Crusaders Cruising for Revenge

The Harvard football team will face its stiffest challenge of the season today when the Crimson hosts Holy Cross at 1:30 p.m. in The Stadium.

The Crusaders (2-0) are the nation's fourth-ranked Division I-AA squad, and last week they shellacked the University of Massachusetts, 35-7.

So Harvard, which won its season opener last Saturday at Columbia, 35-21, will have to engineer a major upset if it is to knock off its powerful guests.

One factor working for the Crimson in today's home opener will be the hex it has developed over Holy Cross. On ABC television in 1982, Harvard ambushed the then-highly touted Crusaders, 24-17.

And on November 5, 1983, Holy Cross marched into the Stadium proudly carrying an 8-0-0 mark and the number-two ranking in the league. Furthermore, the visitors had spent the previous weekend romping Columbia, 77-28.

In fact, the biggest romper of them all, then-sophomore tailback Gill Fenerty, had just rushed for 337 yards and six touchdowns on 18 carries against the Lions. That's a good season in a single afternoon.

In spite of those impressive credentials, however, the Crimson stopped the Crusade from penetrating into Cambridge, and pulled off a 10-10 tie for one of New England's major upsets of the year.

In that game, Fenerty had just 60 yards rushing and left for the sidelines early in the third quarter with a separated shoulder that would sideline him for four weeks.

Fenerty and company haven't forgotten that long struggle and are thirsty for a hearty dose of revenge.

"They don't want to just win," says Harvard quarterback Brian White. "They want to really stick it to us."

If the Crimson hopes to continue its successful string against the Cross, White will probably be the key.

Last Saturday in New York, Harvard stuck to a simple, ball-control game plan and earned 335 yards rushing. The ground game shut down the Lions and vaulted junior fullback Robert Santiago into the record books with a 204-yard performance-- the second-best single-game performance by a Harvard ballcarrier ever.

Coach Joe Restic had White go to the air just six times all afternoon, and though the junior hit on four of those, the Crimson serial attack remains, for the most part, untested.

The Crusaders will be looking for Santiago to get the ball, but look for Restic & Co. to try the airwaves against a team that has given up only a single score all year and whose opponents are averaging less than 70 rushing yards a game.

"We didn't have to open it up last week," White says. "But to beat a team like Holy Cross you've got to have a more balanced attack.

"We're still going to count on the ground game," the Harvard quarterback adds, "but not quite as much.