Yale Defeats Crimson Freshmen, 35-13

Harvard will be looking to spoil Yale's chance to share the Ivy League crown this afternoon. Yesterday afternoon, the roles were reversed, as Yale spoiled Harvard's bid to field the first undefeated freshman football team since 1962, drubbing the Crimson 35-13.

"This is a season in itself," Eli halfback Mike Sullivan said after the game. "We figured we could make or break our season with this game."

Sullivan scored a 31-yard over-the-shoulder touchdown in the fourth quarter to blow the game wide open. The touchdown cast Crimson visions of perfection off into the snowbanks that lined the field. It transformed Eli joy into ecstasy.

Spark Plugs

Yale came to Cambridge charged up. As Harvard Coach Loyal Park said after the game, "They took the game to us; they outplayed us."

But it was not only Yale's superior play that made the difference. Harvard's game was not up to the level which had earned them a pregame record of 5-0.

It seemed as though the environment dominated Harvard's style of play. Their performance, like the field, was sloppy. Harvard's offense was frustrated by dropped passes and numerous penalties, and the defense was plagued by the periodic loss of its ability to defend.

Poor timing accounted for many of Harvard's offensive woes. The Yardling attack was stalled continually by illegal motion and offside infractions. Yale watched the Crimson attack sputter as the Elis sat on their early lead.

With only seven minutes gone in the first quarter, Yale had produced the points that it needed to win. Capitalizing on an early Crimson fumble, Elis scored quickly on a Steve Betz pass.

After Harvard was unable to move the ball, the Elis again found the end zone on a Sullivan blast up the middle.

The score remained 14-0 until Harvard forced a Yale mistake midway through the second period.

Star receiver Gary Confer then recovered a Yale fumble of a Dave Millard punt on the Harvard 40-yard line. Sparked by the break, the Crimson offense shifted into gear for the first time.

Quarterback Burke St. John worked with Confer and Halfback Ron Jellison to move the offense to the Yale seven yard line. From there, St. John threw to halfback John Hollingsworth for the score. The half concluded quietly with Yale ahead, 14-7.

The remainder of the game served only to frustrate the Harvard alumni and students who had braved the bitter cold to cheer for a Crimson win. Harvard's offense was unable to move, but following Sullivan's second score, the Yale second-string offense produced two more touchdowns.

In the last six minutes, Eli back-up quarterback John Jones passed for one score and ran for another. The points pushed Harvard's undefeated season into never-never land. As time ran out, Crimson back-up signal-caller Brian Buckley added six more points on a pass to Rober Jenkins.

While the Elis rejoiced, the dejected Yardlings walked off the field immersed in a mixture of conflicting emotions. Happy about the winning season, but upset about losing the Yale game and the perfect record, the Harvard players headed for the showers.

"They gave 110 per cent from day one," Park said. "One game doesn't make a season. I'm proud of both their great attitude and their performance."

Yale, which lost its first two games to Brown and Dartmouth, ended the season with a 4-2 record. Yale coach Harry Jacunski said after the game, "We weren't waiting all season for this game, but we were up more than usual."