The Harvard football team survived its own weak pass defense and a rash of penalties Saturday to down the hapless Bruins of Brown by a 31 to 19 score. The defeat ended the season for the Providence eleven and marked the second straight year that the frustrated Bears have been unable to win a game in the Ivy League.
Two varsity players were responsible for all of the Crimson scoring with halfback Bill Taylor collecting a record four touchdowns and John Hartranft booting all extra points and a field goal Taylor's 24 points were enough to offset the spectacular passing of Bruin quarterback Jim Dunda who connected with ends and halfbacks almost at will.
The afternoon opened with Drown looking just as an Ivy League cellar dweller should. The Bruins fumbled the opening kick-off on their own 28 and Crimson captain Dick Diehl out-scrambled three Bruins for possession.
Two line plunges by all-Ivy fullback Bill Granz and a pass by signal caller Mike Bassett brought the ball to the Brown seven. Taylor's subsequent score ever left tackle and Hartranft's point after touchdown surprised no one and seemed to set the stage for a Crimson romp.
But Brown halfback Jan Moyer held on to the next Crimson kick-off and his 26 yard return was quickly followed by a long Dunda pass putting Brown inside the Harvard 40-yard line. The Crimson defense, impressed by Dunda's throwing prowess, held back for another serial attempt.
This pre-occupation led to a Brown tally eight running plays later and the following conversion tied the score at 7-7 with two-thirds of the first period remaining. The Brown touchdown drive was aided by the first of a series of Harvard penalties that cost the varsity a total of 55 yards.
With four minutes remaining in the half, Taylor burst off-tackle for eleven yards to the Brown 30 where he was stopped by the combined Brown secondary. But Taylor, who averaged better than 10 yards per carry Saturday, went down without the ball and Bassett moved to the Brown 24 with Taylor's lateral.
Moments later, Tayler ripped through the left side of the Brown line, stiff-armed a would-be tackier at the Bruin five, and stopped into the end zone for the second of his four tallies.
Trying to close the gap, Dunda threw nine complete passes, and Brown scored twice in the final fifteen minutes of action. But Bassett, with just one pass, kept the Crimson out of reach. Pitching from his own 22 yard line, the 5 ft. 11 in. junior hit Taylor in the clear. The right halfback then ran the remaining 61 yards for the TD without being touched.
In scoring his fourth touchdown in a single afternoon, Taylor broke a University mark (Charlie Ravanel scored three against Columbia in 1959) and tied an Ivy League record. Hewes Agnew has been the only other player to do the trick, scoring four times for Princeton in 1956.
Considering the Bruin starting line up--six sophomores, four juniors, and but one senior, the visitors from Providence performed admirably and promise to be real trouble in years to come. Until that time, Brown will have to be satisfied with dragging that small, unwilling American black bear around the gridiron during halftime.
Read more in News
The Grader Replies
