PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 2--Chet Boulris and Ron Johanson led the Crimson football team to a 13-6 upset win over Penn on Saturday, the first time the varsity has defeated the Quakers since 1903.
With quarterback Dick McLaughlin and halfback Walt Stahura out of action with injuries sustained in the Dartmouth game, the Crimson was a decided underdog against a winless but powerful Pennsylvania squad.
But after an initial period of shaky play, the varsity took charge of the contest and was never seriously challenged. The Crimson's defensive work was excellent. The line followed Penn's plays well, holding the Quakers to 116 yards on the ground. The pass defense kept Penn's completion percentage down to 4 out of 14 passes for 89 yards, 52 of which came on a single play from Tom Twitmyer to Parker Jacoby in the opening quarter to set up Penn's only touchdown.
The running of Boulris and the passing and play calling of Johanson were the entire offense for Harvard. Boulris picked up 150 yards of the Crimson's 173 yard total in 22 plays, for an average of nearly seven yards of carry, and Johanson completed 9 out of 17 passes for a total of 84 yards.
About the only encouraging note of the afternoon for Penn was the return to action of its brilliant passer and runner, Frank Riepl. Injured in the Penn-Penn State game, Riepl played several minutes in the third quarter. He will probably be ready to go full speed next week, when Penn faces Yale.
Perhaps the most important statistic of the game was the fact that Penn fumbled the ball away three times, while the Crimson did not fumble once. The first Penn fumble came late in the first quarter when end Hal Keohane alertly fell on a loose ball which Penn quarterback Hal Musick lost as he tried to skirt right end.
After Johanson's pass to Hauge gained nothing, Boulris went around right end for seven yards to the Penn 17. On the next play, he moved to the right side again, and after appearing to be trapped several times avoided the entire Penn secondary to score at one minute of the second period.
A few minutes earlier, the Crimson barely missed scoring when Bill Crowley, replacing Stahura at right halfback, misjudged a Johanson pass on the Quaker ten yard line.
Another Penn fumble, recovered by tackle Pete Briggs midway through the second quarter, halted a Penn drive before it could get started. A few minutes later, the Crimson found itself on Penn's 11 yard line. But Boulris, attempting to pass, lost 14 yards and Penn regained control.
The Harvard forward unit held, and Penn had to kick. Then, with the ball on the Crimson 20, Boulris tried his favorite right end spot, wriggled free from several defenders, and raced 55 yards to the Penn 25. Four plays later Johanson found captain Tom Hooper alone in the end zone, Hooper making a very nice catch of a rather inaccurate 20 yard toss.
Only one more scoring oportunity remained for the Crimson, that coming in the middle of the third quarter. The drive started when Bob Foster intercepted a Penn pass on the Harvard 36. The Crimson drove steadily, on fine running by Boulris--28 yards--and Don Gerety--16 yards--to the Penn three yard line. There Johanson called his one obviously bad play of the afternoon. He pitched deep back to Gerety at the ten and the right halfback was stopped by Jacoby, the outstanding player of the day for Penn, for a seven yard loss.
This halted the Crimson attack, and the varsity did very little offensively for the rest of the game. The defense took charge and held the Quakers well outside the Crimson 30 yard line. Penn lost its only other chance to tie the game when Johanson, who played the entire 60 minutes, stopped Fred Doelling, who tried to run the ball from punt formation on the Crimson 36.
Several minutes later, Boulris punted out of bounds on the Penn five, with only six minutes remaining. The Quakers remained bottled up in their own territory for the rest of the game, as the Crimson defense, playing very well despite the torrential rain, which began falling late in the third period, kept Penn's fast-running backs completely in check.
The key to the varsity's win was the strong defensive work both in the line and in the backfield, where fullback Sam Halaby played his usual strong defensive game. Up front, center Bob Foster and tackles Briggs and Bob Shaunessy were as effective as usual, but it was the line as a whole which impressed most of all. The forward unit moved quickly with Penn's offensive plays and held the unusually fast set of Quaker backs to a standstill, especially in the first half.
If the Penn contest is any indication, the varsity has apparently jelled into a rather strong offensive and defensive squad, and if Princeton is not "up" for next Saturday's game in the Stadium, it may be in for a very difficult afternoon.
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