"Andrew put it in a terrific spot for [King], and he went up and got it," Bagnoli said. "It was a pretty athletic play...and it gave us a bit of breathing room. We knew that wasn't going to be the end of it, but certainly it was nice to have a two-touchdown lead."

Harvard answered right back on its next drive, as Chapple capped an eight-play, 64-yard series—highlighted by a 31-yard third-down completion to Cameron Brate—with a one-yard touchdown pass to Juszczyk.

The Crimson offense could go nowhere on its next two drives, but the defense held its own against a conservative Quaker offense, which let Holland throw just twice. On a third and three from the Crimson 44, senior defensive end John Lyon stuffed the Penn QB to get Harvard ball back.

With 2:29 to go, the Crimson took over at its own 11-yard line needing a touchdown to tie. But Chapple was sacked on three consecutive plays, the final one coming as Brandon Copeland brought down the quarterback in the end zone to seal the Penn victory.

"The D-Line had a great game today," Copeland said. "They pushed [Chapple] right into me. I just had to wrap my arms around him."

In the first half, the Crimson was plagued by a number of defensive miscues that led to multiple big plays for the Quakers.

Penn got on the board just 2:45 into the game, when on third and nine, Conner Scott got open behind two Crimson defenders on a deep seam route for a 32-yard score.

But on the Quakers’ next possession, junior safety Chris Splinter intercepted Ragone, and Chapple then led a six-play, 49-yard drive that he capped with a four-yard touchdown run off play-action to tie things up.

Penn answered right back on its ensuing drive, largely thanks to a 47-yard scamper by Marsh. Later in the series, the Quakers caught a break when a third and four Ragone pass was deflected and ended up right in the hands of receiver Brian Mitchell at the Harvard two. Two plays later, Ragone took it into the right corner of the end zone on a bootleg to put Penn up, 14-7.

"Ragone had a tremendous game," Murphy said. "He [displayed] great leadership, showed who he is.... He had us off-balance."

Early in the second quarter, Chapple led an eight-play, 72-yard drive in 3:48 to tie the game again. In the series, the senior completed passes of 26 and 25 yards to Juszczyk and wideout Andrew Fischer gained 15 yards on a reverse before senior running back Treavor Scales scored his 12th touchdown of the year from a yard out.

But later in the half, the Quakers regained the lead, with Ragone collecting 27 total rushing yards on consecutive plays. The quarterback capped the 11-play, 84-yard drive by running play-action, rolling left, and, under heavy pressure, hitting Ryan O’Malley for a two-yard touchdown to put the Quakers up, 21-14, before the break.

"[Our kids have] been challenged all week and I'm not really sure how many people gave them a chance," Bagoni said. "They were pretty focused and pretty determined and they wanted to prove that they belonged on that field, and I think they did.... We were just not to be denied."

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.