Harvard Captures Ivy Championship; Lynch Field Goal Conquers Yale, 10-7

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--A last minute 26-yard field goal by Mike Lynch gave Harvard a 10-7 victory over Yale here yesterday, and its first undisputed Ivy championship ever.

Lynch's field goal with 33 seconds remaining in the game capped a 73-yard winning drive in the 100th anniversary game of the Yale-Harvard series.

"If you were lacking inspiration in these last three games, then something was wrong with you," Cornerback Bill Emper said yesterday. "We were really psyched and prepared for this game."

Quarterback Jim Kubacki came up with the clutch plays in the Crimson's final drive to the title as he ran for several substantial gains and connected for a key21-yard fourth-down pass to tight end Bob McDermott.

The drive began at the Harvard 28-yard line as Kubacki eluded two tacklers and ran for a seven-yard gain. Junior Mark Taylor then went off left tackle for five yards and a first down. Kubacki ran on the next play to the Yale 48 for another first down. Then Tommy Winn went over right tackle for eight yards and Neal Miller took the ball down to the 33 with a little over two minutes remaining.

Fourth and Twelve

Moments later, after two plays lost a couple yards, Kubacki threw a beauty to Bob Kinchen on the 25-yard line. The ball went right through the halfback's hands, however, making it fourth down and 12 yards to go with the football on the Yale 35 and a minute and a half left.

Kubacki drilled the ball to McDermott on the 14 for a first down. Three plays resulted in a gain of just three yards and on fourth down and five Lynch's wobbly kick cleared the crossbar for the Harvard victory.

Yale scored first on a 43-yard drive in 11 plays at the opening of the second period. Eli quarterback Stone Phillips directed a ground game that used halfback Don Gesicki and fullback Mike Southworth as its main workhorses.

A short punt by Jim Curry set up the Elis on the Crimson 43. A couple of short gains by Gesicki and a couple of longer rambles by Southworth brought the Bulldogs down to a first down on the Crimson seven. Two plays later, Phillips carried five yards for the score.

Crimson Drive Fails

The Crimson drove 40 yards at the end of the first half, but time ran out as Mike Lynch's field goal attempt fell short.

Harvard's touchdown came on a two-yard field goal effort by Winn. The third-period drive started with Harvard on its own 34-yard line. A fourteen-yard run up the middle and another 11-yard scamper by Winn highlighted the drive.

A spectacular completion by Curry, who caught the ball lying on his back, brought the ball down to the two-yard line and set the stage for Winn's score.

Most of the game was a defensive struggle, marked by good plays on both sides. The Crimson defense allowed the Elis only 20 yards passing and 175 yards on the ground.

Fencik Thwarted

Highly-touted Eli star Gary Fencik only caught one pass all day--a twelve-yard nab in the waning moments of the game.

"Yale was not smart enough to throw away from Fencik," conerback Jon Judge said. "Billy Emper did one hell of a job on him."

Three Yale interceptions hurt the Crimson cause, often just as Harvard was mounting a drive. One of the interceptions squelched a Crimson campaign that saw Harvard go from its own 20 down to the Yale 30 yard line.

Mark Andrews nabbed two of the errant Harvard aerials. Judge stopped what appeared to be a certain Yale scoring drive as he intercepted a razzle-dazzle pass from halfback Gesicki on the Harvard five-yard line.

The game, which attracted almost 67,000 fans, the largest crowd to see an Eastern college game this year, was played under conditions resembling those the first Harvard-Yale game was played in: cold and cloudy.