A Harvard offense that averaged 37 points a game at the start of play against Dartmouth, achieved 421 yards of offense but eked out a mere 13 points.
Schindel put up half of the Crimson’s points, booting two field goals and adding the extra point on the team’s sole touchdown. An invaluable crutch on special teams for Harvard all year, he made his presence feel more keenly in the low-scoring affair that lacked the usual offesnsive fireworks.
“We’ve been so consistent offensively this year—and maybe it’s a lot to ask—but the bottom line for us is to continue to have success, we have to execute,” Murphy said after the game.
He was vindicated in the utter trouncing of Columbia the next week, in which the Crimson overwhelmed the Lions 38-0.
Dawson, questionable all week with a muscle injury, ran for 82 yards and a score. Fitzpatrick completed two-thirds of his passes, Edwards returned a punt 81 yards for a score and the defense kept Columbia to 0 for 13 on third down.
The blowout gave Harvard the leisure to pull its starters and begin scheming about the title clash with Penn.
FIRST AND PENN
For all the hoopla surrounding the Ivy showdown game, it proved to be an anti-climax, as the Crimson coasted to a share of the Ivy title by a final margin of 31-10.
“They are very explosive,” Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. “I think they showed why they are very explosive as a team, and I thought their kids came up big.”
With Quaker QB Patrick McDermott injured, Harvard locked in on the run, keeping back Sam Mathews to 57 yards.
The icing on the cake was a fake field-goal late in the third quarter. Holder Robert Balkema picked up the snap and threw to a slanting Everett, who rumbled in for the score and sealed the win in extending the lead to 31-3.
“It was a great play,” Everett said. “It worked out exactly how I planned it—getting a chance to score.”
JUST ONE MORE
Those nine wins, at home and on the road, versus league and non-league opponents, by big and small margins, for titles and for grins, have been all leading up to this—the epic Yale game, with 10-win perfection on the line.
Fitzpatrick, the veteran team leader, knows that despite a 5-4 record, the Bulldogs are still dangerous and will do their utmost to disrupt Harvard’s quest for undefeated glory.
“It’s going to be pretty hard to finish [them] off, they’re a very tough team, every year it seems to be a great game, and their seniors are especially motivated this year because they haven’t beat Harvard yet,” he said. “That’ll be such a great thing to take with us.”
Although the all-important share of the Ivy crown is won, the near goals of a victory over archrival Yale and preservation of I-AA’s only unbeaten record mean the Crimson won’t suffer a letdown on Saturday.
“The Ivy League championship—that’s something that we’ve been able to attain this year, which is great,” Fitzpatrick confirmed. “But 10-0 certainly sounds better than 9-1.”