Fourteen years of history rested on the shoulders of the Bears (2–0, 1–0 Ivy) as the last thirty nail-biting seconds of a rollercoaster game wound to a close. Twenty-seven yards away was the endzone — and for the first time since 2010, a victory against the Harvard Crimson (1–1, 0–1 Ivy) was in sight. Down by five points with less than a minute to go, Bruno unleashed a final offensive flurry.
With the crowd on their feet and time winding down, the Bears took to the air. In the end, the fifth-year duo of quarterback Jake Willcox ’24.5 and wide receiver Mark Mahoney ’24.5 proved too difficult for the Crimson to contain. Beating his defender down the sideline, Mahoney stretched his arms into the air and came down clutching victory. Pulling in a 27-yard touchdown strike, Mahoney claimed the first Bruno lead of the day, and cemented the 31–28 point comeback win.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Willcox said in a post-game interview. “The way the game played out was awesome. I’m just happy we got the win. We deserved that. We worked hard this week.”
What makes the ending all the more remarkable is that only thirty seconds prior to the touchdown, the Bears were staring down the barrel of defeat. On the other end of the field, the Harvard Crimson had set up for a game-clinching thirty-yard field goal. With a chip shot being all that separated Harvard from their thirteenth-straight victory, the crowd bated their breath in fear.
But this was a home game, and today, providence was in the Bears’ favor. When the snap came, it came high, soaring over the holder’s head. With lightning-quick speed, Nick Hudson ’26 scooped the ball up and flew down the field as the crowd was sent into a frenzy. When he was finally brought down at the 27-yard line, he had already done what ten years of Bears before him could not: he sunk a dagger into the heart of Harvard’s confidence.
“Once we got the ball back, I think everybody knew we were scoring,” Mahoney said. When Hudson recovered the ball, “it was a massive injection of energy for us.”
“Something we have is resiliency,” Willcox added. “I’m happy the way we played and fought to the very end. It ain’t over ‘til there’s three zeros on that clock.”
And when the clock finally did show zeros, there were few people left in the stands to witness it: An avalanche of white flooded the field as students and fans surged to celebrate the victory with the team.
“We love playing in front of groups of people like that,” Willcox said. “We love Brown and we love when people come out and support us. It really means the world to us. When you look up and you see that many people genuinely cheering and rooting for us — it’s an amazing feeling.”
Even in the face of such a victory, the football team, which trailed behind the Crimson until the last minute of the game, knows that the job is far from finished after only their first game of Ivy play.
“You can’t ever take a breath,” Head Coach James Perry ‘00 said in the post-game conference. “We call the season a ten-week sprint. If we don’t make the corrections from today that we need to, we’re dead in the water. But these guys know that. We can enjoy a win, a remarkable win, but also know that these guys will be ready to go tomorrow.”
At the onset of the game, it was the Crimson who unleashed havoc on the Bears. Unable to convert on offensive possessions, the Bears went scoreless in the first quarter. Reeling from their repeated appearances, the defense was exposed by an effective Harvard passing scheme. When the first quarter concluded, the game was tipped 14–0 in Harvard’s favor.
In the second quarter, the Bears’ first offensive success — a 22-yard field goal by Christopher Maron ’25 — was overshadowed only minutes later, as the Crimson corralled their second passing touchdown of the game. Down by 18 points, the Bears looked to be floundering on the verge of another loss.
Just when Bruno needed a pick me up, Elias Archie ’26 delivered. After a mishandled catch attempt sent the ball reeling into the air, Archie swooped in, snatching the ball from the receiver’s hands and rushing down the field. Though Archie was tackled at the one-yard line, he was able to reinvigorate a crowd desperate for their team to succeed and revitalize a squad staring down a seemingly insurmountable deficit.
The Bears’ offense now had to score. Coming out in their goalline formation, Bruno hoisted its hopes on the back of Nate Lussier. Catching the snap directly, he lunged ahead, breaking through first contact and piercing the goalline. Finally, with 1:52 left in the half, the Bears scored their first touchdown, and cut the Harvard lead down to 21–10.
