Brown ends eight-year skid against Harvard

PROVIDENCE - Brown was 2 points and 1 yard from either getting a stop and living up to the sleeper label it had earned in the Ivy League, or giving up a conversion and having to fight for a win in overtime.

In Brown coach Phil Estes's eyes, the Bears couldn't have been in a better position.

Harvard quarterback Liam O'Hagan had just hit Matt Luft in the end zone for a score that pulled the Crimson within 2, 24-22, with 1:03 left yesterday. But in the process, he took a hit that led to a roughing-the-passer penalty. So instead of taking the 2-point conversion from the 3-yard line, Harvard set up from half the distance.

From 3 yards, Estes said, Harvard had options. From the 1 1/2-yard mark, it had no choice.

"It probably was a no-brainer for them on the 1 1/2 just to put a guy right down and go at the heart of the defense," Estes said.

So when Harvard coach Tim Murphy called a play that sent running back Ben Jenkins pushing for the goal line, Estes made sure defensive lineman Jake Powers and inside linebacker Miles Craigwell were there.

"You want to make sure that the refs were saying that it didn't cross the goal line," Estes said. "You keep looking. Is there a flag? Are you sure we're going to run that clock down?"

In the league opener for both, the Ivy's sleeper beat Harvard, 24-22, for the first time in eight meetings. But even the win couldn't get the Bears to give up the underdog tag.

"I'm not going to put any label on this team because they're very unique," Estes said. "They get up for a football game, and they play together."

When Harvard (1-1, 0-1) went to the air, Brown (2-0, 1-0) answered with Michael Dougherty, who threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns. Dougherty went 20 for 36 in the constant rain, which he said "wasn't that bad" since Estes made him practice all week with balls he had dumped into buckets of water.

When the Crimson tried to mash the ball on the ground, the Bears countered with running back Dereck Knight, who rushed for 84 yards on 18 attempts.

And when the game called for special teams, the Bears' Robert Ranney boomed five punts for an average of 44.6 yards, drilled a 38-yard field goal, and hit all three extra-point attempts.

Harvard's kicker, Patrick Long, missed the extra point on the Crimson's first score, a 53-yard pass from Chris Pizzotti (25 of 45 for 320 yards and 2 TDs) to Luft in the first quarter. Long's plant foot slipped.

Everything came together for the Bears, from the defense that forced four fumbles, recovering three, to the offense that got a nine-catch, 105-yard performance from Bobby Sewall plus two touchdowns catches from Buddy Farnham, including a 25-yard magic trick he pulled in the corner of the end zone in the second quarter.

"Literally, I think he caught the ball and he caught the guy's head at the same time," Estes said.

There was a three-play stretch in the second quarter when a fumble by Harvard gave the ball to Brown, then an interception gave it back to Harvard, and a fumble gave it back to Brown, with Chris Perkins forcing both fumbles and setting up a Sewall touchdown run from 3 yards.

"You kind of caught a break," Dougherty said. "And when a team gives you a break like that, you've got to take advantage of it. When you do, that's when you win games."

"It's a good feeling," Estes said. "It's been eight years since we've done that and we've had this feeling.

"We've got a long season. We're just in the infant stages of what could be something special."

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.