“Harvard’s a very good football team,” Brown coach Phil Estes said. “They were strong, they were physical, and they were well coached.”

But it was Brown that looked to possess those attributes early on. On its first possession of the contest, the Bears went 80 yards in just under four minutes largely thanks to a 43-yard completion to Fay that came after sophomore cornerback Norman Hayes slipped in coverage. Brown running back Spiro Theodhosi, filling in for injured starter Mark Kachmer, finished the drive with a one-yard touchdown run.

Harvard responded on its next possession, as five straight completions by Chapple—whose accuracy struggles of a week ago were nowhere to be found Saturday—helped set the Crimson up with a first and goal from the one. But the quarterback fumbled the ensuing snap and, after recovering, overthrew sophomore Cameron Brate in the end zone and was stopped short of the goal line on a bootleg on the next two plays. Harvard was forced to settle for a field goal to narrow the deficit to 7-3.

But on its next possession, the Crimson went 98 yards for the touchdown. Chapple completed six of his first seven passes on the drive to bring Harvard down to the red zone. A nine-yard completion to Juszczyk, a five-yard rush by Scales, and a five-yard completion to Smith II set the Crimson up at the one. On third and goal, Scales dove over the pile for the score, putting Harvard up, 10-7.

“It’s a game of field position all the time,” Estes said. “We put them in bad field position, and they found a way to get out.”

On the next Bears drive, Hayes forced a Theodhosi fumble that was recovered by senior linebacker Joshua Boyd, and the Crimson took over at the Brown 35. After a Bears penalty for having 12 men on the field, Chapple fired a pass to the left corner of the end zone, and Smith made an acrobatic leaping catch over Brown All-American cornerback A.J. Cruz for another Crimson touchdown.

“We had called a play hoping to get zone coverage, and it turned out they were in man,” Chapple said. “Cruz is one of the best corners in the game, so to see Seitu go up and just take the ball out of the air like that was awesome.

“Especially after the defense forces a turnover, it was a huge momentum shift,” he added.

But on the next Harvard possession, Chapple was hit rolling left and lost the ball while trying to throw, and Brown recovered at the Crimson 25. The Harvard defense was able to hold the Bears to the field goal to make it 17-10 with just under two minutes to go in the half.

That would prove to be the lone mistake on the afternoon for the senior quarterback, who finished 30 of 40 for 351 yards. Using both his arms and his legs, Chapple also helped Harvard go 9 for 12 on third down, compared to just 3 of 10 for Brown.

“They executed extremely well,” Estes said. “We just couldn’t make stops.”

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