The Brown football squad, cast in the role of giant-killers since its 12-8 upset of league-leading Cornell last Saturday, will square off this afternoon with a Crimson team fighting to regain the form it showed in bagging its own giant, Dartmouth, three weeks ago. Kick-off in the Stadium is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
With at least three players whom Crimson coach John Yovicsin calls "among the best in the East," the Bruins have perhaps the most unheralded collection of talent in the Ivy League. Quarterback Frank Finney is the league's leading passer (outshining even Cornell's Tom Skypeck last week) and a good runner as well. Don Warburton--captain, center, and linebacker--is Brown's mainstay on defense, and 205-1b. Paul Choquette, a fullback who combines a juggernaut charge with surprising speed, rounds out this deadly up-the-middle combination.
In defense, the Crimson and the Bruins rank second and third in the league, and the varsity's strong line probably gives it an edge in this department.
But Brown's backfield, which flanks stars like Finney and Choquette with two excellent halfbacks--John McTigue and Bob Carlin--has been rated the finest in the Ivy League by Yovicsin. It appears clearly to outclass the varsity's starting backfield, which for the first time this season includes three sophomores: Charlie Ravenel, Bruce MacIntyre, and Larry Repsher. On the strength of this advantage, the Bruins have to be conceded one-touchdown favorites.
Last year, Finney sliced yardage off the Crimson ends in great chunks with the pass option play and Choquette bore down relentlessly on the middle of the line in a 33-7 rout of an injury-riddled Crimson eleven. Today, injuries have not taken such a toll on the varsity, though halfback Tom Lawson has been sidelined with a week-old leg bruise. Linemen Jim Keating and Chuck Papalia both are bothered with stiff necks and will be used sparingly if at all.
But the biggest change in the Crimson lineup comes not from an injury, but from the surprisingly sudden rise of Bruce MacIntyre to take over Chet Boulris' starting spot at left halfback. Boulris, usually one of the best runners on the team, was certainly below par in last week's Princeton game, and Yovicsin said yesterday that MacIntyre's showing in past games had simply earned him better overall marks than Boulris.
Repsher Near Top Shape
Larry Repsher, who is nearing top shape again after an ankle injury early in the season, will replace Lawson at right half, and Don Gerety is also likely to see action at this position. Yovicsin yesterday labeled Gerety "the best pass receiver on the team," and he may well be used to bolster the Crimson's attack. At all events, the varsity's fortunes this afternoon will depend to a large degree on the performances of sophomores moving up to starting position: MacIntyre, Repsher, and Terry Lenzner, who replaces Keating at left guard. In any Harvard-Brown game, the airy intangibles of football season psychology are apt to play a part. The Bruins' arrival is sandwiched between the Princeton and Yale contests and has often caught the Crimson carried away by thoughts of another Saturday, either ahead or behind
Read more in Sports
Crimson Booters Tie Yale, 1-1, On Acorn's Last-Minute Goal
