Defense-Minded Crimson Fights Mass to Scoreless Tie

A tie satisfies nobody. The United States has never been happy with the stalemate it was forced to accept in Korea, and it is doubtful that Harvard fans will ever completely accept the scoreless draw Massachusetts negotiated with the Crimson at the Stadium last Saturday.

By every statistical comparison but scoring, Harvard was clearly victorius over its highly-acclaimed foe. The Crimson advanced 133 yards on the ground and 113 is the air for 14 first downs. Massachusetts, held to but three yards rushing at halftime, eventually ended up with an insignificant 42 yards rushing and 41 through passing. The Redmen were awarded but four first downs.

Harvard failed to score, though, and that deflciency provoked anguished frustration on the Crimson team, and a great deal of Sunday morning quarterbacking among the fans. Twice the Crimson was tantalisingly close to the goal line, and both times it was refused access to the promised land.

The first serious assault on the UMass goal line came seconds before the close of the half. Quarterback Mike Bassett officiently brought the football from the opposition 40 yard line to the one yard strip in six plays, the two most important being passes for 19 and 11 yards to halfback Scott Harsh barger.

Once in sight of the goal line, however, Mass stiffened and Harvard hesitated. Second team fullback Stan Yastrzemski investigated seeming openings at left and right guard without success. Then halfback Walter Grant, on a play called in from the bench, carried into right tackie, but could not find the opening. Finally, fullback Bill Grana, now back in the game, took the ball on what was supposed to be an end run but ended up in a blind alley at right tackle. The virginity of its end zone unimpaired, the Mass team left the field engulfed in an appreciative roar from the far stands.

No Crimson thrust came close to the mark again until the waning moments. Again it was Bassett who masterminded the movement. A pass from the Harvard 42 was heroically caught at the Redmen's 30 by Tom Stephenson, and moments later sophomore end Ken Boyda, who replaced the injured Stephenson, grabbed another Bassett missile on the 11.

At this point, with both the Massachusetts team and the clock rapidly receding, Bassett sent sophomore back Dave Poe around end. His five yard gain, acceptable in any other situation, was unuseful here, as time ran out before Bassett could get his center to snap the ball again.

After the end, coach John Yovicsin, who rarely likes to make excuses, indicated he thought the new substitution rule had cost Harvard the ball game. Mass coach Vic Fusia, happy to avoid defeat, cheerfully noted that "it helped us tie you." Because of the complicated restrictions, Harvard players had unwittingly used up half of the four time-outs allotted to them in the half. Two other time-outs had been called deliberately, leaving Bassett but one opportunity to stop the clock in the closing seconds: an incomplete forward pass.

Trying to reconstruct the situation afterwards, Bassett said he should have tried a pass play instead of the Poe run. At the time, he had thought Poe might go all the way, and that there was time for two plays. In fact, immmediately after the ball was placed Bassett tried to get a snap and throw it, but the period ended a second too soon.

While the conclusion was annoying, Harvard fans could not really be critical of their team. Displaying a defense that was far better than normal opening game procedures, the Crimson blocked and dismantled what was supposed to be a very proficient offensive team. And Bassett moved his team confidently; he would have gained even more had his receivers been consistently equal to his passing.

Although they made some minor mistakes, sophomores Wally Grant and Dave Poe gave notice they will soon be important members of the Crimson backfield. Grant exhibited a fleet foot if not always a steady hand, and Poe showed promising intuition. Jim Gahan's punting was another source of encouragement.

Both units of the Crimson line blocked skillfuly, but the defensive work of the ends was really superlative. The end run play that Mass used to destroy Maine never developed, primarily because Redmen halfbacks rarely got into the defensive secondary.

Yovicsin was more than eager to join newsmen in praising ends Stephenson, Boyda, Frank Ulcickas and Paul Barringer for their contributions. Cornermen Jerry Mechling and Rick Beizer graphically demonstrated how much of an art defense can be, missing practically no opportunity to jam the Mass offense.

Quarterback Jerry Welchel showed little of his passing skill because he had practically no opportunities to cock his arm. Coach Fusia disclosed that more than 16 passes had been called, but only six ever got into the air and just three were completed.

The determination and courage of the entire team was magnificently displayed on three successive plays late in the third quarter. Welchel had suddenly reorganized his attack, bringing the ball within the Harvard 30. Swift halfback Fred Lewis took a pitch-out and dug hard toward right end, a pasture populated only sparsely at the time. Just before he broke into the open, Tom Bilodeau recovered from a block and restrained the determined Lewis.

On the next play Ulcickas cancelled a Whelchel pass, throwing the quarterback for a seven yard loss. Then, on fourth down, Grana risked serious injury to prevent a Mass score, breaking through the line to throw himself at the foot of field goal kicker Milt Morin. Morin's toe dug deep into Grana's unprotected thigh, but the ball squirted off harmlessly. While badly bruised, Grana escaped serious damage and should be able to play next week.

Despite the inconclusive reading on the scoreboard, the game was far from fruitless: Harvard found out it has a pretty good football team. There will be eight more opportunities to prove this.TOM STEPHENSON (88) snags MIKE BASSETT's fourth period pass for a gain that didn't quite make a touchdown.