JV Eleven Bows; Freshmen Top Holy Cross

Gary Singleterry leaned back on a table in the visitors' dressing room at Holy Cross yesterday, his face racked with pain as a doctor set the broken bone in his left leg. The blond freshman punter had almost singlehandedly kept the Crimson alive in the first half, but now he was out for the season--the victim of a roughing-the-kicker tackle in the third quarter.

Harvard won, 14-0, but they paid an exorbitant price. Singleterry not only could kick the ball forty-five yards with seeming ease, but his ability to put the ball into the coffin corner was almost professional. His first punt yesterday was 51 yards, followed by a 30 yarder which he placed out of bounds on the Holy Cross 10-yard line. And then he painted his masterpiece--a 46-yard boot which was downed at the Cross two-yard line.

Because of Singleterry, almost the whole first half was played in Crusader territory, but Harvard was unable to shift its offense out of neutral. The Crimson got close enough for one field-goal try, but the kick by Jim Reynolds was short and to the left. The nearest thing to a first-half score was a pass by the Crusader's workhorse quarterback Mark Doherty which was dropped in the end zone as the half ended.

It wasn't great defense that kept the first-half score down to nothing: it was mostly sloppy backfield play and dropped or poorly-thrown passes by both sides.

The Big Punt

The third quarter was as ho-hum as the first two until the big punt. With third and 25 on their own five-yard line, Coach Henry Lamar sent Singleterry in to punt the Crimson out of trouble. He booted a 40 yarder, but with his right leg skyward, he was suddenly hit by a defender who rolled into his left leg.

Singleterry fell forward, the Crusader's momentum carried him and the punter's leg backward, and the bone snapped. "It seemed like he was deliberately coming after me," Singleterry said later.

What happened next is right out of a Chip Hilton novel. The fired-up Harvard freshmen made Holy Cross pay a lot more for that injury than just a 15-yard penalty.

Harvard couldn't get the first down, even with the 15 yards, so Reynolds punted. The Crusaders couldn't move either, and with fourth and 23, they prepared to punt it back, but six Crimson helmets converged on punter John Leonard to block the kick, and Harvard took over just 30 yards from a score.

John Ballantyne, one of three Harvard signal-callers, kept the ball for three running plays, and handed once to Lou Sardonis, and Harvard was down to the 12 as the third quarter ended.

Thomas Scores

On the first play of the fourth stanza, Ballantyne faked once nicely, then handed to Ken Thomas who skipped through a big hole for the score. Reynolds kicked the point.

Eight minutes later, Harvard iced it on a seven-yard TD pass from Ballantyne to Joe DeChellis, and Reynolds kicked the 14th point.

Besides Singleterry, a big factor in the Crimson win against a tough team was the way the defensive secondary handled Doherty, who likes to pass. Greg Kundrat had two interceptions, and Reynolds had one.

Holy Cross got only 27 yards rushing, and 76 passing. Harvard earned 201 on the ground, and 56 through the air.