Senior running back Gino Gordon sparked the Crimson offense with a career-high 204 yards on the ground, leading Harvard to a 45-28 win.

PRINCETON, N.J.—Halloween may be a week away, but the trickery started early at Princeton Stadium.

With the Harvard football team in town Saturday afternoon, the Tigers (1-5, 0-3 Ivy) pulled out all the stops—scoring twice off of trick plays—in an attempt to upset their visitors. But anchored by its strong rushing attack, the Crimson (4-2, 2-1) managed to overpower its opponent, coming away with the 45-28 win.

“We’re not the most beautiful team aesthetically, but we really play hard, and that was the key to victory [Saturday],” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “The effort has been tremendous.”

Senior and sophomore running backs Gino Gordon and Treavor Scales led the Crimson attack, combining for 338 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Gordon finished with a career-high 204 rushing yards on 20 attempts—averaging 10.2 yards per carry—while Scales chipped in with 134 yards.

“Both those running backs are good players,” Princeton coach Bob Surace said. “They make you miss.”

Harvard had less success in the air—passing for just 189 yards—despite the return of senior quarterback Andrew Hatch and junior quarterback Collier Winters.

Hatch—seeing his first action since sustaining a concussion in the second week of the season—started the game under center but was replaced by Winters at the half after throwing two interceptions and completing just nine of 21 attempts.

Winters fared better in his first game since a preseason hip injury, throwing two touchdown passes to help the Crimson to the 17-point victory.

But despite the lopsided outcome, Harvard had to play catch-up early on.

Princeton came out on tear, picking apart the Crimson defense on its opening drive and finding the endzone just 2:04 into the contest.

Using a series of short passes from senior quarterback Andrew Dixon and a 32-yard run from running back Jordan Culbreath, the Tigers advanced deep into their opponent’s territory.

Using the first of two trick plays, Princeton struck on just its sixth play from scrimmage.

On third down at the Harvard 22-yard line, Tiger tight end Harry Flaherty lofted a deep ball to the wide-open Andrew Kerr just in front of the endzone, and Kerr took it to the house to give Princeton the 7-0 lead.

“They schemed up some good plays on us,” said Harvard captain Collin Zych, who finished with a game-high 15 tackles.

The Crimson’s woes continued into its first offensive possession. Hatch and the rest of the Harvard offense got off to a slow start, going three-and-out on their first possession.