Brown Blanks Freshman Gridders, 7-0; Yardlings Suffer Third Straight Defeat

Brown's freshman football team converted a Harvard miscue into a first-quarter touchdown, and that proved to be the difference as the Bruins blanked the Crimson, 7-0, in yesterday's home contest.

The game's lone tally was set up when a Bruin defender pounced on a loose ball on the Harvard 11-yard line after a muffed Harvard punt return.

On the next play, Brown halfback John Koebl raced around the right end and barreled into the endzone for the score. Rich Riddle added the conversion and the Crimson trailed 7-0 with four minutes remaining in the first quarter.

The rest of the first quarter was a defensive battle, as neither team could mount a sustained drive.

But in the next period, the Harvard offense came alive and launched its best drive of the day. Starting on the Harvard 22-yard line, Crimson quarterback Tim Davenport directed his troops deep inside Brown territory. The Bruin defense tightened, however, and thwarted the Crimson bid for the crucial first down.

Stopped Cold

A seesaw battle ensued as neither team could build momentum, and both coaches used several substitutions in hopes of finding a scoring combination.

The entire second half was a series of missed opportunities as the freshman eleven failed to execute when the situation demanded it.

Just when the Yardlings appeared to have the Bruins nailed deep in their own territory late in the final quarter, a roughing-the-kicker penalty enabled the Bruins to escape, and time ran out.

Crimson coach Chet O'Neill said he was disappointed with the team's inability to score points against the Brown defense. "The score is not indicative of our ability. I think we're a better team," O'Neill said.

O'Neill said he was pleased with the efforts of running backs John Bernlohr and Chris Doherty and he complimented the defensive unit for a solid performance.

Yesterday's loss dropped the Yardling's record to 1-3; they will have a chance to improve their mark against these same Bruins in a rematch in two weeks.