FOOTBALL—ON INCOMPLETE EVIDENCE

To write a report of the Dartmouth football season without mentioning the result of the Princeton game is exactly the same as describing the rehearsals of the Dramatic Association, without devoting any space to a review of the performance. By the time the MAGAZINE will reach its subscribers, however, the climax of the football season will be over and the result known; now it is only possible to outline possible outcomes.

Dartmouth opened her season with the customary game with Massachusetts Agricultural College. Coming to Hanover with an unusually strong team, which later held Harvard to a 7-0 score, the Amherst eleven gave the Green the small satisfaction of a 13-0 win. The Dartmouth team, in spite of the victory, displayed a deplorable weakness in practically every department of the game, the ends and backfield proving especially weak. The quarterback problem, which had been long since realized in Hanover at the graduation of Ghee and Cumisky last June, showed no signs of solution in the various men tried in the game. Dartmouth scored her two touchdowns in the opening periods, and was able merely to hold the down-state men in the final quarters, when the visitors resorted to the open game.

Maine came to Hanover for the second game of the season after a lapse of eight years, and was overwhelmed by the Green, 34-0. Profiting by the mistakes of the preceding Saturday, the Dartmouth eleven displayed real teamwork, while the defense "kept the Green goal-line well-protected at all times. Carolan, a member of last year's freshman team, showed signs of promise, gaining the most ground of any of the Dartmouth backs. Dartmouth's superiority was especially noticeable in the second half, when the Blue defense appeared to crumple, enabling the Green to penetrate the line almost at will.

Tufts threw a scare into the Green ranks in the most interesting early-season game, holding Dartmouth to a 20-7 count. The Medford boys, smarting under the 68-0 defeat of last year, were primed for the game, with a series of shift formations which bewildered the Dartmouth defense at times. Dartmouth scores were due to a combination of good luck and flashes of late-season strength. In the backfield, Gerrish, Thielscher and Duhamel made frequent gains, and McDonough at quarter displayed good judgment in the open-field and in defense. The lack of a pair of good ends was plainly visible, with eight of the nine forward passes in the game going astray.

Vermont proved the easiest opponent of the early season, falling before the Green steam-roller 60-0. The up-state men brought a lighter team to Hanover than was expected, and only one of the aggregation, Dolphin, was able to pierce the Green offense and defense. The most sensational feature of the game was the work of Worthington at quarter. The star broad-jumper was put into the game in the last half, and repeatedly startled the stands with his open-field running, one sprint of 85 yards for a touchdown being especially spectacular.

The Green team goes to Princeton with a strong defensive line, made up from tackle to tackle of letter men. The problem will be the ends and quarterback, positions which have not apparently been satisfactorily filled so far this year. Before the game, the odds appear to give Princeton the advantage, but the big Green fighting spirit may be enough to put a crimp in the Tiger's championship hopes.