And finally—right before the end of the first quarter—came the play of the game.

After Holy Cross kicked off out of bounds, Harvard faced first-and-10 on its own 35. Fitzpatrick went to Edwards, but underthrew him. Edwards came back—past the defenders he had already beaten—caught the ball over a pair of defensive backs, spun through them and cut right. While crossing the field, Edwards absorbed a hard hit from Holy Cross cornerback Darran Davis but stayed on his feet and fought his way out of a tangle of purple jerseys before finally being brought down after a 42-yard gain.

Davis was hurt on the play and had to be taken off the field on a stretcher, but only an injury that serious could sober the excitement created by the play.

“It was one-on-one so we had to check to a deep route,” Edwards said. “The ball was a little underthrown, which turned out to be good because I had room to move upfield.”

The only thing Edwards didn’t have much room for on Saturday was improvement.

“[Edwards was] unbelievable. I think today was his coming-out party,” Fitzpatrick said. “Nobody really knew who he was. He didn’t get a lot of playing time last year or a lot of catches, but obviously today he showed he’s going to be a tremendous player for our team and for the Ivy League.”

—Staff writer Lande A. Spottswood can be reached at spottsw@fas.harvard.edu.