Yardling Victory Streak Ends; Green Gridders Triumph, 21-12

The last time it happened was October 12, 1979, in the Holy Cross game. Yesterday, it happened again. The freshman football team fell to Dartmouth, 21-12. The loss snapped a ten-game winning streak.

Turnovers dominated play, seeming to occur every few plays. To start things off, Harvard received the opening kickoff but ended up punting from the 40-yard line. Big Green quarterback Mike Caraviello then threw two incomplete passes, and Dartmouth had to punt from its own 40-yard line.

Harvard punted back, and then Dartmouth punted back to the Crimson. Dartmouth found itself in scoring position late in the first quarter, but Emmet Walsh and Brent Clapacs recovered a loose ball for the Crimson. On the next play, Dartmouth got the ball back on a Harvard fumble.

The combination of quarterback Anthony DiCesare and running back Mark Vignali nearly gave Harvard a touchdown in the second quarter. With the offensive line providing some big holes, DiCesare, Vignali and fullback Brian Cooke moved the ball from Harvard's own one-yd, line into field goal position, but the attempt was blocked. Dartmouth scored on its next possession, to make the score 6-0.

The back-and-forth game continued--with the two squads racking up turnovers--until Dartmouth scored early in the second half. Defensive blocking from Barry Ford and Steve Anderson nearly prevented the touchdown, but Dartmouth's Steven El-Masry broke through the Crimson line for six, with Rich Weissman running the ball in for a two-point conversion.

Party Efforts

Though behing 14-0, Harvard hardly rolled over and played dead. Eric Fee, replacing DiCesare as the Crimson's quarterback, passed 35 yards to split end Thomas Andre for Harvard's first score early in the fourth quarter. Minutes later, Fee handed off to Brian Cooke at the six and watched him cross the goal line for the second Crimson touchdown. A second missed conversion made the score 14-12.

With about six-and-a-half minutes left to play, Dartmouth retaliated. Lorenzo Chambers eluded the Harvard defense and scored the final points of the game with a broken-field touchdown run of more than 40 yards. Vignali and running back Gregory Dunn brought the Crimson into a first and goal position in the final minutes, but a Dartmouth pass interception with time running out ended its efforts and the up-and-down game.