Gridders on Tiger Hunt for A Victory

This was supposed to have been The Game before The Game.

Harvard, the defending Ivy Champ, was expected to have cruised through its competition up to this point. This game would be Harvard's greatest Ivy League challenge.

For Princeton, a team favored by many to win the Ivy title, this would be the game in which the Tigers would knock off the reigning King and usurp the crown before the eyes and ears of the nation.

Instead, this afternoon in Princeton, N.J. (12:30 p.m., ESPN, WHRB 95.3), Harvard (1-4 overall, 1-2 Ivy) will be fighting for its very survival and trying to halt a four-game slide.

The Tigers (3-2, 2-1) will be trying to knock a chip off its own shoulder--put there by Columbia when the Lions turned the Tigers into The Victim to end their 44-game losing streak.

Last year at The Stadium, the Crimson pulled out a 24-19 thriller over Princeton. Harvard Captain Kevin Dulsky sacked Princeton quarterback Jason Garrett in the final minutes to end Tiger scoring threat.

While Dulsky has gone off into the real world. Garrett returns to lead the Tiger attack. In five games, Garrett has completed 96 of 142 passes (67.6 percent) for 1053 yards and five touchdowns. He has yet to throw an interception this year.

The player Garrett likes to play catch with the most is his younger brother, Judd. The younger Garrett, a running back, is the Tigers' best offensive weapon. He leads the squad in rushing (103 carries for 609 yards rushing) and receiving (31 receptions for 312 yards).

In Princeton's 41-35 victory over Bucknell last weekend, Judd Garrett ran for 233 yards and caught 11 passes for another 102 yards. The Garretts combined for 510 of the Tigers' 607 yards in total offense last week.

Garrett does have other receivers to throw to, even though the tandem of older brother John Garrett and Jeff Baker have graduated.

Tight end Mark Rockefeller has snagged 26 passes for 296 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Dave Wix (13 receptions, 194 yards) is coming off the best game of his career. Last week against the Bison, Wix snagged five passes for 81 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown pass.

Scott Gibbs (11 receptions, 134 yards) has proven to be a valuable possession receiver on the other side of Wix.

Garrett will be tossing the pigskin into a Harvard secondary which was burned for an 84-yard touchdown by Dartmouth receiver Craig Morton and three other touchdown passes last week.

Harvard quarterback Tom Yohe should look to have a good day. Yohe, who has passed for 1292 yards this season, faces a defense which yields 25 points a game.

The Tigers would be bolstered by the return of linebacker Franco Pagnanelli, who has missed the last two weeks with a hamstring injury. He was the team's leading tackler when he was injured.

The sack machine, defensive tackle Rick Emery, leads the team with five sacks. He had 11 last year as a sophomore.

These are two squads each with something to prove. The Tigers are still licking their wounds since losing to the Lions, and Harvard has a chance to redeem itself on national television after being crushed by Dartmouth, 38-7, before the same audience.

If Harvard loses, any hopes for a share in a second consecutive Ivy title will be gone.

Only the hopes of winning The Game will remain.