Gridders Dump William and Mary, 23-14

WILLIAMSBURG, Va.--It was all ancient history by the time William and Mary's fourth-and-one rolled around with six minutes left in Saturday's game.

Harvard had bolted to an early 16-7 lead with its finest offensive output in any half this year (296 yards in the game's first two quarters) but turnovers, penalties and five straight second-half possessions ending in either a punt of a fumble ate most of that away.

With the Crimson clinging to a 16-14 lead late in the game, William and Mary coach Jimmye Laycock was faced with the fourth-and-one situation on his own 38-yard line." Laycock said after the game, "but when it came right down to it, I thought we could get the yards."

But Jeff Powell couldn't, and Harvard took over. Seven plays later, Jim Acheson plunged off right tackle for the touchdown to clinch a 23-14 Crimson victory, and for once, all the mistakes didn't matter.

Thus does the amazing saga of the Harvard Football Road Show continue. An overflow Homecoming Day crowd of 16,000--close to the largest in Cary Field history--watched the gridders click for their fourth win in four outings away from Cambridge, compared with an 0-3-1 ledger at home.

They did it in typical, schizophrenic style, too, with an incredible offensive first half ("Oh, gosh, easily our best offensive effort of the year," said Joe Restic) balanced by an equally incredible offensive collapse in the second. What made the ending happy was Harvard's ability to move the ball on a crucial fourth-quarter drive and score the points when it counted, something lacking in the 17-17 tie with Princeton two weeks ago. "We controlled the ball when we had to," was Restic's comment after the game. "That made the difference."

Alas, if the offense could control the ball the way it did in Saturday's first half all the time, there would never be a need for late fourth-quarter drives. Ron Cuccia, under fire from some quarters in recent weeks, had his finest 30 minutes at the Crimson helm, completing four of six passes for 99 yards, running for 71 more, and guiding his full-house backfield of Acheson, Jim (88 yards on 21 carries) Callinan and Steve Bianucci to touchdown drives of 90 and 84 yards.

After the talented Chris Garrity (23-for-38, 195 yards on the day) hit junior wide receiver Kurt Wrigley with a 13-yard touchdown pass, the Crimson drove another 76 yards downfield, gobbling almost four minutes off the clock, before Jim Villanueva hit a 27-yard field goal before time expired.

But the Tribe offense, limited to five first downs and 13 yards rushing in the first half, sprang to life after intermission. Aided by two big penalties on the usually law-abiding Crimson defense (a pass-interference penalty for an 18-yard gain and a key offsides infraction that transformed a third-and-six on the Crimson 20 into a gimme third-and-one), Garrity directed the Tribe to an 80-yard scoring drive that cut the margin to two points at 9:11 of the third quarter.

"He [Garrity] was tough to get at because he dropped back so far," defensive end Justin Whittington said after the game. "Their line set up real deep so we couldn't get near him."

Garrity was effective setting up about a dozen yards behind the line of scrimmage, and Powell (73 yards on 20 carries) kept the Crimson defense honest on the ground. But the Tribe could keep the football no longer than Harvard, and for the rest of the third quarter and half of the fourth the squads traded gifts.

Joe Azelby--who may have led the world in tackles Saturday with 15 alone plus nine assists--picked off a Garrity pass with five minutes left in the third quarter, but Acheson fumbled it away on the next play. Rocky Delgadillo came up with his weekly interception not long after, but a Cuccia-to-Callinan pitch three plays later was recovered by William and Mary's Owen Costello.

The Tribe had the ball for exactly seven plays before freshman fullback James McHeffey coughed it up. After Harvard punted, the Tribe rushed 13 yards in four plays before fumbling again, but got it back five plays later on another punt. Anemic ain't the word.

With the Crimson still ahead, 16-14, despite just one second-half first down, William and Mary took over with 8:37 left in the game on its own 13. A penalty, two passes and two runs brought the ball to the 38 and set up the fourth-and-one situation.

"The play there is to go for it, there's no question," Restic said after the game. "I wasn't surprised at all when they decided to try."

After getting the ball back, Harvard shifted into its double-wing, two tight-end offense and bullied the ball in. "We had seen that on the films and we were ready for it," Laycock said, "but they just knocked us over." Callinan rumbled 26 yards on three carries in the mini-drive and Acheson's plunge put the game away: THE NOTEBOOK: Senior split end Dirk Killen was the biggest beneficiary of Cuccia's fine passing day, gathering in a pair of aerials for 57 yards. Cuccia himself caught one pass for 15 yards from Don Allard off the--you guessed it--quarterback in motion play. William and Mary guessed it, too, and shut down the connection otherwise, although Restic did insert a variation that sends Allard in motion while Cuccia remains to take the snap. That didn't work either... Tribe placekicker Laszlo Mike-Mayer is the brother of pro kickers Steve and Nick. He missed his lone field goal attempt.