The only unsurprising thing about Saturday's football game at the Stadium was the final outcome: Princeton 14, Harvard 6.
Harvard's offense, which had been expected to be docile as a pussycat against the Tiger line, showed flashes of brilliance that kept the outcome in doubt until the fourth period. And the game's hero was not Charley Gogolak, the Tigers' vaunted soccer-styled kicker, or their great linemen, Paul Savidge and Stas Maliszewski. It was an end with the improbable name of Lawson Cashdollar, who caught eleven passes for a new Ivy record.
The passing of tailback Ron Landeck to Cashdollar had given Princeton a 14-0 first-half lead, but Harvard cut the lead to eight points and was moving toward a second touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Behind the running of Wally Grant and Bobby Leo, the Crimson ground out yardage from its own 39 to the Princeton 34.
Then came the play which may have ruined Harvard's chances for the Eastern football upset of the year. On fourth down and five yards to go John McCluskey pitched out to halfback Don Sadoski, who rolled to the right. Near the right sideline, Sadoski had five yards of unpopulated turf before him--and almost certainly could have run for the crucial first down. Instead, he overthrew a pass to Wally Grant far downfield; to make matters worse, Sadoski was past the line of scrimmage when he threw.
The abortive drive was typical of the Crimson's perfor- mance most of the afternoon. Leo and Grant were spectacular. Leo, who had not been expected to play because of a hamstring pull, gained 84 yards on 18 carries. Grant ran 22 times for 76 yards. Yet only once--on their touchdown drive in the third quarter--did the Crimson penetrate Princeton's 30-yard line.
And once again, Harvard's nonexistent passing attack was to blame for the offense's ineffectiveness. McCluskey's passing was dismal, and Harvard completed only two of 14 throws for a grand total of 16 yards. On those unavoidable third-and-five situations, which are crucial for any sustained drive, the offense couldn't move the ball. Princeton, with nothing to fear through the airways, could concentrate on stopping Harvard's ground game.
The first half of Saturday's game provided little but agony and frustration for Crimson fans. After Harvard lost one yard on its first series of downs, Princeton began to drive from its own 38. The march was halted on the Crimson 31, and in came Gogolak to attempt a 48-yard field goal. The kick was perfectly straight, but it hit the crossbar and bounded back onto the field.
Princeton Interception
Three plays later Princeton had the ball again. On a third-and-six situation, McCluskey tried to pass to end Carter Lord, but the throw was picked off by Tiger back Doug James on the Harvard 30.
After two running plays Landeck hit Cashdollar for gains of nine and fourteen yards, moving the ball to the one. Bert Kerstetter bucked over right guard for the touchdown, and Princeton led, 7-0.
After the kickoff, Harvard began to show flashes of that brilliant running which was supposed to lead the Crimson to the Ivy championship. On nine straight running plays. Harvard moved 37 yards to the Tiger 30. And then--catastrophe. McCluskey made a bad pitchout to Leo, and the ball bounded past the junior halfback. Leo tried to pick it up, and it kept rolling. After a succession of bobbles by both teams, Princeton finally recovered the ball on the Crimson 48.
Another Harvard drive fizzled on the Princeton 34, and Landeck methodically directed the Tigers to their second touchdown. The brilliant tailback connected on five straight passes, which moved Princeton to the Harvard 16. After six running plays, Landeck scored from the two.
Landeck's passing on this series, as in the rest of the game, was as effective as it was unspectacular. With plenty of time to throw, Landeck would rise passes about ten yards--right into the middle of the Harvard secondary.
Cashdollar or another receiver would invariably be wide open. Landeck rarely tried long bombs against the Crimson's fine safetymen, Dave Poe and John Dockery, but was content to gain ten yards at a crack. The strategy was devastatingly successful.
Great Running
Midway through the third quarter, Harvard scored its first touchdown in a month after its best sustained drive of the season. The longest gain on the march was an 11-yard run by Leo, but Harvard's backs were virtually unstoppable. Leo, Grant, and Choquette repeatedly hammered out six or seven yards at a crack through big holes in the Tiger line.
At 10:19 of the period, Leo went over right guard from the five for a touchdown. Maury Dullea's conversion was off to the left, but Harvard still had a chance to gain a tie--until Sadoski's incomplete pass a few minutes later.
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