Football Team to Battle at Ithaca; First Ivy Clash May Be Difficult

Cornell is different; it is a special case. Unlike its Ivy brethren, the Ithaca school openly proclaims its co-educational status.

There are other strange things about Cornell. Its band marches in straight columns and drills with precision. And they are big on canoes at Lake Cayuga.

Then there is the Big Red football team. This is perhaps the most unusual feature of all. Cornell uses a lonely end offense, for instance, when can be extremely hard to defense and confusing to all concerned.

Futhermore, no matter how good or bad Cornell is, it always puts up a good fight against Harvard Part of this is because of the schedule Harvard plays Cornell in its second game and is hardly ever ready to think seriously about football at that early juncture. Another reason may be that Cornell takes special pleasure in bothering the Crimson. A third point is that Harvard frankly worries perhaps more than the Big Red deserves.

Whatever the reason, Cornell is usually tough and especially so at Ithaca. Two years ago Harvard, then a unanimous pick for the Ivy Crown flew into Itbaca and wasn't allowed to leave before losing a 12-0 game. Last year Cornell gayly embarked for a Cambridge weekend, and ended it with losing the game (much to everyone's surprise, including coach John Yovicsin) and most of its backheld. The Big Red never recovered.

It is hard to say what will happen today. Tom Harp's boys have a year's experience with the lonely end maneuvers and should avoid the kind of mistakes they made the first time around. The personnel is pretty good--not championship stuff--but good enough to beat teams like Colgate, for instance.

Cleaned by Colgate

But that is the funny thing about Cornell--it didn't beat Colgate last week. In fact, Cornell was soundly trounced. Harvard scouts at the game say the Ithacans probably underrated the power of the Red Raiders and gave warnings that they may cause troubles later on.

Chief troublemaker is quarterback Gary Wood. A sharp passer and a more than adequate runner. Wood is the best player on the team and may be the best signal caller in the Ivies. His main difficulty right now is finding suitable receivers for his missiles, as three of his 11 passes last week were dropped.

Another man who will bother Harvard today is center Tony Turel, who holds together the Big Red's unbalanced line. Tackle is well equipped with four brawny bettermen, and another foursome of monogram winners check in at guard. Sophomore John Engle is the lonely end and his inexperience may hurt Cornell today.

Bryan Westfield, another sophomore, may prove to be very helpful however. Besides Wood, he is the only man of distinction in the backfield.

Cornell Boasts Kicker

And then there is Pete Gogolak, the well-publicized place kicker. Big Pete didn't do so well at Harvard last year and the experience seemed to bother him all season. This fall, however, Cornell assures all that his toe is well-adjusted, and the Big Red may go for some field goals if the touchdown appears too difficult a task.

The Crimson will be represented by basically the same outfit that pinned Lehigh. The only major difference is at halfback.

Actually, that is a major difference indeed, as both Scott Harshbarger and Hoble Armstrong are out of uniform. Harshbarger picked up a knee injury in the Lehigh game and spent most of the week in the infirmary. Armstrong aggravated an old thigh ailment last week and Hobel is still hobbling.

These injuries have resulted in a surprise shake-up in the backfield. Usually reliable sources indicate that Yovicsin has been working All-Ivy fullback Bill Grana in the left halfback slot in secret sessions. If this is the case, Fred Bartl, who was encouraging in the Lehigh encounter, will start at fullback.

Mike Bassett will be in charge of field operations and probably will experiment with some more passing. His Lehigh performance was heartening, and Yovicsin would like to see even more pass attempts. Bill Taylor, naturally.

Without question Harvard has a better team. This does not mean it will win. It should, though, by two touchdowns.