Princeton Rallies to Force Overtime Before Falling to Harvard

It was a heartbreaker Saturday in Princeton.

Senior quarterback Joe Viviano scored a one-yard touchdown run in overtime to lift Harvard to a 23-20 victory over Princeton in an Ivy League battle in a front of a homecoming crowd of 9,963 Saturday in Princeton.

Princeton (4-2, 2-1 Ivy) saw its three-game win streak snapped.

Down 14-0 at halftime, Princeton outscored Harvard, 17-3, in the second half to force overtime.

Junior John Lovett scored two touchdowns with a one-yarder in the third quarter and a game-tying four-yarder in the fourth and freshman kicker Tavish Rice kicked a 32-yard field goal in the third quarter for Princeton.

With the ball first, Rice kicked a 25-yard field goal in overtime to take a 20-17 lead, before Vivano’s heroics to seal the deal for Harvard (5-1, 3-0 Ivy).

Lovett had 15 carries for 60 yards and senior running back Joe Rhattigan had 22 carries for 91 yards to lead Princeton’s ground attack. Lovett added six receptions for 57 yards.

“All you can ask of your guys is that they go out and compete, and these guys did that,” Princeton head coach Bob Surace said. “I know we’re all disappointed, but I told these guys there is still a long way to go, and we need to come back tomorrow and continue to get better.”

Junior defensive lineman Kurt Holuba had 10 tackles with a career-high three sacks and senior linebacker Luke Catarius had a team-high 12 tackles for Princeton.

Senior linebacker Rohan Hylton, senior defensive back James Gales, and senior defensive back Sam Huffman each had one interception, while senior defensive lineman Henry Schlossberg added eight tackles, including 1 ½ for loss for the Tigers.

Princeton visits Cornell (3-3, 1-2 Ivy) Saturday for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff.

Cornell dropped a heart-breaking 28-21 double overtime road setback to Brown Saturday.