Winthrop Deadlocks Leverett for Lead

The Leverett House football team finally met its match last night. It took a tired-up Winthrop House team and the flip of a coin to do it.

The final score was 6-6, but the real outcome of the game was more complex. Assuming Leverett and Winthrop both win their one remaining game, they will end the season with identical records and Leverett will retain the House football trophy it won last year.

But the other coveted prize of the House league is the chance to play the winner of the Yale intramural league on Yale weekend. Under the same assumption Winthrop would play in that game. A House rule states that in the event of a co-championship when the two co-champions played to a tie, the chance to play Yale will go to the team with the most total yardage in that team with the most total yardage in that game. Winthrop out gained Leverett last night 161 yards to 119.

The game itself left the rooters on both sides hoarse. Late in the first quarter Winthrop was forced to punt from its own 45. The punt soared high into the lights around the field and fell through the arms of Bunnie halfback Jim Thompson. Winthrop recovered on the Leverett 17.

This was the first test for Leverett's famed defense. Two smashes into the line left, Winthrop with a third-and-seven situation on the Leverett 14. On the next play, a saint off tackle, the Puritan halfback fumed and Leverett players swarmed over the ball ending Winthrop's threat.

Leverett took over on the 16 and made its only offensive showing of the night. With the help of two penalties and the powerhouse running of Jim Thompson, the Bunnies marched to the Puritan 16. Then Leverett quarterback Steve Ekdahl rolled to his right, picked up a key block from Leo Swift, and outran the Winthrop secondary into the end zone.

But Winthrop wanted this one too much to quit. The ball-handling wizardry of quarterback Mitch Sikora and the strong running of halfbacks Pat Conaway and Dexter Newton completely dominated the second half. After one scoring threat faltered on the Bunnie 10, Winthrop took over again on their own 46.

Then came the bomb. On first down Sikora split the right end and put the right halfback in the slot position. He then faked a hand-off and started to roll to his right. But left halfback Conaway had streaked down the left sidelines and had his defender beaten by five yards. Sikora stopped and threw a touchdown strike that covered 45 yards in the air.