No Offense Intended; Gridders Tie, 3-3

ITHACA, N.Y.--It was a marvelously simple football game.

Cornell has scored on its first possession of the day, and now Jim Villanueva had just booted a 39-yard field goal, giving Harvard three points on its final possession of the day. In between, each team had blown one sterling shot at a touchdown. Very simple, except for the yellow flag resting on Schoelkopf Field's artificial turf...

What was Crimson Coach Joe Restic thinking as Villaneusa's game-tying kick with three seconds left was nullified an illegal procedure call.

"Penn."

The situation wasn't an exact parallel to last year's crucial game at Penn, when a roughing-the-kicker call on Harvard gave Quaker placekicker Dave Shulman a second chance, which he used to beat the Crimson with no time showing on the clock. But the lateness of the call--as Restic saw it--gave the visiting coach that deja vu feeling.

"I want to see those calls made before the kick goes through," he said, echoing his complaint from the Penn game. Nonetheless, the side judge still ruled that part of the Crimson line was too far from the line of scrimmage.

So, after a Big Red timeout to let him ponder his second attempt, and despite the best efforts of the Cornell fans to break his concentration, the third-leading scorer in Crimson history (now one point away from becoming number two) sent his 44-yeard rekick even higher through the uprights than his first one.

Grumble, Grumble

After 20 seconds of milling about on the sidelines. Cornell's still-winless gridders finally realized they had lost the lead they had held for 53:59, their only lead of the season thus far. They trudged across the field to shake hands with the much-relieved Crimson, now 1-0-1 in the Ivies, 2-1-1 overall.

"We were lucky to get out of it with a tie." Restic said a few minutes later. "That's like a win at the end [in the Ivy race]."

Having snatched a tie after a full four quarters of frustration. Harvard might have been jubilant--but for the fact that it had been heavily favored to clobber its hosts.

Clearly, one's perspective affected how the visitors felt about their performance. "I don't think we executed well as a team today." said Brian White, the sophomore backup quarterback who struggled for most of the second half before a dramatic drive to reach field goal range in the final minute. "It's a game we should have won. We're really not satisfied with a tie in this situation."

"We played well," said Mark Mead, part of the defensive unit that allowed Cornell inside the Crimson 30 just once all afternoon. Linebacker Kevin Garvin led Harvard with nine tackles: "I can't say enough good things about Kevin." Defensive Coordinator George Clemens said.

Between Peter Baccile's 49-yard field goal 6:01 into the contest and Villanueva's three-pointer at the final gun, it was just not a day for the offense. Five Harvard possessions consisted of three plays and a punt: Cornell did the same three times. "We hardly had time to rest and talk to our kids on the sidelines," said Clemens.

Combined, the teams completed II passes. That may have reflected more of a problem for Harvard than for the Big Red. While Cornell QBs Shawn Maguire and Stuart Mitchell at times badly overthrew their receivers, the Crimson signal callers, Chuck Colombo in the first ball and White in the second saw several line losses dropped.

The most costly incompletion for the Crimson cam early in the second quator, when fallback Mark Vignali, near the right side on at the Cornell 15 with daylight ahead bobbled and dropped Colombo's pass.

Crash Landing

But Harvard wasn't the only team that blow good opportunities to win it. Both teams had drives that seemed headed for the end zone, only to go away at the last moment.

Cornell's big chance came last in the second quarter, which runner back Harmon galloped nearly halt the length of the carpet until tackled from behind by John Dailey at the Crimson 30 from there Cornell drove to the nine before its drive collapsed. First, after a time out, Maguire took too long calling his signals. Then at the 14 the whole offensive line moved before the snap--an illegal procedure. Then Maguire went for paydirt--and tired straight into Dailey's arms at the three-yard line.

Harvard's turn came early in the fourth quarter Paced by a part of White to John O'Brien completions the Crimson moved to the Big Red five before sallying. Two carries by Vignali gamed: yard On third and goal.. pitchout to Vignali never made it Cornell is covered.

The Big Red came very very, close to depriving Harvard of another serious, chance after that. A holding call on Cornell with 1:2 left forced it to punt rather than enjoy a firs, down on the Crimson 16.

White went to work on his own 20, with 80 second left. A bomb O'Brien tell incomplete. A reverse and an incompletion later, was fourth and six, still on the Harvard 24. But a screen pass to Vignali kept the Crimson alive. A 30 yard pass to a leaping O'Brien brought Harvard into Big Red territories. And when White scrambled out of bounds at the 22 with 07 left he set the stage for Villanueva.

THE NOTEBOOK None of Colombo's five passes were caught. White completed six of 13 .... Linebacker and Co-Captain Mike Scully was the dominating force for the Cornell defense, with nine tackles and 10 assists .... Total yardage: Harvard, 244. Cornell. 213 .... After the game. Restic was undecided about his starter at quarterback for next week's showdown with Dartmouth at the Stadium. Ivy Football Standings   Ivy  Overall   W  L  T  W  L  T Dartmouth  1  0  0  1  3  0 Penn  2  0  1  2  1  1 Harvard  1  0  1  2  1  1 Princeton  2  1  0  3  1  0 Brown  1  1  1  1  2  1 Cornell  0  1  1  0  3  1 Yale  0  1  0  0  4  0 Columbia  0  3  0  0  4  0