J. Bennington Peers III called it just right in the program for last Saturday's 87th Harvard-Yale game. "Certainly Yale can hope," he wrote, "for nothing more than a 14-12 loss."
It took a hardly-noticed safety on the final play of the game to realize that prediction, for a fittingly dramatic stand by the Crimson defense a minute earlier had seemingly clinched a 14-10 upset and a second-place tie with Yale in the Ivy League standings.
On third down from the Harvard 12 yard line, sophomore Eric Crone-who had performed so brilliantly under pressure all day-dropped back into the end zone thinking the game was over.
Luckily he was mobbed by several hundred delirious fans, else he might live flung the ball into the air, setting up a Yale touchdown. As it was, the frantic Yale defensive line rushed into the crowd and downed Crone for the two points.
"I thought the clock had run out before the ball was snapped," Crone explained after the game. That hardly explains what he was doing in the end zone, but it likes little difference in retrospect.
Unless you ?ppen to be a Yale devotee, that is. Technically, Harvard should have punted from its own 20 following the safety, despite the fact that the clock had run out.
Amidst Confusion
Amids the confusion, Harvard fans poured onto the field and both teams headed for the locker room. Most were unaware of the bizarre finale; Harvard coach John Yovicsin said afterwards, "I didn't realize it was a safety. In fact, I didn't even see Eric in the end zone."
A Crimson punt with no time remaining would not have made any difference either. The Harvard defense, which played beautifully throughout
the game, was not to be denied this last victory over Yale.
It was the first outright win over the Eli for this year's seniors, not counting the 29-29 victory two years ago. "It feels great, absolutely outasight," captain Gary Farneti said in the locker room after the game.
Farneti spearheaded what had to be the Crimson's finest defensive effort of the season; together with Chris Doyle and Brad Fenton and just about every one else on the defensive unit, Farneti stopped Eli drives time and again in crucial situations.
"We were psyched" Farneti grinned. "Man, I just cleaned up after the rest of the defense. Our containment was fantastic."
"I felt like part of a wall," middle guard Spencer Dreischarf said. It was Dreischanf who recovered a Don Martin fumble at the Harvard 44, halting an
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