Throp, South Win Semis; Will Meet in Grid Finals

You'd think it was the Super Bowl the way these guys go at it. But to House tackle football players, it's no laughing matter. They take their sport as seriously as Joe Restic and the Harvard varsity do.

In yesterday's contests, Winthrop and South Houses romped to victories, earning the opportunity to meet in the championship game Tuesday at the stadium.

Settle Down

Although Dunster Mather jumped out to an early lead against defending champ Winthrop, it was all Winthrop from the second quarter on, as Captain Tim Bechtold led his team to a 22-18 win.

Bechtold was more pleased with his squad's victory than with their performance. "At the beginning of the game, we were bathing in overconfidence, and they surprised us," he said. "But we settled down." He was confident that his forces would be ready for the showdown with South.

Meanwhile, South halfback and Captain Andy Stoebner scored two touchdowns to lead his troops to a come-from-behind, 22-12 triumph over neighboring Currier House.

Currier took a 12-0 lead early on, and South-which is really a combined South-North team-had to play catch-up. "We were successful because we were able to control the ball and keep it away from their big players," Stoebner said.

Winthrop and South have met once already this year, and the River House came away a 20-6 victor. Bechtold is looking for a repeat performance. "We know how to deal with South House," he said.

But SoHo quarterback Todd Truesdale isn't sure his team will be such a push-over this time around. "Last time we played them, it was my first game ever at quarterback and I panicked. I was releasing the ball in about one-and-a-half seconds. It was my fault we lost," the North House resident said.

Stoebner anticipates a tough game in which the squads will grind out the yardage. "Both teams have some really good football players," he said.

The quality of House tackle football may not be up to that of tomorrow's Harvard-Penn conflict, but nobody can accuse the House teams of not having their hearts in it.