Yovicsin Praises Crimson Defense After Easy Win

There really wasn't much for Coach John Yovicsin to say at the press conference following Saturday's 51-0 rout of Lafayette. Nor was there much of anything for anyone to ask him.

He was, of course, "very pleased" with the whole team's performance, but he continually qualified his praise with statements like, "Yes, we did beat Lafayette; I don't know what that means."

He reserved the highest praise for his hard-hitting defense. "They got us the ball (on ten Lafayette fumbles and three Harvard pass interceptions)," he said, "and they were aggressive, tough and gave great coverage on punts."

Yovy added that he had been most worried about getting down under punts, because of the new collegiate rule which requires linemen to stay at the line of scrimmage until the ball is kicked. In the past they could break down field with the snap of the ball.

Tall and Dignified

As Yovicsin sat tall and dignified in the Dillon Field House Lounge, the picture of the good winner, defeated Lafayette coach Bruce Gamble sat slightly slumped in his chair, a deep frown creasing his face.

"This Harvard team is every bit as good as last year's," Gamble said, each word something of a trial for this man in his first year at the Lafayette helm. "The middle guard, (Stan Greenidge) is as good as anyone in the business. The only thing that surprised me was Zimmerman. I thought he could have done a little better, especially in the early going."

Although Yovicsin did concentrate most of his plaudits on his "consistent" defense, he also had something to say for several of the offensive standouts.

Foremost, naturally, was Vic Gatto. Everyone agreed he was great and that was that. "Gary Strandemo's going to do something for us," the coach remarked. "He's different from Choquette (Tom, his predecessor at fullback); he doesn't knock'em down, but he runs to daylight well and has good hands."