Booker owned the only offensive score. Smith set up the touchdown with a 31-yard completion to sophomore wide receiver Adam Scott. From there, Booker took a handoff, shook a tackle, and walked into the end zone for a 16-yard score.

The early scoreline might have been more lopsided if not for Bears punter Ryan Kopec. The junior landed several kicks inside the 10.

In the second quarter, Brown introduced some drama. Senior defensive end Richard Jarvis—last week’s Ivy League Player of the Week—helped stonewall Booker and punched out the ball. But on Brown’s first play, sophomore linebacker Joey Goodman came up with a diving interception.

“I think we had [momentum] a couple of times,” Brown coach Phil Estes said. “We had the fumble, and then we turned around and threw a pick on the next play. Whenever the defense creates some momentum for us, offensively we lost it.”

By the fourth quarter, Brown was down 36, but someone forgot to tell quarterback Thomas Linta. The senior, who replaced Duncan, led the Bears on four consecutive touchdown drives. He racked up 232 passing yards in the final quarter alone.

“You’ve got to attack the game every single series you can,” Linta said. “It doesn’t matter what the score is. I was looking at it [as] 0-0. I was just out there trying to play and score touchdowns every single drive.”

That effort fell short, however, as the Crimson held on for the three-score win. The game capped a tumultuous week following Abercrombie’s injury.

“We know that there’s only so much that we can control.” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “It speaks volumes of the characters of our kids—just the way they played today. They gave it everything they had. It was just a tremendous, across-the-board team effort.”

—Staff writer Cade Palmer can be reached at cade.palmer@thecrimson.com.