But the workhouse, as expected, was Paul Connors. Weaving inside and out with both speed and precision, Connors racked up 86 yards in 25 carries to lead the Harvard rushing game.
Indeed, the ground game proved the difference today, as Harvard outrushed Columbia 175-64, in a game with otherwise even statistics.
A quiet third quarter showed the prowess of the Harvard defense, which kept the period scoreless thanks to a strong goal-line stand. Resisting the temptation to do something interesting, the Lions took a first-and-goal at the three and turned it into a fiasco.
A Joe Ciulla blast to the left ran into massive Bob Woolway, who returned on the next play to smother quarterback Bob Conroy at the one. On third down, adjuster John Casto sacked Conroy; and Woolway came back once more to deflect a fourth-down endzone-bound pass intended for no one in particular.
But Harvard got little out of the stand when a 19-yd. Duke Millard punt set Columbia up for its first and only points of the day. Against a Harvard defense that was beginning to sag, Conroy used one play to go 43 yards on a bomb to Steve Wallace for a 19-6 score, just two minutes into the final period. Mazur's kick made it 19-7.
Just when the tide looked as though it might turn, St. John returned to lead a final Harvard scoring drive that ate up 282 precious ticks of the clock.
Running easily through the gaping holes in the Columbia defense, St. John manuevered the team 40 yards in nine plays to a fourth-and-goal at the Columbia one. Following a conference with coach Joe Restic, St. John handed the ball to Connors, who rolled over the right side for the final yard and the final points. Arnold added the PAT--just barely.
"One good sign was that at the end of the game we were able to drive it right down the field," Restic said. "That shows that our people are in good shape. And we will keep getting better every week."
Though Millard's weak fourth quarter punt set the Lions up for their lone score, the kicker enjoyed a successful day overall, booting six times for 233 yards, a 38.8 yard average that included a monstrous 64-yd. boomer that pinned Columbia deep in its own end.
"I have to be pleased with the way things went today," Restic said. "We were able to execute better than maybe we could expect in the first game of the season."
The game was a good one overall for Harvard, as the Crimson finished strong after a very weak start. When the game opened it looked like Harvard might be facing a depressing day. On Harvard's first possession, following a 4-yd. Connor's blast, St. John faded back to try his first pass as the starting varsity quarterback. He completed the toss, thrown with precision into the waiting arms of Columbia's Mike Brown, who returned the ball to the Harvard 27.
But the inept Columbia attack, which looked more like a pack of pussycats than Lions, lapsed into its version of Sominex, also called the conservative running game. Picking up no yardage in three plays, the Lions were forced to try a 44-yd. field goal, which Mark Mazur booted woefully short.
The Crimson offense then put together the first good-looking drive of the '79 season, with St. John commanding the rushing attack masterfully. Working to set up the young Columbia linebackers for the passing game that was to come later, Restic kept his team pounding the middle, consistently sending Connors, Al Altieri and Hollingsworth in the footsteps of the Harvard guards. A steady running diet, highlighted by Connors' jigs and jukes en route to a 49-yd. half on ten carries, took Harvard down to the Columbia 32.
St. John worked the Multiflex to perfection, using Hollingsworth's speed outside and Connors' elusiveness both up the middle and on the wide pitches. The Crimson looked headed for a score. But as was the case throughout a game that included six fumbles and three interceptions, sloppiness stepped in to change the fortunes.
On first-and-ten at the Columbia 25, Connors carried over the right side for what looked like a 5-yd. gain. But the ball popped loose and Columbia's Mike Biaggi grabbed the airborne pigskin giving the Lions possession at their own 32.
A trio of exchanges followed, with neither team's offense mounting any attack, thus running out the bulk of the quarter. St. John, throwing his second pass of the day, was well off the mark on a screen try to Connors. But the Crimson defense remained solid, with the cornerbacks moving up well to close down the outside.