A motor vehicle accident along the route created a half-hour-long traffic jam and delayed the arrival of the Brown team bus, so the pre-match warm-up was shortened and kickoff was pushed back by a few minutes, but the disruption did not impact the Bears' energy to start the match. Brown kicked off, forced Dartmouth to kick out from their own territory, and gained possession at midfield. On their first possession of the match, after only 2 phases and 4 passes, junior wing Theo Romero caught a lovely offload out of contact from junior tight head Asa Rosenmeier. Romero outran a Dartmouth defender to break the gain line, then stepped inside to break the last defender's tackle and sprinted in for the try on a 55-meter carry. Brown held a 5-0 lead less than a minute into the match.

The home team's crowd was lively, though, and the Big Green rallied around their energy defensively. Despite several more trips to the red zone, the Bears were unable to add to their lead before Dartmouth got on the board in the twenty-first minute, when their inside center Gabriel Riordan took a strong carry in under the posts. Adding the conversion put Dartmouth in the lead 7-5. The end of the half would belong to Bruno. Minutes later, junior Vice Captain outside center Tito Edjua put Brown back on top 8-7 with a penalty kick. And two minutes after that, freshman fullback Inigo Langford wrote himself into the history of the Brown v Dartmouth rivalry, running back a Dartmouth kick 65 meters through several defenders for a try under the posts. Edjua's conversion made the score Brown 15 - Dartmouth 7. In the thirty-fourth minute, a late hit on junior fly-half Ben Shirley earned Dartmouth's Riordan a yellow card, and Edjua slotted another penalty kick minutes later. Brown entered halftime leading with a score of 18-7.

Having allowed 13 unanswered points to Brown, feeling their chances at an upset slipping away, and serving the remainder of a yellow card to start the second half, Dartmouth was determined to get back on the front foot. Thanks to some miscues by the Bears, Dartmouth survived the last few minutes of the yellow card without surrendering any more points, and in the forty-fourth minute, their Captain, hooker Jamie Phillips, took a short pick and go over the goal line for a try. The conversion closed the Brown lead to 4 at 18-14.

The next twenty minutes were a defensive stalemate for both sides, with both threatening in attack and both holding fast, demonstrating the quality of both teams. The stalemate was broken in the sixty-fifth minute. When, attempting to exit from a lineout on their own 25-meter line, Brown committed a knock-on and gifted Dartmouth with a favorable midfield attacking platform. On the second phase from that set piece, Dartmouth #6 Nathan Raath took a strong carry down the short side through several tackle attempts and scored. The conversion pushed the Dartmouth lead to 21-18, capping off a 14-point run.

Over the next 5 minutes, the two teams would jostle for territory and possession between the 22's until in the seventieth minute, Dartmouth #23 Jack Winslow was issued a yellow card over repeated infringements of slowing the ball down at defensive rucks and not rolling away after the tackle. Minutes later, at a scrum on their side near midfield, Brown was awarded a free-kick. Over the next 7 phases, the short-handed Dartmouth defence pushed back the Bears' attack about 10 meters until on the 8th phase some nifty interplay put senior flanker Cameron McAlpine through on a 25-meter line break into Dartmouth territory. Two phases later, sophomore scrumhalf Charm Tuala found Edjua with a numbers advantage on the short-side of the ruck about 30-meters out. Edjua beat one defender with a dummy and burst through the gap untouched, scoring the game-winning points with an emphatic dive over the goal line.

Dartmouth wasn't done with the fight though, several inopportune penalties against the Bears late gave Dartmouth a 15-meter lineout in Brown territory with time expired. The Dartmouth forwards failed to execute at the set piece, and the ball came squirting out toward midfield, where Bears' Captain, senior Kaspar Pitblado was able to corral it and battle in contact to secure possession for Brown. A rush of Bears flooded to the breakdown to ensure there would be no turnover and no additional chances for the home team. The ball was kicked out, and Brown University Men's Rugby was crowned Ivy League Champions for the 5th year in a row, a dynasty which is unprecedented in club history. The final score: Brown 25 - Dartmouth 21.

In recent years, the club has become accustomed to building huge leads and playing with that advantage; however, when they have faced adversity and needed to come from behind, they've found ways to win close matches. In this contest, Dartmouth was affected by their two yellow card penalties, which provided Brown significant scoring opportunities, allowing them to score 10 points during these periods.

Vice Captain Tito Edjua expressed pride in the team's cohesion and strategy, emphasizing the team's ability to leverage their diverse strengths,

"We always back each other and stick to our game plan. We have players with so many different strengths, so we focus on putting them in places that they can use them."

Head Coach David Laflamme praised the team's resilience against a formidable Dartmouth side,

"We knew it would be a battle and it was. Great resiliency by the boys to stay in the fight and pull it out in the end. Dartmouth is a quality side. Definitely our toughest challenge to date."

Looking ahead, the undefeated Brown Bears, holding a 5-0 record this season, will next face #11 ranked American International College on October 11, 2025, at Abdow Field, Springfield, Massachusetts. The team remains focused on maintaining its winning streak as it continues through the competitive Liberty Conference.

MATCH ROSTER
1 Henrique Gabriel
2 Garett Mann - substituted at 64:00
3 Asa Rosenmeier
4 Tony Zhao
5 Rowe Stodolnic
6 Kaspar Pitblado
7 Cameron McAlpine
8 Matthew Schwab
9 Charm Tuala
10 Ben Shirley - substituted at 66:00
11 Theo Romero
12 Leo Clayburgh
13 Tito Edjua
14 Marco Lapierre
15 Inigo Langford
16 Erik Estienne - on at hooker at 64:00
17 Ben Le Roux
18 Quinn Miller
19 Cameron Kean
20 Bertie Deen
21 Fred Hughes - on at flyhalf at 66:00
22 Finley Brown
23 Tripp King

SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST HALF
1:00 Brown Try, Theo Romero, Brown 5 - 0 Dartmouth
21:00 Dartmouth Try, Gabe Riordan, Dartmouth Conversion Ethan Knight, Brown 5 - 7 Dartmouth
28:00 Brown Penalty Kick, Tito Edjua, Brown 8 - 7 Dartmouth
30:00 Brown Try, Inigo Langford, Brown Conversion Tito Edjua, Brown 15 - 7 Dartmouth
34:00 Dartmouth Yellow Card, #12 Gabe Riordan, late hit
36:00 Brown Penalty Kick, Tito Edjua, Brown 18 - 7 Dartmouth
HALFTIME Brown 18 - 7 Dartmouth
44:00 Dartmouth Try, Jamie Phillips, Dartmouth Conversion Ethan Knight, Brown 18 - 14 Dartmouth
47:00 Brown Yellow Card, #5 Rowe Stodolnic, foul play
66:00 Dartmouth Try, Nathan Raath, Dartmouth Conversion Ethan Knight, Brown 18 - 21 Dartmouth
72:00 Dartmouth Yellow Card, #22 Jack Winslow, repeated infringements at the breakdown
75:00 Brown Try, Tito Edjua, Brown Conversion, Tito Edjua, Brown 25 - 21 Dartmouth
FINAL SCORE Brown 25 - 21 Dartmouth