Right Guard Joe Mitinger charged down under the opening kickoff in the Yalies season open with U Conn and made the tackle. It was somewhat symbolic--he's been doing a lot of the tackling since. A hard charger, the Eli Captain made almost a third of the tackles in the Princeton game, doing a particularly fine job stopping Homer Smith. Left tackle Harris Ashton, also played a good game against the Tigers, and has improved steadily all year.
Bill Prentiss, the six-foot-four-inch right tackle is extremely fast, and very rarely fooled despite his relative inexperience. The 215-pound Shugart, left guard, was a freshman star last season, but moved right up and has been starting almost every game.
Top Linebacker
Joe Fortunato, the linebacker, made almost every tackle that Mitinger missed last week, Fortunato played a fine game against Harvard last year as a sophomore--making one costly mistake, when he was trapped on John Ederer's 87-yard run. Only 165 pounds, he diagnoses plays well, moves quickly, and keeps his feet exceptionally well, and keeps his feet exceptionally well, and is one of the main reasons for Yale's strong defense. Bill Hopewell, almost unseeded at the season's start, plays the other linebacker post, though not nearly so well.
Phil Mathias, a sophomore who made several high schoolish mistakes against Princeton will start at defensive right halfback. A fullback as a freshman, Mathias has played sparingly on offense this season, but has a nine yard average for eight carries. Bob Parcells played the best defensive game of any of the Eli pass defenders last week, but even his work was unsharp. The Yale pass defense of Mathias, Parcells and Brock Martin has been weak all year. In the Princeton game, the Tiger's left handed fallback Bob Unger was able to run to his right and complete several very shaky passes. One pass that was called back, was completed to smith with no one within twenty yards of the Nassau fullback.
Brock Martin, brittle during the week, when he misses practice because of miscellaneous serious injuries and sold on Saturday, when he always manages to play, has overcome a badly twisted ankle and will start at safety. Martin, who has played defense exclusives, was Yale's best runner last year, but against Princeton he struggled through with a mangled shoulder; might have saved his efforts. Frank McPhee faked him into the ground in the first quarter and caught a pass from Unger for an 80-yard scoring play.
But the pass defense is Yale's only weakness, and even there it has the edge over Harvard. The passing and coach are excellent, the line good; the running above average. For the eternal Crimson optimist busy figuring an upset victory down to the last point, this warning--Parcells, who tied the 1951 game up in the last minute with the extra point, is back.