The interception gave the team life, Mahoney recalled after the game. “It’s always great to score at the end of the half,” he said. “That was huge for us.”
When the Bears emerged from the locker room, they were scarcely recognizable. Delivering a hit that echoed through the stadium, Will Jarvis ’25 set the tone on the first special teams play coming out of halftime. The Bears had not given up yet, and were poised to claw their way back into the game.
But Harvard would not make it easy. On a crucial third down for the Bears — one in which the defense had the opportunity to stop Harvard and capitalize on Brown’s offensive momentum — the Crimson went deep. Gashing the Bears’ coverage, Harvard converted a 52-yard pass which took them into the red zone. From there, Harvard’s running backs took over and with six minutes to go in the third, the Crimson were leading by 18 points again, 28–10. But it would be the last time Harvard scored all game.
“I think, sometimes, you make your own luck,” Perry said. The offense and defense “feed off each other. From my perspective, that’s what Brown football is. Looking at them pumps me up and fires me up to put my best foot forward tomorrow.”
What followed was precisely that flavor of luck-making: a Bears team that would not accept defeat for the thirteenth consecutive time. On their next possession, the Bears went for a passing play in which the inside receivers went deep and faded to the outside, stretching the safeties across the width of the field and exposing a glaring hole in Harvard’s defense. After blowing past his linebacker, Matt Childs ’28 suddenly found himself alone between the hashes. Delivering a strike, Willcox connected with Childs, who ran the ball in for a 75-yard touchdown. After a successful PAT, the Bears cut Harvard’s lead almost in half: 28–17.
Energized by their offensive success, the Bears’ defense attacked the Crimson with renewed ferocity, forcing a quick three and out. By now, the stands were on their feet, seeing that — for essentially the first time since the first quarter — the Bears had a glimmer of hope. They watched as Bruno methodically marched down the field, only for the drive to stall out on a devastating fourth-and-goal situation at Harvard’s two-yard line.
“It would have been easy for us to get down on ourselves,” Willcox reflected after the game. “But we knew there was a chance that we would get the ball back."
With five minutes to go in the fourth, the offense finally delivered. Following a 14-play, 69-yard drive, Willcox turned to his favorite target: Mahoney. Using his massive 240-pound frame to shield the ball from his defender, he reeled in a laser on the goalline, pulling the Bears to within five points. There was no hesitation on the offensive side as to what would happen next: it was time for a two-point attempt.
The snap came, and for three long seconds, Willcox darted around the pocket, searching desperately for a target. He found one in the form of Qwentin Brown ’26, who was alone in the bottom corner of the endzone. Willcox threw the ball and it landed secured in Brown’s hands — that is, until a Harvard defender rushed downhill and knocked the football loose.
The incomplete ruling prompted minutes of mayhem at Brown Stadium, with the Bears’ sidelines in uproar at the referees and fans booing in the stands. The contested call warranted a review to determine whether it was a completed catch or not, and the verdict didn’t go Bruno’s way.
Now down five points instead of three, the game plan was clear: get a stop on defense and score a touchdown on offense. It was no longer time to contemplate — what the Bears needed to do was execute. But with time winding down, it appeared Brown would be unable to do so.
Harvard went on a successful, time-churning drive, eating away at the clock until there was less than a minute to go. They were in field-goal range and poised to put the game away. With only 21 seconds left on the clock, Harvard set up for the kick. The snap came, and the rest is history.
“Just like we drew it up,” Willcox remarked with a wry smile after coming off the field.
The Bears now look to capitalize on their early-season momentum with a series of in-state games. Next Saturday, at 12 p.m., the Bears will host the Bryant Bulldogs.
“We’re gonna enjoy this win for about twenty more hours,” Willcox said, “and then we’re getting back to work tomorrow morning.”
Lydell Dyer is a Senior Staff Writer for the sports section. A sophomore hailing from Bonn, Germany, Lydell is studying nonfiction English and political science, and if he's not off "making words sound pretty," you can find him lifting heavy circles at the Nelson.
