Tribe on the Warpath Today

Frankly, the Harvard football team would probably just as soon pass this one up.

Harvard Coach Joe Restic and the Crimson gridders travel to Williamsburg, Va. today to take on the fifth-ranked (in Division I-AA) William & Mary Tribe. Results might not be very pretty.

Harvard (1-1) and William & Mary (3-0) have one notable thing in common--each is one of the two oldest universities in the nation (you can figure out which is which for yourself).

But the similarities end there. While the Crimson is an unproven team coming off a convincing defeat (41-0 at the hands of Holy Cross last week), the Tribe is riding a three-game winning streak and looks to be one of I-AA's top squads this year.

The Tribe has won its three games by an average score of 36-19 and is led by short-but-not-on-talent tailback Michael Clemons, who leads his squad in rushing (67 rushes, 352 yards, three touchdowns) and receiving (23 catches, 215 yards, five t.d.s) despite standing a diminutive 5-ft., 5-in.

In fact, W & M's greatest test today may come not from the Crimson but from its schedule-makers, who gave the Tribe last week off. "My number one concern is that we've been off for a week," Tribe Coach Jimmye Laycock says. "We had some really good momentum going before then."

If Clemons is the Tribe's spark-plug, quarterback Ken Lambiotte is the squad's bread and butter. Lambiotte racked up some impressive numbers in his team's first two wins (47-for-73, 582 yards, seven t.d.s, three interceptions) before missing a game with a sprained ankle. He is expected to play against the Crimson.

But in the event that he can't play, Harvard barely receives a break. Back-up signal-caller Greg DeGennaro threw for 385 yards and three touchdowns in the one game in which he saw action.

"In the three games that we've played, that's what we've been most sucessful at: throwing the football," Laycock says.

All of which means that the Crimson secondary, which got burned a number of times against the Crusaders (278 yards in the air), might be heading for the hospital again after this one. Harvard's defense had trouble in its first real test of the year last Saturday, and the Tribe seems to have a more potent offense than Holy Cross.

The situation on the other side of the ball isn't much brighter. Crimson starting quarterback David Landau suffered a shoulder injury against the Cross and is doubtful today. That leaves Bill Koehler as the likely starter for Harvard.

Koehler has suffered from the same interception troubles as Landau this year but doesn't seem to have Landau's running ability.

Crimson rushers George Sorbara and Joe Pusateri will have to shoulder an extra burden if Landau doesn't play. The two have also been Harvard's top receivers, with Joe Connolly complementing them from his split end position.

One bright spot for the Crimson is that it has a history of playing especially tough against the Tribe. Last year, the underdog gridders seemed to have sealed at least a tie with the visitors from Virginia until a Rufus Jones fumble led to a lightening-quick Tribe score with 2:08 left in the game.

The other comforting fact for Harvard is that this is a non-league game. Whatever happens today, the Crimson will still wake up tommorrow undefeated in the Ivy League at 1-0.