The visitors received the ball to start the second half but failed to make an impact from the get-go. After a turnover on downs, the Big Red took advantage of the opportunity to take the lead again. A trick play saw Mathews hand off the ball to tight end Ryan Houska, who then ran a reverse with wide receiver Lucas Tasker that put Cornell two yards away from the goal line. Houska then ran the ball in for the score to give Cornell a 24-20 lead.

But Chapple would not allow the Big Red to gain momentum. After hitting Sarkisian for a nine-yard gain from the Crimson 48, the junior threaded a dangerous pass through two Cornell defenders into the arms of Sarkisian once again, who ran it in for the touchdown.

“We gave up too many big plays on defense, period,” Cornell coach Kent Austin said. “We knew they were probably going to play some jump balls on our corners … [Chapple] threw the ball very well, and their receivers made plays for them.”

With the score set at 27-24, there was little room for mistakes, but the Big Red committed a big one. After Mathews wasted a third down and was almost intercepted, Harvard’s defense rushed Cornell’s punter, who could not handle a poor snap.

“That punt was huge,” Ortiz said. “From there, I feel like that was the big turning point … We started pumping ourselves up, and once we get going emotionally, it’s hard to stop us.”

The miscue gave the Crimson great field position on the host’s 38, and Chapple seized the chance to build the squad's lead. The junior moved the team down to the 27-yard line before the end of the third quarter, and once the fourth began, Chapple threw a long pass down the middle to sophomore tight end Cameron Brate for the score.

The Crimson would reach the end zone once more in the fourth quarter thanks to Chapple’s 26-yard pass to junior tight end Kyle Juszczyk, which gave Harvard a 17-point lead at 41-24. Mathews tried to whittle down the score, but with only 10:50 left to play, the sophomore quarterback could only do so much. Harvard’s defense kept Cornell at bay for most of the final minutes, with Mathews achieving only one more score, a 44-yard touchdown pass to Tasker with 2:27 remaining.

“We handled the fourth quarter pretty well,” Murphy said. “I think we were just a more grown-up, experienced, mature team, and that’s what grown-up, experienced, mature teams do—but in a year, that’s going to be Cornell.”