Harvard, Behind Quarterback Colton Chapple, Pulls Away From Yale BOSTON - The red sun was sinking and time on the clock was dwindling and Harvard quarterback Colton Chapple had no choice but to fling a pass toward the back of a crowded end zone. "It was really all or nothing," Chapple said. Chapple has forged a gunslinging career, setting records with his arm, and his final collegiate pass Saturday, with Harvard trailing Yale with less than five minutes remaining, could hardly have been more precise. The 6-foot-5 tight end Cameron Brate snatched the ball out of the sky to give Harvard the go-ahead score in its eventual 34-24 victory over the Bulldogs in their 129th showdown in front of 31,123 fans at Harvard Stadium. Chapple's impressive second half - he finished 22 for 32 with 209 yards and 2 touchdowns - revived Harvard after a lackluster start. The senior running back Treavor Scales added 177 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown run with 1 minute 8 seconds remaining to seal Harvard's sixth consecutive victory against its rival. "The emotions are really second to none," Scales said. It's almost indescribable. Harvard (8-2, 5-2 Ivy League) finished second in the league behind Penn, which beat Cornell, 35-28. But the Crimson got everything they could handle from Yale, which stamped an impressive ending onto a largely forgettable season. Decimated by injuries - five players took snaps at quarterback this year - the Bulldogs (2-8, 1-6) finished last in the Ivy League for just the third time since 1983. But the first-year Coach Tony Reno drew up a dynamic defensive plan Saturday and squeezed just enough out of his depleted offense to hang tough with the explosive Crimson. "I could not be more proud of these guys," Reno said. A first half that ended with a 3-3 defensive stalemate gave way to a seesaw battle in the second. At one point, six of nine drives between the teams resulted in touchdowns. "We knew it was not going to be a 6-3 game," Reno said, referring to the score with 8:53 left in the third quarter. They've got too good an offense. Harvard, averaging 40 points, was initially flummoxed by Yale's defensive pressure. Its 3 points at halftime were its lowest total of the season. The Crimson allowed three sacks and one fumble and committed three false-start penalties in a sloppy first half. "They were giving us looks we didn't see on film," Harvard Coach Tim Murphy said. It took us a while to adjust to that. Chapple rushed for an 18-yard touchdown with 4:51 left in the third that gave Harvard a 13-3 lead, which seemingly relieved the tension at sold-out Harvard Stadium. Instead, things were only getting started. Yale was without two starting receivers and a tight end all season. They lost three quarterbacks to injury in one game. They dropped their last three games by an average of 15.3 points. Yet there they were, trading scores with Harvard throughout a wild second half. Henry Furman, the fifth-string quarterback, completed a 46-yard pass to Cameron Sandquist, moving the ball to Harvard's 5-yard line, and the bruising running back Tyler Varga rushed in from 3 yards to cut the lead, 13-10. Furman led another deep drive on the next possession and, on third down, he scrambled to his right and found receiver Grant Wallace in the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown pass and a 17-13 Yale lead. "I was trying to find a window to throw," Furman said. He was able to make a great play. Chapple responded with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Berg to give the Crimson a 20-17 lead with 11:52 remaining. Yale defensive tackle Nick Daffin then intercepted a Chapple pass at Harvard's 29 after safety Charles Cook, on a blitz, hit Chapple as he threw. The Bulldogs scored on another short rush by Varga, who finished with 96 yards and 2 scores. Trailing by 4, driving toward the sun, Harvard looked to Chapple, its senior quarterback from Alpharetta, Ga. Chapple almost immediately ripped off a 61-yard run up the middle, taking the ball to the Yale 9. With second-and-goal from the 4, as the Crimson broke the huddle, Brate, the tight end, told Chapple, "If I'm covered, just give me a high ball." That's exactly what Chapple did. He tossed it to the back of the end zone, and Brate, with Yale defenders draped on him, came down with the ball. "He made an unbelievable play," Chapple said. With four minutes left, Yale had one more opportunity, but Harvard forced a punt. On third-and-13, Scales broke free down the sideline and raced toward the end zone to hammer home a victory more hard fought than just about anybody predicted. "We gave it everything we had," Murphy said. It was a great heavyweight fight, and we landed the last punch.