UNH Falls to #25 Harvard, 31-7

Saturday, September 19

Durham, N.H.

1 PM

University of New Hampshire

1-3 , 0-1

Harvard

1-0 , 0-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Harvard	0	21	0	10	31
New Hampshire	0	7	0	0	7

Book Travel

Photo by: Rose Blaney

9/19/2026 6:06:00 PM | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

DURHAM, N.H. – The University of New Hampshire defense held Harvard University to 262 total yards of offense, but the 25^th-ranked Crimson prevailed 31-7 in Saturday afternoon's non-conference football matchup at Wildcat Stadium.

Senior quarterback Brooks Bentley (Venice, Fla.) completed 18 of 37 passes for 186 yards and scored UNH's touchdown on a one-yard run. Sophomore Ryan Ricketti (Rocky River, Ohio) had a game-high seven catches for 42 yards and junior Ty Carlson (Oswego, Ill.) led all players with 56 receiving yards on three catches.

Senior running back Joquez Smith (Tampa, Fla.) had 10 carries for 50 yards.

Sophomore Cohen Cook (Somers Point, N.J.) finished with a team-high nine tackles, sophomore Ethan Aghakhan (Vernon Hills, Ill.) had 2.5 tackles for loss and grad student Josh Fillion (Quebec City, Quebec) blocked a punt.

Harvard quarterback Charlie Smith threw for 71 yards and one touchdown. Cole Allen led the team with 12 carries and a total of 62 yards. Nathan Bailey scored two touchdowns 35 seconds apart late in the second quarter – one on a 23-yard run and the next on a 13-yard reception – to give the Crimson a 21-7 lead going into halftime.

UNH falls to 1-3 and Harvard, which recorded three takeaways and 11 tackles for loss (including seven sacks), improves to 1-0.

UP NEXT

New Hampshire returns to action Sept. 26 (12pm) at Sacred Heart University.
The Wildcats' next home game is Homecoming and Hall of Fame Weekend on Oct. 3 (1pm) against Elon University.

CLICK HERE to buy tickets online or e-mail unh.tickets@unh.edu or call (603) 862-4000.

CLICK HERE for a full look at the UNH Football Promotional Calendar.

FIRST QUARTER

The first quarter went scoreless, with UNH gaining 50 total yards and the Wildcat defense holding Harvard to just 16 yards of total offense on 12 plays.

SECOND QUARTER

The Crimson scored the first touchdown of the game off a one-yard run by Kise Flannery at 11:47.
The Wildcats answered back with a 75-yard scoring drive that ended with Bentley rushing one yard to the end zone. A successful extra point from sophomore kicker Lucas Glassburn (Windermere, Fla.) tied the game at 7-7.
With 53 seconds left in the quarter, Bailey capped a nine-play scoring drive with a 23-yard touchdown run.
With just 23 seconds remaining, DJ Vincent-Thomas intercepted Bentley's pass at the UNH 33 to give the Crimson the ball. Capitalizing on the interception, the Crimson extended the lead to 21-7 off a 13-yard pass from Smith to Bailey with 18 seconds on the clock.

THIRD QUARTER

Grad safety Jackson Stone (Lebanon, N.H.) intercepted Smith's pass at the Crimson 35 to give the Wildcats possession at the HAR 45.
On the next drive, UNH was stopped on 4^th-and-1 at the HAR 10 to end the scoring threat.

FOURTH QUARTER

Following that defensive stand, the Crimson went on an 84-yard drive that ended with a 24-yard field goal by Kieran Corr at 11:39 to give the visitors a 24-7 lead.

Harvard continued momentum with a 25-yard scoring drive highlighted by a one-yard rushing touchdown by Xaviah Bascon. With a successful extra point kick, the Crimson led 31-7.

UNH NOTEBOOK

Fillion had 42 receiving yards to eclipse 500 career receiving yards and has 503 on 50 receptions.
Cook has 98 career tackles.
It was Stone's first career interception.
It was also Fillion's first career blocked kick.
UNH's special teams has two blocks this season. In addition to Fillion's blocked punt, Sean Webb blocked a field goal Sept. 12 vs. Stonehill.

This was the first time Harvard football played at Wildcat Stadium.

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