Tigers Edge Crimson JV, 20-18; O'Connell Dashes for 88 Yards

In the end, it was just a matter of extra points.

The vicious and tense junior varsity football game between Harvard and Princeton Saturday was decided in the final two minutes. And the margin of victory in the 20-18 Tiger win turned out to be Tiger place-kicker Bill Johnson's two conversions. The Crimson failed on all three of its attempts.

The final failure came after a 58-yard Harvard touchdown drive in the fourth period. Fullback Paul Saba had scored on a fourth-down plunge after the Tiger line had held on three previous starting from the one.

Then, trailing 20-18, quarterback George Lalich tried to gain a tie by passing for two points to end Chris Mortenson. But Mortenson caught the ball with one foot out of the end zone. After that the Tigers held on to win.

John Beaulieu, filling in for the usual Crimson place-kicker Tom Wynne, missed two point-after-touchdown boots wide to the right in the first half.

The game started with a bang. The Tigers scored on the first play from scrimmage with a 30-yard run by fullback Tom Newman, right after Harvard had Crimson quarterback was chased back to fumbled away the opening kickoff.

Then, after being bottled up by a blitzing Tiger defense for most of the first quarter, the Crimson came storming back. With third and long yardage, halfback Ken O'Connell -- playing with a badly injured back -- took a handoff and sped around left end. He turned the corner and outran the Princeton secondary for a thrilling-88-yard touchdown sprint.

Next it was the Tiger's turn. Chased back from his own 35-yard line by six hungry Princeton defensemen, Lalich was spilled at the six and fumbled. The Tigers recovered on the ten and tailback Dick Sloan scored after an eight-yard power sweep.

Harvard tallied again on a weird drive late in the second quarter. Lalich was dumped on the first two downs. With third and 32 to go on his own 29, the the five for what looked like another mammoth loss. But he got the pass away to O'Connell, who took it up to the Princeton 40, one yard short of the first down.

A subsequent interference penalty brought Harvard to the Tiger 25. There, after two incompletions, Lalich threw again. The ball was batted into the air by a Princeton lineman. O'Connell grabbed it on the 18 and took it in for the score.

The Tigers dominated the third quarter with up-the-middle runs and stout defensive play. Newman capped a 51-yard drive by slicing off tackle for four yards and a touchdown.

After Harvard's tally mid-way through the final period, Princeton held again. With fourth and seven on the Tiger 36, Lalich dropped back to pass and three Princeton linemen snowed him under for the umpteenth time that afternoon. And the Tigers took over with 1:45 to play. Ivy Standings   League  Overall Harvard  4-1  6-1 Cornell  4-1  6-1 Dartmouth  4-1  5-2 Princeton  4-1  5-2 Yale  3-2  4-3 Penn  1-4  2-5 Brown  0-5  1-6 Columbia  0-5  0-7