Valpey to Hold Heavy Scrimmages

A week of heavy scrimmaging awaits the Harvard football team in its preparations for Holy Cross, Coach Art Valpey disclosed yesterday. Valpey will employ the scrimmages to improve the team's timing, which was badly off during the Dartmouth game.

With the return of lineman John Coan, the Crimson is physically better off than at any previous time since the opening minutes of the Stanford game. But the injuries that have hobbled men week after week mean that the team still is not used to working as a unit, and it is this finesse which Valpey will be seeking during the coming week of practice.

Only back Jim Kenary will definitely not play Saturday, though tackle Dick Guidera is still on the doubtful list. However, it is still uncertain just how much others who have recently recovered from injuries will be able to play.

Valpey broke his squad into two parts for yesterday's drill. Those who had not played on offense Saturday scrimmaged the Jayvees, while those who had seen action on the offensive against Dartmouth polished their attack against dummies.

Most noteworthy event of the practice was the switch of Al Wilson from defensive left tackle to offensive right tackle. Wilson started the year at end.

Holy Cross Report

Jayvee coach Ben McCabe, who has been scouting the Crusaders and saw them bow to Yale, 14 to 7, last Saturday, reported that Holy Cross is a rapidly improving team which should be at its strongest of the season so far this Saturday. The Crusaders, like Harvard, suffered badly from injuries in their first game and have dropped five straight so far. But the injured men have now recovered, and McCabe believes that the Cross will be "coming up" for Saturday's contest.

Unlike previous years, when the Crusaders were known as a heavy, bull-like team whose greatest ground-gaining potential was through the center of the line, this year's Holy Cross squad is notable for a good passing attack run off by an all-sophomore backfield, according to McCabe.

One and One-Third Platoons

Crimson fans who have become accustomed to seeing opponents take one squad off the field and send on another every time the ball changes hands will find that the Cross uses even less of a two-platoon system than Harvard. About two-thirds of the Holy Cross team goes both ways, as opposed to about half of the Harvard team.

Along with his intelligence report on the Crusaders, McCabe also had a few words to say about Yale. Apparently the Yale line can no longer be known as the "Seven Dwarfs," for the Eli front wall looked good against the Cross, whose line averages 208 pounds--program weights.