No one in Harvard football circles thought for a second that the gridders' 34-0 opening day cremation of Columbia could serve as an accurate indicator of future Crimson success in its 1986 campaign.

Then again, no one seriously expected the gridders to be completely out-manned by Holy Cross Saturday in Harvard's second game of the season.

But when the final whistle blew at the Stadium, the Crusaders had handed Harvard its worst defeat in 22 years, a 41-0 thrashing.

The sobering mistake-filled defeat, which marked the Crimson's widest losing margin ever in the Joe Restic era, evened Harvard's record at 1-1 (1-0 Ivy) on the young season.

"This game will serve us very, very well," Harvard Coach Joe Restic said after seeing his team turn the ball over 11 times. "Eventually, this game will be a factor in our favor, and I'm not talking about Holy Cross next year. I mean before this season is over."

Although this year's Crimson-Cross game produced no miracle (as it did a year ago when the Crimson rallied to victory with 21 points in 41 seconds late in the fourth quarter), it did feature a divinely-inspired individual performance.

Crusader tailback-cornerback Gordon Lockbaum put on a show for the 12,540 in attendance, combining his running, pass receiving, quick-kicking, and defensive play to pose a near-unstoppable quadruple threat.

Hail Mary

Lockbaum accumulated a total of 230 all-purpose yards on the day and was a treat to watch--if not a horror to bring down.

Following a scoreless first quarter, Holy Cross struck early and often at the start of the second, as Crusader quarterback Jeff Wiley (17-for-32, 278 yards) hooked up with split-end Rick Lane for two touchdown passes within a 10-second span.

Wiley needed just one play from scrimmage following one of seven Ray O'Hare punts to register his first TD toss--a beautifully-thrown strike just past the outstretched arms of Crimson cornerback Rick Patton that went for 58 yards.

After Joe Pusateri fumbled the ensuing kickoff on the Harvard 22-yd. line, Wiley connected with Lane again on the first play from scrimmage, this time for 22 yards and a 14-0 Holy Cross lead.

Two plays, two touchdowns.

While fans debated whether this sequence matched the Crimson's miracle run in last year's battle, Harvard signal-caller David Landau was busy throwing the first of nine Harvard interceptions on the afternoon. (Landau's five interceptions set a school record).

Although Landau struggled all afternoon--completing only seven of 16 attempts with five interceptions--Harvard's first goose-egg in 41 outings was by no means entirely his fault.