From then on, it was first-down losses or penalties that stifled the Harvard attack, putting young Buchanan into an immediate hole with second and long on almost every drive.

With a lack of offense forcing the defense to carry the load, Harvard finally broke--though just for a moment. The lapse was long enough to let McEvilly (12-18 for 251 yards and two TDs) hit a wide-open Paglione in the flats. The burly tight end stretched out a 39-yd. gain before Scott MacLeod collared him to prevent a score.

UMass finished the four-play, 60-yd. touchdown drive in just 68 seconds as O'Connor took a McEvilly pass at the Harvard eight, eluded Trusty and stumbled into the endzone.

Adding insult to injury, UMass upped the score to 20-0 after a Harvard math breakdown left 12 men on the field during a UMass punt. The Minutemen took the free first down at the Harvard 47 and struggled to the 26. From there, ambidexterous Mike Vitiello boomed a 43-yd. field goal.

On the next drive, Harvard posted its only points of the day, but not before the Crimson offset a helpful UMass face-masking penalty with a clipping violation of its own. Nonetheless, the Crimson rumbled to the Minutemen's 18-yd. line sparked by a 52-yd. Buchanan-to-Horner fly pattern. Then Connors took on option play and lofted a pass into the endzone, where Horner ripped the ball from a UMass defender's fingers for the score.

Mystery kicker David Cody (not listed in the program and unknown to virtually all Harvard officials) added the extra point. After the game, Restic, asked about Cody and Harvard's uncertain kicking game, said, "I have 15 kickers out there. I don't know where they're from."

Four more Harvard penalties prevented the Crimson from mounting any threats in the waning minutes, and the afternoon fell into a grey-skyed depression.

After the game, Joe Restic seemed to reflect the spirit of the day. Depressed by his team's lowly nine first downs (5-18 third-down conversions), the injury to St. John, a possibly serious aggravation of a bad shoulder for stalwart offensive tackle Mike Durgin, and a defensive performance that was missing only the offensive complement, Restic struggled for optimism.

"Buchanan did a heck of a job under the conditions," he said. "The defense just couldn't do any better under those conditions. We hung right in there to the end."

Restic discredited his squad's heavy penalty total as the result of aggressive play. "I can't fault that," he said. But he was sorely depressed--almost crushed.

"It was just one of those games. You couldn't do much about it," he said.

His helplessness was agonizing. Crimson Statistics Passing   Att  Comp  Yds McEvilly (M)  18  12  251 St. John (H)  9  3  51 Buchanan (H)  13  6  83 Connors (H)  1  1  18 Receiving  Caught  Yds  TD O'Connor (M)  6  159  2 Horner (H)  3  77  1 Pagione (M)  4  67  0 Connors (H)  3  39  0 Marshall (H)  2  24  0 Punting  No.  Yds  Avg Fontain (M)  7  235  33.6 Millard (H)  8  257  32.1 O'Connor (M)  1  50  50.0

Crimson Statistics Tackles   Tackles  Asst Durst (H)  12  0 Crowell (M)  9  1   UMass  Harvard First Downs  14  9 Rushes-yards  49-79  45-127 Passing yards  251  152 Return yards  49  6 Passes (Comp-Att-Int)  12-18-0  10-23-0 Punts (Yds-Avg)  8-35.6  8-32.1 Fumbles-lost  2-2  4-2 Penalties-yards  5-48  11-141 Possession (time-plays)  67-31:29  68-28:31 Third-down conversions  5 of 17  5 of 18

Crimson Statistics Individual leaders Rushing   Att  Yds  Avg Connors (H)  13  44  3.4 Bachanan  11  29  3.5 Callinan (H)  6  29  4.8 Pedrow (M)  14  28  2.0 Altieri (H)  7  26  3.7

Crimson Statistics Score by periods UMass  3  7  7  3-20 Harvard  0  0  0  7-7

Scoring summary

M--Vitiello 22 field goal

M--O'Connor 54 pass from McEvilly (Vitiello kick)

M--Connor 16 pass from McEvilly (Vitiello kick)

M--Vitiello 43 field goal

H--Horner 18 pass from Connors (Cody kick)