Yale Football – Harvard beats Yale!
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Yale's football season, as defined my most of the team's followers, was within 92 seconds of success.
But Harvard's Collier Winters threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Chris Lorditch with 1 minute, 32-seconds left to give the Crimson a 14-10 victory Saturday in the 126th playing of The Game before 52,692.
With Harvard still in the running to share the Ivy title, Yale was on the verge of a satisfying upset in coach Tom Williams' first time in The Game. But in a critical decision, Williams tried a fake punt on a 4th-and-22 from the Bulldogs' 26-yard line. The play fell well short and gave Harvard great field position, at the Yale 40, to start the winning drive with 2:02 left. Winters hit Lorditch three plays later.
The Bulldogs, who came in with a 4-5 record, 2-4 in the Ivy League, were decided underdogs, but played inspired football, especially on defense. Alex Barnes' 26-yard field goal and Rodney Reynolds' 3-yard TD run gave Yale a 10-0 lead after their first two possessions, but although they controlled the ball effectively much of the game, with Alex Thomas gaining 124 yards, they could not score again.
On defense, Yale stopped Harvard on downs deep in its own territory twice in the first half, and staged a thrilling goal-line stand, stuffing the Crimson on 4th-and-goal at the 1-yard line with 7:35 left in the third quarter. They held their 10-0 lead deep into the fourth quarter.
But Matt Luft got free behind the Yale defense and hauled in Winters' 41-yard pass to get Harvard (7-3, 6-1) back in the game.
Yale leads in the rivalry, 65-53-8, but Harvard has now won seven of the last eight meetings.
Source: courant.com