Borguet, Harvard run over Dartmouth

Harvard 28 Dartmouth 13

There’s a reason Aidan Borguet was the preseason choice for Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, and he showed it in Harvard’s 28-13 win over Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon at Hanover, N.H.

The senior running back delivered a season-best performance, rushing for 179 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries.

“Creating big plays is always going to be tough against a wellcoached team like that,” said Borguet. “The offensive line, I’m thankful for them. They make our jobs as running backs, and my job, a lot easier.”

Borguet made his mark in the second half, when he scored his two touchdowns to cement victory for the Crimson (5-2, 3-1). With 6:02 left in the third, he took a handoff and followed a lead blocker into the end zone from 12 yards.

Midway through the fourth, Borguet took a handoff at the Dartmouth 21 and it looked as if he’d just get a few yards, but he shook off three tacklers and dived into the pylon to pick up the Crimson’s final touchdown.

While Borguet got it done on the ground, quarterback Luke Emge was on point through the air, finishing with 195 yards, a touchdown, and an interception on 11-of-17 passing.

Emge delivered on the opening drive, connecting with wideout Kym Wimberly on passes of 22 and 34 yards, the latter for a touchdown.

Wimberly was Emge’s favorite target, pulling in five catches for 70 yards and a touchdown. He added another score on the ground, taking an end-around 9 yards to the house in the second quarter to put the Crimson up, 14-7.

The Big Green (2-5, 1-3) scored on Zack Bair’s 4-yard touchdown run but couldn’t convert on the point-after and went into halftime trailing, 1413. Harvard’s defense shut down any comeback attempt, not allowing the Big Green to get closer than the 30-yard line for the rest of the game.

Dartmouth accumulated just 117 second-half yards, with 10 of those coming in the third quarter.

Nick Howard scored Dartmouth’s first touchdown, a 1yard run to tie the game at 7 early in the second quarter.

“Nothing ever comes easy up here,” said Harvard coach Tim Murphy. “I’m really proud of our kids; we battled. It was an oldfashioned type of game, obviously in the best possible context.”