“I think he’s gotten a little bit better every year he’s been here,” Murphy said. “He walked in here a very good player out of high school...[and] he’s worked extremely hard at [the game]. What you get is a very accomplished all-around running back.”

Of all those accomplishments, Scales saved his best for last. After accumulating just 33 yards on the ground in the first half on Saturday, the senior dominated in the second. His 16-yard carry helped set up a touchdown run by Chapple that put the Crimson ahead, 13-3, and he later collected 25 yards on three consecutive rushes before an Andrew Berg touchdown reception gave Harvard a 20-17 advantage.

Finally, on Harvard’s final drive, the senior gained 24 yards on three carries and then broke free for the 63-yard score that put the game—and his Crimson career—away with a dramatic flourish.

“It was just pure elation,” Chapple said. “I’ve never seen Treavor run that fast—I guarantee you. He was just moving down the sideline, and at that moment I knew that all of our hard work had come to fruition.”

Whether or not Scales’ football career has come to fruition as well, it is clear that playing in Cambridge has been an experience the Stone Mountain, Ga. native has treasured.

“It’s hard to really fathom that [The Game is] my last as a Harvard football player and quite possibly as a football player [in general],” Scales says. “There’s just so many things that you reflect upon when you hit that field for the last time. It’s a very emotional day.”

“I’m having trouble finding the words for it,” he added. “It’s so tough to describe everything that it means to me.”

In return, it is clear Treavor Scales has meant an enormous amount to the Harvard football program as well.

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