Advertisement

Spreyer Sparks 14-0 Bruin Killing As Crimson Hits on All Cylinders

MacKinney Condition Doubtful; Lyman Stars In Relief Role at Blocking Back Position

"Charley Spreyer played as fine a game as any back I've ever seen at Harvard, but don't forget Ted Lyman. He really laid those Brown boys up in the cheap seats," said Dick Harlow, thoroughly enjoying the customary after game review for the first time this year.

The only sour note marring the clean cut 10 to 0 win over the Bruins was the leg injury sustained by Loren MacKinney, the versatile Tar Heel who has been dividing his time between left end and blocking back. Doctors have not definitely ruled him out of the Yale game, but he is hobbling around on crutches with a bad right knee as a result of the tumble he took in the third period after leaping high in the air to intercept a Brown pass.

Pass Interception

There had been no score up to that point despite the fact that Harvard had had much the better of the going, and the tide had almost turned Brown's way when one of MacKinney's punts had been blocked a minute or so earlier. MacKinney's pass interception was his final contribution to the game, and it was the beginning of the end for the gallant Bruins. Spreyer and Lyman kept the ball moving all the way to the goal.

Harvard had been knocking on the door all afternoon and getting repulsed just as consistently--like a bill collector. Brown had been using almost as many different unorthodox defenses as Harvard, and its defense had stiffened whenever the Harlowmen advanced into scoring territory. Finally in the fourth quarter Charley Spreyer touched off a 63 yard voyage with a brilliant 12-yard touchdown drive around his own right end. Blocking was negligible after he crossed the line of scrimmage, and that made it necessary for him to wrench himself loose from at least three would-be Brown tacklers.

Advertisement

Spreyer's 151 yards gained in 28 attempts Saturday is an average of 5 1/2 yards per try, the outstanding performance of the year in Soldiers Field. His savage running gave Harvard one touchdown, and his resourceful quarterbacking accounted for the other. When Harvard was driving deep in Brown's territory late in the fourth quarter, an over-shifting Brown defense made it all but impossible for Harvard linemen to clear the way on power plays.

The famous Sally Rand or naked reverse has been resting peacefully deep down in Dick Harlow's bag of gridiron tricks ever since Torbie Macdonald's graduation. It hasn't even been run off in practice once this year. But Charley Spreyer remembered the play and called it on the Brown five-yard line Saturday. Harvard had been storming over the Brown left tackle several times in a row, and this next play started the same way. This time, however, Spreyer handed the ball to Frannie Lee, who whirled around the Brown right end and into the end zone unmolested.

Advertisement