Callinan, Gridders Thrash Penn, 45-7

The Harvard football team, which had never gone a full season without a victory at home, kept that 107-year streak alive Saturday, drop-kicking the University of Pennsylvania through the uprights and out of the Stadium, 45-7, before a meager gathering of 10,500 at Soldiers Field.

The win, the Crimson's first at home this season after three losses and a tie, ups Harvard's Ivy record to 4-1-1 (5-3-1 overall), good for a second-place tie with Princeton, enough to keep its slim title hopes alive. For Harvard to win the Ivies, it must defeat Yale next Saturday in the Yale Bowl and then pray for Penn to upset Dartmouth in Philadelphia. A Harvard win is a definite possibility, but after Penn's performance Saturday, it's probably not a good idea to bet your Harvard shot glass that the Quakers will even cover the spread against Dartmouth.

In Saturday's game, Harvard set the tone for the day on the very first play from scrimmage. After Paul Scheper returned the opening kickoff 26 yards to the Harvard 32, the Crimson set up for a quick pitch left to fullback Jim Callinan, a play that offensive line coach Dick Corbin had told the offensive unit would work for a big gain if everybody did his job.

"In the locker room before the kickoff our coach said, if everyone gets his block, we can do it," Callinan said. "He got the line really psyched. We knew we were going to break that first one. We were really going for it."

They broke it, all right. Callinan took Cuccia's pitch, popped through a hole on the left side of the line, moved outside tackle Greg Brown--who slowed the cornerback just enough for Callinan to burst by--and outraced two Penn players down the sideline to the end zone. Sixty-eight yards, six points and only 16 seconds gone in the game. "You might say the first play was just not a good thing for us," Penn head coach Jerry Berndt said.

It was, however, a good thing for Jim Callinan. That play set him coasting on his way to 188 yards on 15 carries (a 12.5 average), including another long touch-down romp--a 66-yard scamper in the third quarter--and three touchdowns. He also caught six passes, most of them screens from back-up quarterback Donnie Allard out of the quarterback-in-motion alignment, for 86 yards.

The 188 yards boosted Callinan's total on the year to 994, easily eclipsing the old Harvard record of 950 yards set by Dick Clasby in nine games in 1951. Callinan, because the Ivy League now plays a ten-game schedule, has one game left to pad his total.

Berndt was right, though, when he said that the first play was not a good thing for his team. On Jim Villanueva's ensuing kickoff, the ball landed among five Penn players, none of whom wanted to touch the ball. So Harvard's Bruno Perdoni fell on it, and Harvard took over first-and-ten at the Penn 20, leading 7-0 with just 20 seconds gone in the game.

Two penalties--a holding call at the 14 and an illegal pass call after quarterback Ron Cuccia had apparently connected with halfback Scott McCabe for a touch-down--forced the Crimson to punt from the Quaker 34. Reserve punter Steve Flach knubbed the ball perfectly to the four.

Penn managed one first down, but two plays later, on third-and-one at the 29, linebacker Joe Azelby, on a blitz, jarred the ball loose from quarterback Doug Marzonie, and middle guard Scott Murrer fell on it at the 20.

Five running plays, including two carries for 15 yards by flanker Steve Bianucci, gave Harvard a third-and-goal at the two. Cuccia handed off to McCabe, who vaulted high over the center of the line and into the end zone. Vilianueva's PAT, one of six he had on the day, made it 14-0 Harvard with 7:45 left in the first quarter.

After the kickoff, Azelby and Murrer teamed up again on Penn's first play from scrimmage. Quaker halfback Steve Rubin hit the right side of the line, which really meant that he hit Azelby, who knocked the ball loose, squibbing it through a series of falling bodies and into the paws of Murrer, who covered up at the 31.

Cuccia ran an option right on the first play, pitching to Biannucci, who rambled 15 yards to the 16. A five-yard gain by Callinan was nullified by a five-yard back-in-motion penalty, but on the next play. Cuccia flipped a quick screen to Callinan at the 15, and the big back bulled his way to the two. After McCabe leaped into the line for one yard. Cuccia scored on a keeper, stretching the ball over his head and over the goal line. Harvard had a three-TD lead just a little more than nine minutes into the game.

Penn took the following kickoff and, its offense continuing to struggle, failed to make a first down in three plays. After the punt. Harvard started in again on its own 39.

Cuccia alternated his own runs with Callinan's for a first down just short of midfield. Two plays later, on a third-and-seven, it was quarterback-in-motion time.

Cuccia sprinted out to the left and Ailard took the snap, waited for the Penn linemen to converge on him, and then dumped a screen pass to Callinan, who ran 14 yards to the Penn 34. The quarter ended three running plays later, with Harvard at the 17-yard line.

Villanueva booted a 35-yard field goal two plays into the second stanza for a 24-point lead, and Harvard ran the quarterback-in-motion set-up for most of the quarter, rolling up a lot of yardage but not scoring again until Allard's eight-yard scamper into the end zone with 33 seconds left in the half, for a 31-0 lead.

After halftime, Harvard coach Joe Restic put Callinan and the first-string offensive linemen in the game just long enough to break the record (one play, as it turned out), and then it was garbage time.

"It was not a lot of fun out there today," Berndt said. "We played as poorly as we have all year. I credit Restic. It [Harvard's score] could easily have been 100."