House Football Nears Playoffs

An enthusiastic Leverett House team crunched Adams's expansion franchise, 28-0, yesterday at Soldiers Field.

The most lopsided game in interhouse competition this year raised the Rabbits' record to 2-1. Adams fell to 1-1 with its first-ever loss.

In its pregame warm-up, the Leverett defense made a gesture which seemed designed to taunt the Adams squad. At Co-Captain Matt Edgelo's urging, the Leverett defenders formed a circle--instead of their usual two-line huddle--and held hands.

Rather than an insult directed at the Flames, though, the hand-holding was an attempt by Edgelo to motivate his defense.

"It was designed to psych the defense more," Leverett Coach and Co-Captain Dick Lannon said of the hand-holding. "In our last game against Quincy, our defense started off well but couldn't keep it up because they got tired. Matt decided to circle the huddle because he thought it would get the defense psyched and keep them psyched."

And it worked.

Throughout the game, Leverett's defense showed it was eager to play. On the opening series, the Rabbits contained dangerous Adams quarterback Buddy Fletcher and forced the Flames to punt.

Taking over on Adams' 43-yd. line following Woody Lennon's punt return, Leverett needed only four plays to score. On second down, P.K. Pakalnis sprinted 32 yards to the 11-yard line and two plays later swept around left end for the touchdown.

Placekicker Craig Schiff (a perfect four-for-four in extra points) nearly hit the indoor tennis courts with his kick, boosting the Leverett lead to 7-0.

In the second quarter, the Rabbits recovered a fumble on the Adams 25 and again scored quickly. Quarterback Stu Peterson dropped back and, evading the rush, found a wide-open Woody Lennon with a swing pass. Lennon raced down the left sideline and dove the final two yards for the score.

The defense added six points to Leverett's total just before the half ended. Since Leverett had shut down the Flames' rushing attack, Buddy Fletcher resorted to the pass to move Adams downfield. But he couldn't take them far.

On his first attempt, from his own 33-yd. line, Fletcher floated a five-yard pass towards a receiver the left flat. Instead of connecting with Adams orange, though, the ball was grabbed by Fred King, a green-and-yellow-clad Leverett defensive back. King took the ball in stride at the 38-yard line and raced untouched for a score.

Adams tried an on-sides kickoff to open the second half but failed, giving the Rabbits a first down at mid-field.

The Flames' defense twice appeared to have stopped the Leverett advance with interceptions, but both were wiped out: the first when Adams fumbled the ball back to the Rabbits on the return, and the second by a roughing-the-passer call.

The Leverett offense, given unexpected life, continued its drive down to the Adams 10-yd. line. From there, Peterson connected with tight end Lannon for his second touch-down pass of the day.

"It's tough to play well against a good team like Leverett," Adams, Captain, Coach, and quarterback Fletcher said, "when you've only had one hour of real hitting, like we've had. We need more hitting practice."

Leverett's Lannon praised his defense's effort: "We knew they had two good athletes [Fletcher and running back Kermit Alexander] who are very fast, so I made sure our defensive ends stayed outside. They contained well. We set the tempo of the game in the first series, and controlled it from then on."