Gridders Slash Huskies, 27-24

On a day when Harvard quarterback Tom Yohe pencilled his name into the record book for the first--but surely not the last--time, it was the Crimson defense which ultimately saved the game.

Faced with Northeastern's fear-some Wishbone attack, which scored 10 points before Harvard knew what hit it, the Crimson "D" made the necessary adjustments and kept the 'bone in check. Meanwhile, Yohe (15-for-32, 265 yards, 3 TDs) and place-kicker Bruce Jacob provided the offense as the gridders grabbed a 27-24 victory in front 15,900 fans at the Stadium Saturday.

Harvard (now 2-0), which came into the contest as a six-point underdog against the cross-town Huntington Avenue Hounds, next faces Bucknell, 32-24 winners Saturday over five-time defending Ivy champ Penn.

"We got a real test today," Harvard Coach JoeRestic said, "and I think the kids measured upreal well."

Restic was especially pleased with the way hisdefense responded to the challenging Wishbone. "Inthe end," Harvard's long-time mentor intoned, "ourdefense did the job when it had to."

When it had to comprised the entiresecond half, which began with Harvard clinging toa 17-10 lead. With a fierce wind at its back,Northeastern--despite its consistently excellentfield position--was unable to score in the thirdperiod.

The run-oriented Huskies managed to push acrossa TD early in the fourth, and scored on asurprising aerial drive later in the quarter. Butthe Crimson defense ultimately proved up to thechallenge.

On its final possession, Northeastern took overthe ball at its own 20 with 1:13 left, butcouldn't manage even a single first down. Afearsome rush pressured NU quarterback JimO'Leary, and Crimson adjustor Mike Von Rueden madea key deflection. When a Huskie pass fellharmlessly to the ground on fourth-and-nine,Harvard finally had the game secured.

While the Crimson defense relentlessly battledWishbone trickery on one end of the field, Yohewas busy on the other end putting together theeighth most prolific passing day in Harvardfootball history.

Yohe's 265-yd. performance was the highest fora Crimson QB since Don Allard's all-time recordday in 1982, and gave the junior signalcaller 410yards and five touchdowns on the young season.It's still early, but the Harvard single-seasonpassing records of 1575 yards (Larry Brown, 1978)and 16 TDs (Milt Holt, 1974) appear awfullyvulnerable right now.

The primary recipient of Yohe's by-now patentedscamble-left-scramble-right-throw-left passes wassenior wideout Brian Barringer, who caught sevenpasses for 112 yards and the game-winningtouchdown. Harvard tight end Kent Lucas also had abig day (three catches for 45 yards, including anear-miraculous TD grab).

"Northestern picked up our primary receiverswell," Yohe said. "But they gave us the outsideall day, the sprint stuff. We used our timingpatterns well."

Harvard's passing attack had to be good, as theground game struggled all day against the beefyNortheastern front seven. The Crimson gained 107yards on 42 carries, but five sacks of Yohereduced the official ground total to 55 yards.

Northeastern, meanwhile, was using itssimilar-size advantage on offense to rack up over200 yards rushing. Quarterback O'Leary passed for156 additional yards (giving the visitors a totalyardage edge), but overthrew wide-open receivers anumber of times.

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Sticking primarily to the ground attack, theWishbone scored 10 first quarter points beforeHarvard defenders began consistently to tackle theactual ball-carrier (instead of the three or fourdecoys on any given play). But the Crimson foughtback with 17 unanswered points in the wind-aidedsecond quarter.

Taking possession deep in its own territoryearly in the second frame, Harvard marched 84yards on nine plays for its first points of thecontest. Facing a third-and-long on the NU 17,Yohe scrambled around for his requisite dozenseconds before hurling the ball into a mass ofplayers at the goal line. Somehow, Lucas reachedinto the pack and snatched the ball.

"I don't know how the kid got the ball in thereon that play," Huskie Coach Paul Pawluk said.

The Crimson struck again less than two minuteslater following a North-eastern fumbled optionpitch. This time Yohe scrambled around and foundbacks Dave Bunning and Bob Glatz perilously closeto each other in the right corner of the endzone.

Yohe's toss sailed over Bunning's hands, butGlatz leaped and tipped the ball. Somehow, thesenior fullback kept his concentration on theball, and gathered in his own tip as he fell tothe ground.

Yohe's final TD pass was also his prettiest.With the ball sitting on the Northeastern 27, Yohefaded back left and found Barringer streakingleft-to-right towards the endzone. The junior QBled his receiver perfectly, and Barringer made anoutstanding one-handed grab to give Harvard a27-17 lead.

And so Harvard won its second consecutive gamein this thus-far surprising season. The bottomline for the Crimson is this: you only know howgood you are when you run into someone better.That hasn't happened to Harvard yet.CrimsonD. Jean GwthHarvard defensive end DON PETERSON (99)wraps up Northeastern quarterback JIM O'LEARY.Although the Huskies and their vaunted Wishbonescored the first 10 points of the game, they wereslowed down over the next three quarters.