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Update*

In his first start at home, junior quarterback Conner Hempel impressed once again, finding five different receivers for double-digit yardage and ending the day with 296 yards and one touchdown through the air.

At the end of the third quarter, Hempel, under pressure, found senior wideout Ricky Zorn for a 63-yard score, his longest of the season, to put Harvard up, 38-20.

“I saw a better Hempel today,” Brown coach Phil Estes said. “He’s a hell of a quarterback. He’s got great feet. When you give him that much time, he can make plays.”





On Harvard’s first drive, Hempel drove the team quickly down the field, but a pass intended for senior tight end Cameron Brate ended in the hands of Brown linebacker Xavier Russo in the red zone.

The Bears capitalized off the interception and marched 76 yards down the field before tailback John Spooney ran in for a score.

The Bears attempted a trick two-point conversion that they couldn’t convert off of their first score, but the ensuing kickoff caught the Crimson off guard when it was an onside kick. The short field ended with Donnelly finding tight end Brian Strachan in the back of the end zone to put the Bears up, 13-0.

But once the second quarter began, the momentum shifted. Hempel was 6-for-7 for 110 yards in the second quarter and led the team on scoring drives on each possession. Hempel and Stanton each had 1-yard scoring runs to give the Crimson its first lead of the game.

“[We] get off to a little bit of a sluggish start,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “We had a good drive coming out, throw the pick, get behind the eight ball, 13-0, I thought the kids showed a little bit of resiliency, got in a rhythm in all phases and just managed to get control of the game.”

The Crimson defense notched a touchdown for the second consecutive week when the ball bounced off of a Bears receiver’s hands and senior safety Jaron Wilson took it back 51 yards for a score. Harvard piled on some more on its next possession when Stanton found the end zone off of an option play with less than a minute left.

Early in the third quarter, sophomore linebacker Eric Medes pressured Donnelly into making an errant throw, which Hodges picked off, but Harvard was unable to turn it into points.

With sophomore running back Zach Boden out with a knee injury, sophomore Paul Stanton carried the bulk of the rushing plays for Harvard, netting 91 yards and two scores.

Despite entering halftime with a lead for the second game in a row, Harvard once again lost the time of possession battle in the first half, holding the ball for only eight minutes before halftime. Penalties also plagued Harvard all night—the Crimson ended up with 12 infractions for 89 yards, one of which brought back a 60-yard kick return.