Protests, darkness can’t keep Yale from earning share of Ivy League title

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Yale and Harvard students poured out of the stands together at halftime Saturday in a climate change protest that delayed the 136th edition of The Game for about an hour.

When the fans stormed back onto the field at the end, it was only the Yalies, and they were celebrating this time.

Kurt Rawlings threw two touchdown passes in the final 88 seconds of regulation to rally Yale from a fourth-quarter deficit and it beat Harvard 50-43 in two overtimes.

Following a halftime sit-in by a couple hundred protesters who occupied midfield for about an hour before being peacefully escorted off by police, The Bulldogs (9-1, 6-1 Ivy League) celebrated a conference title in darkness 15 minutes after sunset in the unlit, 105-year-old Yale Bowl.

“Yeah, it was surreal. But we were ready to go until tomorrow,” said JP Shohfi, who caught 10 passes for 103 yards and the game-tying touchdown with 18 seconds left in the fourth quarter. “It didn’t matter if there were lights or not. It didn’t matter the time of the day. We were ready to go again and again and again.”

Fifty-one years after Harvard rallied to a late tie that The Crimson student newspaper trumpeted with the headline “Harvard Beats Yale 29-29,” it was Yale that came back, marching 96 yards for one score and then recovering an onside kick to set up another. The victory gave Yale a share of the Ivy title; Dartmouth beat Brown Saturday to also finish 9-1.

“This game was a lot better because we won,” Yale coach Tony Reno said. “People say it’s the greatest rivalry in all of sport. I think it was on display today.”

Rawlings, who threw for 417 yards and ran for 62, threw another touchdown pass on Yale’s first possession of overtime, and Zane Dudek ran for a score on the second. After...