PROVIDENCE, R.I.--The Harvard football team took a giant step towards its first Ivy title in four years here today with a hard fought 14-9 victory over the Brown Bruins.

The win, in front of 16,000 fans at Brown Stadium, gave the Crimson an undisputed hold on first place in the Ivy League with a 4-1 league mark (6-1 overall). Brown fell to 3-2 in the Ancient Eight.

Both Cornell and Yale remain in the league race with a single defeat. The teams clash next week in New Haven, and the winner will emerge as Harvard's main competitor for league honors.

The Crimson won the game today with a excellent all-around effort. Leading the way was junior quarterback Tom Yohe, who broke the Harvard single season passing yardage record. Yohe's total of 196 yards (on 18-for-36) gave him 1583 yards on the season, eight more than Larry Brown's 1978 record.

But as important as Yohe's contribution was today, Harvard won this game on the ground. The grinding Crimson runners gained over 200 yards on the day, while holding the vaunted Bruin run game to only 110 yards on 34 carries.

Faced with this imbalance, Brown QB Mark Donovan was forced to go to the air, and was a disappointment, going only 8-for-19 for 126 yards. Overall Harvard had possession of the ball for 37 minutes with their balanced, ball-control offense.

Electing to Kick

Brown won the opening toss and elected to kick off, defending the East goal. Harvard's Tim Perry scooped up a botched kickoff at the 25 yard-line and brought it up to the 28. Wingback Bob Glatz carried for a short gain on first down, before the frequently penalized Crimson was set back 5 yards for having an illegal receiver downfield.

On third and six, Harvard's standout quarterback Yohe--who came out throwing--completed a screen pass over the middle to fullback Tony Hinz, good for 10 yards and a Harvard first down. With Harvard facing a third and seven from its own 45, Yohe scrambled right and avoided heavy pressure before hitting cutting tight end Kent Lucas for another first down.

On third down Yohe picked up six yards on an option call before being taken down by Brown's leading tackler Tyler Wolfram on the Brown 32.

Then, on first and 10, Yohe hit wide-open wide-out Neil Phillips down the middle on the eight yard-line. After Crimson fullback Dave Bunning was stopped for a loss and Yohe overthrew Lucas in the endzone--setting up a third and goal situation--Yohe rolled out looking to pass, but with all of his receivers tightly covered, the junior phenom took it into the endzone himself.

Bruce Jacob's extra point put the Crimson ahead, 7-0, at the 9:44 mark of the opening period.

The remainder of the first quarter saw back and forth action, but no more scoring.

Facing the wind late in the second quarter, Harvard turned almost exclusively to the run. Hinz picked up a first down on an eight-yard third down run.

Yohe rolled out to run on the next play but was dragged down behind the line of scrimmage. On second and 11, Hinz fumbled the ball, and Brown recovered on the Crimson 22.