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Yale and Harvard football officials agreed yesterday that the Crimson football team did not have 12 men on the field during a crucial play in Saturday's game.
In a post-game press conference, Yale's coach John Pont had said that he thought an extra Harvard player was in the lineup when Harvard stopped a Yale drive inside the Crimson 10-yard line.
Yale March
The play in question occurred when Yale, after taking the second-half kickoff, marched to the Harvard 17-yard line.
Three running plays moved the ball to the nine; on the third play, Harvard linebacker Gene Skowronski injured his knee and took himself out of the ball game. Jim Driscoll came running in to replace him and another substitute entered the game at the same time.
Bob Barrett, thinking Driscoll had come in to replace him, started off the field. Then he realized that Skowronski had left and came back on. So everyone in the Stadium who missed Skowronski's exit saw two substitutes come on the field and only one go off.
Pont, on the sidelines, thought Harvard had an extra man in the game and motioned to the referee to make a count. But no penalty was called; Yale quarterback Ed McCarthy dropped back to pass, but was tackled by Driscoll and John Hoffman before he could do more than cock his arm.
Both Harvard and Yale films confirmed that the Crimson had no extra man in the lineup. Pont, who had been extremely upset about the play after the game, agreed yesterday that the question was "a dead issue, as far as I am concerned."
The films included everybody on the field except Yale's split end, Bob Kenney, and Jerry Mechling, the man covering him. They left no one in any doubt about the number of men playing at the time.
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