A quick-hitting football team from Brown got away to a fast start and went on to defeat the Crimson, 33 to 6, in the final Stadium game of the season on Saturday.
A couple of comments, made by the head coaches of the two squads shortly after the game ended, tell the essentially simple story of the contest. "Brown was good," John Yovicsin said firmly; "Harvard was hurting," Alva Kelley replied. No one of the 17,000-odd fans who saw the game is likely to dispute either of these remarks.
Brown was especially good in the early stages of the game, grinding out long scoring drives each of the first three times it got its hands on the ball. By contrast, Harvard's first three offensive sorties netted a total of minus ten yards.
Brown Split-T
The Bruins operated from a straight split-T attack, unadorned with frills and fancy plays. They relied almost exclusively on quick handoffs ("dives") over the guards, power thrusts over the tackles that developed more slowly, and, most of all, on the devastating quarterback "option" play. They passed only when long yardage was called for.
The sharp, quick blocking of the Brown line made the dive plays very successful. The visitor's linemen seemed to beat their Crimson counterparts to the punch on nearly every play.
The running and ball-handling of the Bruin backs enabled the winners to gain almost at will on the options; Frank Finney, in particular, proved his mettle as a quarterback with his flawless execution of this play.
The first few times the option was tried Finney succeeded in getting around the Crimson ends before being forced to lateral off to one of his halfbacks. Later in the game, the varsity's wingmen began to stay wide, so he adjusted his tactics and cut back to the inside. Either way the ends were maneuvered out of the play; and the tackle had to be made by a defensive back, well past the line of scrimmage.
The first Brown march was negotiated in 12 downs and covered 60 yards. Finney concentrated his attack on the left side of the Harvard line, which was a favorite Brown target all afternoon. Key plays were a 21-yard option and a 14-yard pass from Finney to right end Jon Jensen. Jack McTigue scored the touch- down on a dive over his own right guard from three yards out.
The second Brown team engineered the winners' next touchdown drive. This time the play was a fourth-down screen pass from Nick Pannes to fullback Bob Topping. Topping received the ball on his own 40 and thundered down the left side-line to the end zone, escorted all the way by two Bruin blockers.
Brown scored once again, midway in the second quarter, before the Crimson was able to muster anything even approaching an offensive threat. Dick McLaughlin finally got the varsity rolling just before the half, when he completed six short passes in a row to various Crimson receivers; but the half ended with the home team still 35 yards from the Brown goal-line.
Free Substitution
The two squads played on more nearly even terms in the second half, with both coaches substituting very freely. Altogether, Alva Kelley used 45 players--"everybody that's out for football at Brown," as he said afterwards.
The third period was scoreless, but Brown tallied soon after the start of the fourth. This touchdown was scored on as pretty an option play as Harvard fans are likely to see for quite some time.
Finney, after taking the snap from center, moved out to his right along the line of scrimmage, keeping the ball until actually in the process of being tackled by Crimson left end Hal Keohane. He then lateraled off to left-halfback McTigue, who had been trailing the play. A timely block took care of one potential Crimson tackler, and McTigue eluded another with a dramatic leap into the air. All-in-all the play covered 47 yards.
The Crimson finally managed to score, six minutes before the end of the game. Stan Merkel got the touchdown on a one-yard plunge at the end of a five-play drive from the Brown 27.
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