Harvard, at Last, Defeats Dartmouth

Victory at last. How sweet it was. Harvard had finally accomplished what its long--suffering fans and seniors wanted most out of life--a win over Dartmouth.

And the best part of it was that the triumph came on the Big Green's own turf before their maniacal followers.

The 17-15 final was not indicative of how thoroughly the Crimson dominated the action. By all rights the score should have read 35-7 Harvard, but some costly Crimson errors, and some poor officiating combined to keep the score down.

Mistakes Costly

"We came into the game knowing we were going to win," said Pat McInally, "and we were hoping to run the score up on them. But we made some mistakes, and there were a few bad calls."

Harvard struck first halfway through the first quarter on a seven-yard sweep by Alky Tsitsos. The key play in the drive was a 34-yard pass from Milt Holt to McInally that brought the ball to the Big Green 18.

Harvard continued applying offensive pressure and penetrated to the Dartmouth 14 the next time it had the ball, but a field goal attempt by Tsitsos curved wide.

The Big Green offense continued its ineptitude, and repeatedly gave Harvard the ball in good field position.

The Crimson launched two-more drives in the first half. The first was stopped on an interception by the Green's Mike Feasel at the Dartmouth 28. The second Harvard threat was nullified by a call against Pat McInally for offensive pass interference, after McInally caught the ball in the endzone.

"It was a lousy call," McInally said. "I blocked their cornerback and then took off downfield. But the referee waited until I caught the pass before he threw his flag."

However, Harvard was still deep in Dartmouth territory, when Holt attempted to pitch out to Tsitsos at the 11. Holt was hit as he pitched the ball, and it flew 11 yards past Tsitsos where the Green's alert linebacker Reggie Williams pounced on it.

That ended the half, and Harvard walked off with a tenuous 7-0 edge, though the Crimson deserved to have had the game wrapped up.

The second half, however, was a different story. After Harvard received the kickoff and got nowhere, McInally booted a 42-yard punt that the Green's Feasel hauled in at his own ten. He scampered 29 yards to midfield, where McInally made a touchdown-saving tackle.

This runback ignited the Dartmouth offense, which moved 51 yards in just eight plays to tie the score.

Dartmouth Charge

"That punt return really charged them up," said Crimson tackle Rob Shaw. "Before that, in the first half, they just didn't seem psyched up and weren't hitting that hard. But after that return, they were a different ballclub."

It was at this point in the game that the script called for the Crimson to fold over and for Dartmouth to mount a game-winning surge. But things didn't happen that way.

The Crimson took the ensuing kickoff, and marched 75 yards in nine plays to take back the lead. The key play in the drive came on a fourth and inches at the Green 34. Holt ran an option to the left, but decided to keep the ball and ducked inside the outside defenders. Holt took it all the way to the one, where Tsitsos scored his second touchdown.

The Crimson added a field goal after recovering a Dartmouth fumble at the Green 20 with 4:15 to go, and appeared to have the game safely in hand.

But Dartmouth had other ideas. Holt fumbled on the Green 46, and Dartmouth had a life. The Big Green moved the ball promptly to the Crimson 11. On a fourth down pass play, safety Fran Cronin was called for pass interference in the endzone, putting the ball at the one. On the next play, Dartmouth quarterback Mike Brait sneaked in.

"The second touchdown was questionable," said Harvard linebacker Eric Kurzweil. "I don't think the ref really knew what he was calling. We saw the films today, and I thought it was a pretty crummy call."

But even with the successful two-point conversion, Harvard still had a seemingly safe two-point advantage with only 1:22 to go. Harvard recovered the onside kick, but couldn't get a first down. McInally punted to the five-yard line, and Dartmouth had 11 seconds to move 95 yards. A first pass attempt failed. Then Brait lofted a beautiful pass to midfield, where Dartmouth's fleet Tom Fleming sped out of nowhere. It seemed as though he would take the ball and go all the way, when cornerback Joe Sciolla leaped at the ball, and deflected it with a finger.

Smooth and Fast

"That Fleming is an incredibly smooth and fast runner," Harvard safety Fran Cronin said. "I think we underplayed him on the last play, and he flew right by us. Joe made a great play to save it."

Thus ended the game of games, with a finish more frantic than it had any right to be.Harvard halfback TOM WINN [24] finds himself in the unenviable position of being in the midst of a gang of Big Green defenders. Looking on, presumably with sympathy, is the Crimson's All-American wide receiver PAT Mcinally [84].