For the first half of their season opener against the University of New Haven (1-3, 0-1 Northeast Conference) on Saturday, the Brown football team (1-0, 0-0 Ivy) looked poised to cruise to a dominant victory. By the final whistle, the Bears were simply happy to escape with a win.
Playing on New Haven’s distinctive all-blue field, Brown jumped out to a 17-0 halftime advantage behind two Matt Childs ’28 touchdowns and a stifling Bruno defense.
But after failing to score in the second half, the Bears watched their lead shrink to just seven points before the defense held firm at a crucial point, setting up the offense to kneel out a 17-10 victory.
“You’re going to take the ugly win,” Childs told The Herald in a post-game interview. “We know we got to do better in every aspect of the game. But I mean, you got to be excited for the first game you win.”
From their opening possession, the Bruno offense proved themselves capable of moving the ball quickly.
Quarterback James Murphy ’27, entering his second season as the Bears’ starter, found tight end Jadon Garza-Pender ’28 for a first down on his second play of the game. On the next play, the duo connected again for a 27-yard gain that pushed Bruno farther into New Haven territory.
But just as the Bears appeared to be hitting their rhythm, the drive unraveled — Murphy was sacked and coughed up the football, which New Haven recovered.
The Chargers immediately looked to capitalize. Feeling aggressive after the turnover, New Haven attempted a shot downfield on a first down, but eventually elected to punt on fourth-and-one rather than risk giving Brown favorable field position.
Pinned at its own 10-yard line, Bruno faced a long field. It took Childs just one play to erase almost all of it.
On second down, Murphy dumped the ball off to Childs on a screen pass, and the running back exploded into open space. Childs tore through the New Haven defense for 87 yards before finally being dragged down at the three-yard line.
One play later, Brown fed him the ball again. Childs powered straight up the middle and into the end zone, turning what began as a possession deep inside Bruno territory into the first touchdown of the season.
For Childs, that play epitomized Bruno’s offense.
“It just gets you excited to play as a team,” Childs said. “It gets the defense excited, makes them play harder, gets the offense excited because we’re inside the five yard line. We’re going to score.”
On the defensive side, the Bears were just as aggressive.
On New Haven’s ensuing possession, linebacker Tommy Dunn ’27 broke into the backfield and dragged down the Chargers’ quarterback. New Haven managed to retain possession, but the offense sputtered from there and was forced to punt again.
Bruno responded by methodically advancing downfield, eventually moving into the red zone. But a turnover from Murphy — who threw 14 interceptions last season — once again derailed the offense.
But Brown’s defense refused to let New Haven generate any meaningful progress on the drive. And after another unsuccessful Bruno possession, the Chargers were forced to start a drive on their own two-yard line following a special-teams mishap.
With less than two minutes remaining in the first quarter, Brown’s pass rush made New Haven’s situation even more dire.
Ike Odimegwu ’27 chased down the quarterback in the backfield, recording a sack and once again leaving the Chargers fighting simply to escape the shadow of their own end zone.
For Odimegwu, a Second Team Preseason All-American, Brown’s ability to generate consistent pressure is “less about what their offensive line is giving us, but more about the way that we train,” he told The Herald in a post-game interview.
“Whenever we’re seeing different sets, we already know how to react to them,” he added.
On the Bears’ next possession, Bruno faced a fourth down near midfield and bet on the offense, leaving Murphy and company on the field. Murphy turned his attention to the outside and fired toward Trevor Foley ’28, who hauled the pass in directly in front of the New Haven bench — much to the Chargers’ dismay.
From there, the Bears gradually worked their way toward the goal line.
Once Bruno reached the three-yard line, there was little mystery about where the ball was going. Childs took the handoff, charged up the middle and crossed into the end zone for his second touchdown of the afternoon.
“We’re an offensive unit. We got to be better. 17 is not enough. We know our standard,” Childs said. “These touchdowns mean a lot to us.”
While Brown’s offense put points on the board, its defensive front kept New Haven’s quarterback under siege. As the Chargers attempted to respond, defensive lineman Mason Baldic ’28 came flying into the backfield, clipping the quarterback’s legs for a sack.
With less than five minutes remaining in the half, the game’s physicality continued. New Haven’s Nikkem Reynolds collided helmet-to-helmet with Childs as an incomplete pass sailed away. Reynolds was ejected from the game following the hit, further depleting an injury-ridden New Haven roster.
After the two-minute warning, New Haven’s quarterback AJ Duffy dropped back and launched a pass deep into double coverage. The ball never reached its intended target.
Camryn Williams-Dalton ’27 tracked the ball through the air and came down with the interception.
“Once (Duffy) let the ball go, it’s just my ball in the air,” Williams-Dalton told The Herald in a post-game interview. “So I just got to go make the play, and I did.”
The Bears went back on the attack. Murphy eventually lofted a pass toward Foley near the corner of the end zone, where the receiver came crashing down near the pylon with the ball in his hands.
For a moment, it appeared Brown had its third touchdown.
But Foley’s foot had landed barely out of bounds. The Bears challenged the incomplete ruling, but the call stood, forcing Brown to settle for three points and sending them into the locker room with a 17-0 advantage.
But after halftime, momentum shifted New Haven’s way.
Brown’s offense stalled. Possessions became shorter. The explosive plays disappeared. Most importantly, the Bears stopped scoring.
With less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Chargers finally broke through, kicking a field goal to trim Brown’s lead to 17-3.
On their next possession, New Haven plotted 10 plays that took them 79 yards and into the end zone. Suddenly, a game Brown had controlled for much of the afternoon turned into a one-possession affair, standing at 17-10.
The Bears needed to respond.
Instead, the Chargers came down with another interception at their own 10-yard line.
“When you’re not moving in the second half, it creates a lot of stress,” said Head Coach James Perry ’00 in a post-game interview with The Herald. “Hopefully we learned our lesson there.”
Though the game suddenly hung in the balance, Brown’s defense delivered again — as they had all afternoon. The Bears turned New Haven away.
With the ball back, Bruno did just enough to run out the remaining clock, and Murphy kneeled down to seal the season-opening victory.
“It was just getting our minds in the right area, knowing we got to finish these tackles, that the game isn’t over no matter what the scoreboard says,” Williams-Dalton said. “We made tackles when we needed to and made plays when we needed to to get the win.”
For a Brown team with higher ambitions, the narrow victory offered both a successful start to the season and immediate feedback on where they can improve, according to Odimegwu.
“In order to win an Ivy League championship, we got to be much better,” Odimegwu said.
The Bears will next turn their attention to Harvard (1-0, 0-0 Ivy) next Friday at Centreville Bank Stadium, with just six days separating their season opener from their first Ivy League contest.
“The preparation starts on this bus ride home,” Perry said. “It will be a great challenge. The kids are up for it.”
Harry Guo is a senior staff writer and on the vertical video and design teams. He is from Andover, Massachusetts, and plans on concentrating in Business Economics and International and Public Affairs. In his free time, he enjoys writing poetry and playing poker.
