Mothander split the uprights with an easy 27-yard field goal as time expired to give Harvard a 27-7 lead heading into the half—and ensuring that the Crimson scored points on each of its five first-half drives.

“We struggled a little bit defensively, we didn’t tackle particularly well,” Teevens said. “They just had a lot of plays in that first half.”

Riding its big lead, Harvard let up a bit in the second half. Mothander’s third field goal of the afternoon—this time a kick from 35 yards out—put the Crimson up by 23, but the Big Green fed off the crowd’s energy and the excitement of a televised game to orchestrate a bit of a comeback.

Near the end of the third quarter, a series of runs by Schwieger—who leads the league with 129.7 rushing yards per game—and a long pass to Tim McManus set up a 40-yard field-goal attempt by Foley Schmidt.

Although Schmidt’s kick went wide right, Dartmouth found the endzone on its next possession.

Long completions to wideouts Michael Reilly and Tanner Scott set up a five-yard score by Dominic Pierre, who was called into action when Schwieger went down with a minor injury.

Pierre’s run made it a two-score game with 10:46 to play, and once the Big Green got the ball back, it drove all the way down to the Harvard seven. But Kempe threw three straight incompletions to turn the ball over on downs and seal the win for the Crimson.

Scales picked up 24 yards rushing on the drive to finish the game with 124 total. In the battle between the Ancient Eight’s two most prolific rushers, Gordon came out on top, amassing 93 yards to Schwieger’s 69.

“It’s a shame, because it was a good turnout, certainly being on TV and everything else, but Harvard is a good football team, and they didn’t help us,” Teevens said. “They didn’t turn the football over, they didn’t make mental mistakes. They had one coverage lapse, and unfortunately we missed the throw. And outside of that, they played a pretty solid football game.”

—Staff writer Kate Leist can be reached at kleist@fas.harvard.edu.