All last night and all this morning it rained in Cambridge. Tiger Coach Vic Colman sat in his motel room mumbling unhappily about a wet field. One timid Radcliffe girl wondered if curling up and going to sleep might not make more sense than getting soaked at the stadium.
She came after all, and was well-rewarded. Harvard, infuriated by its poor performance at Penn last week, rose up to achieve another thrilling upset in the best tradition of Yovicsin-coached teams. Blocking, tackling and running the way the press releases promised Princeton would do, the Crimson was irrepressible in a 21-7 win.
The loss was the first suffered by the Tigers all year and was perhaps the most bitter they have experienced in years. Princeton has not beaten Harvard in the Stadium since 1957 and practically every. One at Nassau was certain that the time had come for a change. In a spirited pep rally in Princeton last Thursday, the first well-attempted session in some time, the Tigers players had told their followers that "we are going to kill them this time."
They were wrong. Unable to contain a Harvard offense that had at times this year been non-existent, Princeton fell. Harvard's win brought hopeless csonfusion to the Ivy standings. The Tigers still lead, but now Harvard has an excellent chance of ultimate victory.
Harvard Takes Kick
Harvard received the opening kick off which Grant returned from his own 12 to the 38-yard line. Despite the impressive field condition, the Crimson was unable to move the ball, and Harry Van Oudenallen punted for 44 yards on fourth down.
The Tigers quickly showed some of the offensive power that has brought them six straight victories, with tailback Hugh MacMillan runing for gains of 9, 12, and 7 yards. Then the luck turned against Nassau, with an off-side penalty and a fumble destroying the momentum of the nascent drive.
Pete Riley punted to Dave Poe, who bobbled the slippery ball and quickly fell on it at his own 34-yard line. This shaky maneuver, however, soon proved to be the start of a major offensive by the Crimson.
Executing plays with the precision and punch that forced Dartmouth to yield two weeks ago, Mike Bassett took Harvard 66 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown late in the first period. Poe, Grant, and Bill Grana all contributed solid running, but it was a 20-yard streak by Bassett himself that gave the Crimson its big chance.
This run was followed by a 15-yard sweep around right end by Grant. As waterlogged Harvard fans screamed enthusiastically a few moments later, Poe took a pitch-out from Bassett, cut across left tackle, and scored. John Hartranft's Kick was perfect, giving the Crimson an early, unexpected 7-0 advantage. Pessimists in the stands, however, recalled that previous Princeton opponents had also managed to score first.
There was no scoring in the second period, but Harvard continued to show finesse in execution both an offense and defense. A Princeton threat in mid-period was squelched when junior guard John Hoffman broke through the Tiger line and caught tailback Don McKay nine yards behind scrimmage.
Dave Poe starting his first varsity game, repayed coach John Yovicsin's confidence with strong runs, the longest going for 15 yards late in the half. A fearsome block by tackle Jeff Pochop set up this romp, which took the Crimson to midfield.
The drive bogged down here, with the Orange and Black line at last putting up the resistance for which it has become famous. As Van Oudenallen waited for a snap to punt, time ran out with Harvard still holding a 7-0 advantage.
With one dramatic exception, Cosmo Iacavazzi, the highly publicized Tiger fullback, failed to show any of his storied abilities in the first half. He gained a total of eleven yards in five carries, one of them being a dive over the line for a first down. A 13-yard run was called back because Iacavazzi was illegally in motion on the play.
Yovicsin Hoped to Pass
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