached at boutwel@fas.harvard.edu.