It's No Miracle: Holy Cross Wins Big

No one in Harvard football circles thought for a second that the gridders' 34-0 opening day cremation of Columbia could serve as an accurate indicator of future Crimson success in its 1986 campaign.

Then again, no one seriously expected the gridders to be completely out-manned by Holy Cross Saturday in Harvard's second game of the season.

But when the final whistle blew at the Stadium, the Crusaders had handed Harvard its worst defeat in 22 years, a 41-0 thrashing.

The sobering mistake-filled defeat, which marked the Crimson's widest losing margin ever in the Joe Restic era, evened Harvard's record at 1-1 (1-0 Ivy) on the young season.

"This game will serve us very, very well," Harvard Coach Joe Restic said after seeing his team turn the ball over 11 times. "Eventually, this game will be a factor in our favor, and I'm not talking about Holy Cross next year. I mean before this season is over."

Although this year's Crimson-Cross game produced no miracle (as it did a year ago when the Crimson rallied to victory with 21 points in 41 seconds late in the fourth quarter), it did feature a divinely-inspired individual performance.

Crusader tailback-cornerback Gordon Lockbaum put on a show for the 12,540 in attendance, combining his running, pass receiving, quick-kicking, and defensive play to pose a near-unstoppable quadruple threat.

Hail Mary

Lockbaum accumulated a total of 230 all-purpose yards on the day and was a treat to watch--if not a horror to bring down.

Following a scoreless first quarter, Holy Cross struck early and often at the start of the second, as Crusader quarterback Jeff Wiley (17-for-32, 278 yards) hooked up with split-end Rick Lane for two touchdown passes within a 10-second span.

Wiley needed just one play from scrimmage following one of seven Ray O'Hare punts to register his first TD toss--a beautifully-thrown strike just past the outstretched arms of Crimson cornerback Rick Patton that went for 58 yards.

After Joe Pusateri fumbled the ensuing kickoff on the Harvard 22-yd. line, Wiley connected with Lane again on the first play from scrimmage, this time for 22 yards and a 14-0 Holy Cross lead.

Two plays, two touchdowns.

While fans debated whether this sequence matched the Crimson's miracle run in last year's battle, Harvard signal-caller David Landau was busy throwing the first of nine Harvard interceptions on the afternoon. (Landau's five interceptions set a school record).

Although Landau struggled all afternoon--completing only seven of 16 attempts with five interceptions--Harvard's first goose-egg in 41 outings was by no means entirely his fault.

An inspired Crusader defensive line pressured and harrassed Landau all afternoon, giving the second-time starter little time to find his receivers and forcing him to throw into traffic.

"You can't judge the quarterback position on one game, you must consider it over the long haul," Restic said. "Landau will get the job done for us. I have no question about that."

Before the end of the second quarter, the Cross struck twice more, this time within a 47-second span, with the aid of a beautifully-executed onside kick.

After Wiley hit Lee Hull with a 28-yd. scoring strike down the middle to put the Cross ahead 21-0, Holy Cross special-teamer Mike Falite recovered teammate Billy Young's perfectly placed onside kick. Lockbaum then took over, breaking off right guard to turn a short gain into a 37-yd. advance down to the Harvard nine and then running for the score on the very next play from scrimmage.

In all, Lockbaum rushed the ball 13 times for148 yards (an average of 11.3 yards per carry) andtwo touchdowns. He also caught five passes for 83yards (16.6 yards per reception) and anothertouchdown.

Lockbaum--who had runs of 45, 37, and 32 yardsand a pass reception for 33 yards--combined powerwith finesse, escaping many would-be tacklers withhis strength and eluding numerous others with hiscross-field cuts.

Harvard just could not get its offense ontrack, never advancing the ball inside the HolyCross 30-yd. line in the first half.

While the Harvard defense struggled in thesecond quarter, the third quarter was theoffense's time to stumble.

Three times the Crimson took control of thefootball to open drives, and three times Landauwas intercepted. The last two of those errantpasses came on the second play of the drives.

Landau marched his troops down to the Crusader10-yd. line near the start of the quarter, but thesenior signal-caller was then sacked andintercepted in the endzone on consecutive playsfrom scrimmage.

Harvard didn't re-enter Holy Cross territoryfor the remainder of the third frame.

Landau was picked off again on Harvard's firstpossession of the fourth quarter, thus completinga string of four Holy Cross interceptions on fourHarvard possessions.

Enter reserve signal-caller Bill Koehler.Inserted into the game on the Crimson's secondpossession of the fourth quarter, Koehler was hitin the backfield for an eight-yd. loss on hisfirst play from scrimmage.

That was the least of his problems.

After two short drives resulting in Ray O'Harepunts. Koehler was intercepted on each ofHarvard's next three possessions. The last one,again picked off by Holy Cross in its own endzone,wiped out Harvard's second and final legitimatescoring threat of the afternoon.

First-year Crusader Coach Mark Duffner did notendear himself to Harvard fans in his Stadiumdebut.

Duffner continually signaled in pass plays withhis squad ahead 41-0 in the fourth quarter, at onepoint calling 10 consecutive pass plays with theCross ahead by six touchdowns.CrimsonPeter H. SchwartzHarvard's DAVID CANTRELL (59) tackles Crossreceiver VIVIAN WASHINGTON