It's Ivy-Hunting Season

Few remember how the Boston Red Sox did during the exhibition season, and the Harvard football team is going to do its best to forget the last two weeks of non-league games.

The Crimson, battered by the University of Massachusetts and Holy Cross by combined scores of 80-48, returns to its Ivy League schedule this weekend when it hosts Cornell.

"We're back in the league now," fullback Alex Konovalchik said. "No one looks past these games, we really want to win them. But this is what counts. It's the Ivy League now. We've got to go after it."

Harvard is not the only Ivy team looking forward to getting back to Ivy play. Only two Ivy teams have winning records after three games (Penn 3-0, Princeton 2-1). Dartmouth was the only Ivy school to win in three non-league games last week, defeating Davidson, a school which snapped its 16-game losing streak last year, 24-3.

Yale, which has lost the last two weeks by scores of 41-0 (to the University of Connecticut) and 41-7 (to Navy), won't get much of a breather this week. Yale hosts Army this week. The Cadets ran through Bucknell, 58-10, last week, and manhandled Holy Cross, 23-3, earlier this year.

Reidy's Ready: Although he has not touched the ball much this year, junior wingback Jim Reidy has made the most of his opportunities. His only carry from scrimmage this year resulted in a 28-yd. touchdown run against Columbia in the seasonopener. Last week against Holy Cross, he was a step away from going all the way with a kickoff, getting tripped up at the 45 yard-line after a 42-yard return. So far this year, he has touched the ball three times, accounting for 84 yards (an average of 28 yards per play).

He's Gonna Throw It: Senior wide receiver Neil Phillips had his finest day in a Harvard football uniform. Phillips, twice a co-MVP on the men's basketball team, snagged a career-high eight passes for 114 yards. He caught a 9-yd. touchdown pass and also ran a reverse for 16 yards. Phillips has now run the end-around six times in his career for a net of 46 yards. A high school quarterback, he has yet to throw the ball.

Most Unnoted, Notable Play: Middle guard Greg Gicewicz picked off the first interception of his career in the second quarter of last weekend's lost to Holy Cross. Gicewicz hauled the ball in at the line of scrimmage after teammate Mike Murphy got his paw on a Jeff Wiley pass. Gicewicz (6-ft., 1-in., 210-lbs.) lumbered 46 yards to the 29-yard line before being caught from behind by Crusader running back Darin Cromwell.

Bye, Bye, Guys: Every yard quarterback Tom Yohe passes for now puts even more distance between him and past Harvard quarterbacks. Already the leading passer in Harvard history coming into the season, Yohe has passed for 791 more yards and six touchdowns in the first three games of this season. At this point last year during his record-breaking season, he had 675 yards passing and seven touchdowns. Yohe, who holds 14 school records, has 3521 career passing yards and 28 touchdowns.

Hinz in Sight: Opponents have keyed on running back Tony Hinz in the last two weeks, putting a lot of pressure on Yohe, who has tossed the ball 80 times in the last two games. Hinz and Yohe must receive more help from their supporting cast in the backfield. Hinz has run for 251 yards on 53 carries through the first three games, but the second-leading rusher for the Crimson is Yohe (72 yards on 20 carries). Besides Yohe and Hinz, the rest of the squad has only 153 yards on 54 carries (2.8 yard per carry). Wingback Silas Myers, impressive against UMass two weeks ago, missed last week's game with a thigh bruise.

"It's a Draw": According to Hinz, Holy Cross may have done a good job of scouting the Harvard offense.

"I think their defense was keying on a bunch of our formations," Hinz says. "They were yelling out what the plays should be to each other."

Roll the Dice: Holy Cross gambled on fourth-down four times Saturday and came up with two first downs and two touchdowns.

While several gridders were surprised by a few of the gambles, offensive guard Maurice Frilot was not.

"That's not really beyond Holy Cross," Frilot said. "They will do anything to catch you off-guard."

When Do We Play Harvard?: Holy Cross All-America cornerback Dave Murphy has made a career out of playing against Harvard. In three games against the Crimson, he has picked off seven passes. He came up with two thefts Saturday. He also deflected three other passes and was a part of 10 tackles.