Harvard completed its best wrestling season in years Saturday in the IAB by whipping Yale 21-11, but Eli captain Mike Lonergan took away some of the luster by ruining Tack Chace's undefeated season.

The Crimson put the meet away by winning the first seven matches in a row, all by incredibly lopsided decisions. But Yale rallied to take the final three bouts, turning the rout into a retreat. And the last bout was Lonergan's 4-2 win over Chace, who had put away all eight of his heavyweight opponents prior to facing the Eli captain.

A questionable call by the referee contributed to Chace's downfall. Trailing Lonergan 1-0 in the last period. Chace reversed the Yale wrestler and seemed to be a hair away from a pin. But Lonergan twisted back into a reversal of his own, and the referee refused to award Chace the three-point near-fall or two-point predicament that he seemed to deserve. A point's worth of riding time gave Lonergan the 4-2 decision.

The lighter Crimson wrestlers punished their Eli opponents unmercifully. Andy Kopecki, a hyperquick sophomore, beat Bob Peffer of Yale 11-4 at 123, and Howie Henjyoji eradicated John Maguire 13-0 at 130. Captain Tom Gilmore finished his Harvard career with a 6-2 win over Bob Ellis at 137, and Phil Emmi cleaned out the Elis' Bob Malovany 11-4 at 145.

At 152, Ed Franquemont used his cobra-fast takedown at will to smash Yale's Art Hayward 11-2, and Paul Padlak took a 5-1 decision over Fred Southwick at 160. Dave Worcester made it seven straight for Harvard by blanking Chris Wick 7-0 at 167.

But stumpy Tip Himes started the Yale rally by beating the Crimson's Jeff Grant 4-2 at 177. Wrestling 191, Kit Dove pinned Bill Malugen of Harvard at 2:39, and turned out to be his own best fan. As soon as the referee's hand hit the floor to signal a fall, Dove ran off the mat, literally shrieking with joy, flinging his headguard to the rafters and bowling over a teammate who made the mistake of trying to congratulate him.

Coach Johnny Lee's Harvard freshmen finished their undefeated season by beating Yale 18-12 in the preliminary, as heavyweight Bob Panoff came from behind to stave off a tie.

The varsity's record for the season is 7-3, 5-1 in the Ivy League. Yale has lost all ten of its meets.