FOOTBALL

Despite the uncertainty over the country, Dartmouth has been successful in maintaining a regular football team this year, and despite the action of her "sister institutions" for informal football teams, Dartmouth has put a team in the field this season that has satisfied every undergraduate that has seen it in action.

It might be well to mention that Coach Spears had as a nucleus for his team when he began work only two "D" men from the 1916 season and two who had won their letter the year before. Of these four, McDonough, Holbrook and Youngstrom were awaiting call during the whole season, the first two having enlisted in aviation and the last in the Naval Reserve. The fourth "D" man, Neely, was barred from enlistment for physical reasons. Except for these men, every man who won his letter in the 1916 season was in government service. Dusossoit, who would have been captain, was in France, and Cannell, who was counted upon for quarter, was in the Naval Reserve.

Coach Spears did an admirable piece of work in building a machine that could win the games that it has. The Penn State game was probably the hardest home game ever seen in Hanover, but in the last two minutes of play Phillips kicked a goal from placement that gave Dartmouth a winning .score. Then the Green team and its supporters went to Boston and staged the greatest come-back fight that the staid old city had seen for some time. The umpire awarded Pennsylvania the ball on Dartmouth's five-yard line, ruling that Phillips had interfered with Miller who was about to catch a forward pass. In four downs the Red and Blue pushed the ball for a touchdown but only after the hardest fight. In the last five minutes of play Captain McDonough opened up a startling forward pass attack that carried the ball from Dartmouth's 32-yard line almost to the Penn goal. It was only the final whistle that broke up the Green's advance.

The defeat by Tufts at Manchester on November 17 was the biggest surprise of the season. A great part of Tufts' strength can be ascribed to the unexpectedness of its attack. After carrying the ball to the three-yard line, Dartmouth lost it on a fumble and the Medford eleven started a style of game for which the Green was totally unprepared. Before the game was over four touchdowns were chalked up for Tufts, in the first victory that it has ever achieved over any Green team.