Calm and restrained, Buckley then led a 12-play, 80 yd. 5:15 drive that brought Harvard to within a touchdown. He ran eight straight running plays--three to Jim Acheson (Connors' replacement), two to Tom Beatrice and two to Jim Callinan--methodically moving the Crimson to the Penn 35. A screen pass to Acheson picked up 17 more and with 1:51 left in this cathartic quarter. Buckley hit Callinan in the right-hand corner of the endzone for a 13-yd. scoring strike.
Bedraggled Ball
The Crimson defense--playing its most bedraggled ball of the season--allowed a 29 yd. Penn field goal on the Quakers' next drive. Now down 17-7, Buckley took the gridders 76 yds. again in 12 plays. Callinan ran the ball three times for a total of 25 yds. on the march, Beatrice five times for 27. Connors put it over from the five with 4:23 to go in the half, and Harvard was down, 17-14.
After a Penn punt the Crimson took over at its own 33 with exactly two minutes to go and proceeded to engage in one of the most peculiar drives of this or any other season. First, Acheson went 53 yards off tackle, only to have the run called back for illegal procedure. But Buckley worked the clock like a master and moved his team and a nine-yd. pass to Beatrice moving Harvard to the Penn three with 32 seconds to go in the half.
There will be a Test
Now, follow closely: one second and ten from the three, Buckley went back to pass and couldn't find a receiver open; he scrambled around behind the line until he was trapped by a pair of Penn linemen. He threw the ball away in what seemed like a text-book case of intentional grounding. But the refs ruled that he was down before he threw the ball, and the clock was still running.
A Good Demon
So Buckley quickly assembled his team and threw a quick pass over Beatrice's head in the end zone to stop the clock. But Penn defensive back Tony Liberatore, possessed by some strange demon, interfered with Beatrice and Harvard got the ball at the Penn one-yd. line with five seconds to go.
Restic elected to try for the touchdown and Beatrice got it--barely. The Crimson had pulled into the lead, 21-17, demoralized the Quaker team and survived its worst few minutes of the season.
The second half seemed to evaporate into desultory football. Neither team put together much offense; it seemed to move crosstown to the Vet, where Penn State came from behind to obliterate Temple. Buckley's 41-yd. touchdown strike to Chuck Marshall with 6:52 remaining in the game put Harvard comfortably ahead, 28-17.
Buckley's winner to Marshall highlighted what was far from the senior signal-caller's best performance. Much like last week against William and Mary, Buckley worked the two-minute drill to perfection, but followed his five-interception effort last week with three more this Saturday.
But Callinan, who trails Beatrice by only 24 yds. for the team rushing lead (Beatrice has 431), continued his emergence as one of the Ivy League's preeminent backs. The junior seems to come up with three yds. no matter what the situation. And the injuryprone Callinan will be healthy for The Game next week--the occasion of his two touchdown, MVP performance last year.
THE NOTEBOOK: One person disappointed by Dartmouth's come-from-behind 28-24 knock-out blow against Brown was Harvard sophomore halfback and kick return specialist Scott McCabe. His brother Jon is a senior offensive tackle for the Bruins and a co-championship in the family looked mighty fine... Harvard seniors got a little deja vu after Penn's opening two scores. Two years ago, the Quakers went up 13-0 in the first quarter before Harvard came on to win 17-13... Two-hundred-fifty pound linemen don't scare them, but Callinan and center John Francis hate airplanes and suffered during the flight home.