Crimson Belies Slow-Starting Reputation Against Air Cadets

Whenever a Harvard football team has trotted out on the field to open its season during the past five or six years, it has usually been the custom of the spectators to sit back in their seats and say to themselves, "We probably won't see much today, because Harlow-coached elevens rarely seem to hit their stride before November."

That is what was said by many people last Saturday, at least, when the Crimson opened its campaign against the starstudded North Carolina Pre-Flight cadets, but the people were all wrong. Instead of being overawed by the vannied Pre-Flight attack, instead of playing the sloppy game predicted by the "Monday morning quarterbacks," Harvard played superb ball up to the last six minutes of the game, when the inherent power of their opponents made itself felt to the tune of two quick touchdowns.

Harvard Victories Ahead

So once again it appears that Coach Dick Harlow Starting from scratch, with most of his lettermen lost either because of graduation or the draft, has constructed out of nothing a team which should start ticking off victories with clock-like regularity within the next three weeks.

Len Eshmont, the former Fordham flash, was the individual star of the game and Harvard's nemesis. It was his two passes which set up the game's first touchdown, and it was his 28 yard vamp scarcely four minutes later that scored the second tally.

More important, however, was the psychological effect created all afternoon by the Fordham Phantom. Throughout the contest he continually threatened to break away, and the fact that one and sometimes two men had to be watching him at all times somewhat hampered the otherwise superb Crimson defense.

Tricky Crimson Defense

As a matter of fact, so tricky was the defense devised by Harlow that without Eshmont it is probable that the Cadets would not have been able to make any ground at all through the Harvard line. With the possible exception of big Joe Martin, hard-driving fullback on last year's Cornell squad, none of the Cadet backs could solve the five, six and seven man line defenses which Harlow threw against them. And time and time again the Crimson linemen were able to charge through and break up the Pre-Flight plays before they could even get started.

One of the most satisfying features of the game from Harvard's point of view was the fact that the Crimson envoistanced their opponents in average yard-ago gained by punis. Before the contest Harlow had been worried over the fact that he had very few talented kickers. Those he did have did not seem to have enough all-around ability to warrant a place in the lineup.

For a period and a half his fears appeared to be borne out, but in the middle of the second period he took a chance and put in Wally Flynn, a Freshman trying out for end. Flynn electrified the stands with a long, booming kick that carried 70 yards from the line of scrimmage and, better still, proceeded to do an extremely creditable job substituting for Bill Barnes at left end.

Another satisfying point in Harvard's playing was the work carried on by the center of the line. Here again Harlow had been worried and had even talked of chucking his usual system of attack, involving line plunges and off-tackle smashes, for a razzle-dazzle brand of football, comprised of more passes and sweeps around the ends.

In the persons of Charley Gudaitis, Jack Fisher, and Sid Smith, however, none of whom had over played on the Varsity before, the center of the line responded magnificently, opening up its share of holes on the offense and plugging just as many on the defense. As a matter of fact, the entire line played so well that once in the game Harvard found itself deep in the Fliers' territory.

This was late in the second period when the Crimson, taking the ball on its own 40 yard line, put four first downs together and ended up on the seven yard line. The Fliers finally prevented the score, however, but the march showed that this year Harvard has the offensive power to score on long, sustained drives