Second Win Blew Gridders' Way

Before the Harvard football team ran into the Northeastern Wishbone attack Saturday at the Stadium, the Crimson had last faced a Wishbone in October, 1984.

And while the gridders were successful this weekend--controlling the 'bone and emerging with a 27-24 upset over the Huskies--Harvard's previous bout with the 'bone met with markedly different results.

On October 6, 1984, the Crimson travelled to West Point to meet Army. Featuring the Wishbone, a run oriented offense relying on trickery and misdirection, the Cadets rolled to a 33-11 victory that day.

Army ran the ball an amazing 72 times for 381 yards while putting the ball in the air only five times. Only one of those Army passes was completed--for a 20-yd: touchdown pass in the second quarter. Meanwhile, the Crimson racked up 19 first downs and 332 total yards, but only managed 11 points.

The Crimson gave up 348 total yards to the Husky Wishbone on Saturday, but stiffened at key times and came away with its first non-conference win since 1985.

The Yohe File: With 265 yards passing Saturday, Tom Yohe cracked the Harvard record book with the eighth most prolific passing day in Crimson history, and the highest yardage total since 1982.

Yohe's excellent 15-for-32, three TD performance was accompanied by the junior quarterback's usual array of scrambles, roll-outs and throws on the run. None of Yohe's five touchdown passes this year have been thrown out of the pocket.

Despite the Crown Point, Ind. native's historic outing, the Harvard coaching staff saw a few things that could be improved. Several times Yohe was tackled for a sack on plays in which it looked like he could have thrown the ball away in time. Once, Yohe was sacked back at his own 2-yd. line, forcing Harvard to punt from its own endzone.

Yohe also threw a pair of interceptions--though one came on a desperation fling on the last play of the first half. On the other take-away, however, Yohe lofted an ill-advised pass that floated over tight end Kent Lucas and into the waiting arms of Huskie defender Chris Demarest. NU scored its first TD of the game seven plays later.

Both the sacks and the interception were the result of over-aggressiveness on Yohe's part. It is the same aggressiveness that has made Yohe the excellent QB that he is, and the Harvard coaching staff is no doubt quite happy to accept it in return for his play.

The junior QB gave the Crimson a scare in the fourth quarter when he came up from a hard hit limping a little. "He got kicked a little bit on that play," Harvard Coach Joe Restic said, "but he shook it off quickly."

The Injury Report: There's not much new to report on the injury front for the Crimson. Running back Rufus Jones remains out for several more weeks with a stress fracture in his leg. Captain Kevin Dulsky, battling knee ligament injuries all year long, dressed for Northeastern and played sparingly.

Safety Bryan Gescuk (thigh) and tight end Don Gajewski (shoulder) remain day-to-day.

Most Notable, Unnoted Play of the Week: This week's award goes to Coach Joe Restic, who directed Captain Duksky to defer his option if he won the coin toss before the game.

With a stiff wing blowing in from the closed end of the Stadium, Restic wanted to have the wind at his team's back during the fourth quarter. Harvard did indeed win the toss, and deferred its choice. The Crimson was thus able to go with the wind in the fourth quarter, a factor which may have proved decisive in the tight ballgame.

Bad Boys: After being whistled for nine penalties for 99 yards in the season opener at Columbia, Harvard came back against the Huskies with seven penalties for 65 yards.

A number were particularly costly. In the final minute of the first half, with the Crimson leading 17-10, split end Brian Barringer caught a pass at the NU 16. But Harvard was whistled for offensive interference on the play, a damaging 15-yd. penalty which erased the gain and ultimately put the Crimson out of scoring range.

Then in the fourth quarter, with Harvard facing a third-and-seven from the Northeastern 19, the Crimson was called for a delay of game penalty when Yohe tried to audible at the line. A Yohe to Neil Phillips pass gained nine yards on the next play, but that was short of the first down marker, and the Crimson had to settle for a field goal. Those two penalties might well have cost the Crimson upwards of 10 points in the game.

"They were big plays which we lost [as a result of those penalties]" Restic admitted after the game.