FOOTBALL
Dartmouth's long winning streak which began immediately after the Cornell defeat in 1923 has at last been broken, and the tension which game by game had been growing more severe in the minds of undergraduates and alumni has been eased. Disappointment at the failure of this year's eleven to defeat Yale is mingled with a feeling of relief now that the strain is over. The operation we hope was successful. We are grateful that it proved not too painful, and we admire the surgeons who performed it.
That Dartmouth football was in an unhealthy state head coach Jesse Hawley and his entire staff of assistants realized. Undergraduates and alumni did not realize this and the lack of such realization but aggravated the ailment. Reports to the contrary notwithstanding football material has been scarce in Hanover this year. While there were available good men for every backfield position, men who could be relied upon to replace Parker, Diehl, Tully, Sage, and Smith in the line were not at hand. As though the difficulty of replacing such men were not sufficient the coaches were further hindered by an unusually large number of injuries to the candidates who were deemed most valuable. Langdell, Fusonie, Holleran, and Picken, leading aspirants for positions at end and tackle represented a collection of bruises and sprains which weakened the team in vital spots.
But despite these discouragements Dartmouth supporters refused to see anywhere along the football horizon the possibility of a defeat. Then at New Haven, Oct. 16, a strong Yale team took the measure of the Green and proved to an assembled multitude of 58,000 persons that the Dartmouth team of 1926 was not the unbeatable outfit that unthinking people had believed it to be. The affair was not pleasant, but it should prove to have been beneficial. That's that!
Dartmouth 59—Norwich 0
In the customary opening of the season game with Norwich Dartmouth trounced the Vermont cadets exacty as badly as in the similar encounter last year. The Green's heavy advantage in numbers, power, and skill were more than the Norwich team could expect to cope with successfully, and Lane, MacPhail, McAvoy and Picken carried the ball over the soldiers' line for nine touchdowns, Dooley and Fowler accounting for five extra points on tries for goal.
Dartmouth showed very little of the passing attack which gained ground and renown last year, using mostly straight line rushes and off tackle plays. Ten passes were attempted of which six were completed and one intercepted. Two passes went wide of their marks and one other was knocked down by a Norwich player. Though the playing of the Dartmouth team was, as usual in an opening game, ragged and unpolished, there was little of the fumbling most often characteristic of early season contests.
Dartmouth 50—Hobart 0
Hobart, the New York State College which sent a well-drilled and aggressive team to Hanover last year was unable this season to present as formidable a group and Dartmouth amassed another 50 points with which to gorge the optimists. Lane, MacPhail, and the other Dartmouth ball carriers again exhibited their prowess before a Hanover audience, and quarterback Dooley displayed his versatility by dropkicking a goal which added three more points to the Green total.
Dartmouth's was a smoother running organization on this day than on the previous Saturday and again showed no disposition to handle the ball carelessly. There was more of forward passing than in the Norwich game of a week previous and Dartmouth men scampered many yards after receiving the ball from the air. But there were numerous indications that Captain Horton's men were far from the point which the famous 1925 team had reached when it met Hobart.
Dartmouth 21—V. P. I. 0
Virginia Polytechnic Institute sent to Hanover a strong and powerful and well-coached team which gave Dartmouth sturdy opposition and afforded grandstand pessimists an abundance of food for gloomy thoughts. Though the Virginians displayed no great offensive power against the Green they proved themselves able to gain through the Dartmouth line and around the Dartmouth ends and in addition successfully smothered the Dartmouth forward passing attack.
The Virginians held Dartmouth scoreless throughout the first and third periods of this encounter and gave such stubborn resistance that only five substitutions were made in the Dartmouth lineup during the entire contest.
Lane and MacPhail scored for Dartmouth in the second period and Dooley kicked both points after touchdown. In the final period of the game McAvoy, who substituted for Lane, chossed the V. P. I. goal line for the third Dartmouth touchdown and Dooley again added the extra point.
Yale 14—Dartmouth 7
Whether or not Yale's victory over Dartmouth in the celebrated Bowl, Oct. 16, was the direct result of interference with the Dartmouth receiver of a forward pass there was no doubt in the mind of the onlooker as to which institution presented on that day the better team or as to whose brow the wreath of victory rightfully belonged. With the exception of a half of the second period during which the Dartmouth attack, functioning properly for the only time that afternoon, carried the ball 76 yards down the Bowl turf, the New Haven team outplayed the Green eleven at almost every point and in almost every department of the game. And as a matter of sober fact Yale won with plenty of margin to spare, having unluckily lost several more opportunities to score than those of which she took advantage.
Dartmouth registered the first score of the day in the second quarter after a 76 yard march down the Yale field. Not a single Dartmouth pass was thrown during this advance. Lane and MacPhail generalled by quarterback Dooley cut through the line with machine-like precision, using, for the most part, reverse plays which netted large gains. MacPhail scored a gain of 17 yards in one attempt and Lane netted gains of 12 and 25 yards. With the ball in play within scoring distance of the Yale goal line, Black '29, a fullback whose playing will be a delight to Dartmouth followers, replaced Captain Horton and was sent plunging to a touchdown.
Yale drew up on even terms with Dartmouth in the third period. A forward pass from Kline to Bunnell gained 30 yards and placed the ball on Dartmouth's 26-yard line. Noble then gained 12 yards through the Green defense and two more stabs at the Dartmouth linemen advanced the ball to within 8 yards of the Hanover goal. From this point another forward pass, Noble to Kline, scored for Yale.
With the score deadlocked both teams attempted field goals in the final period, but neither attempt was successful. Then with but six or seven minutes of play remaining came the turning point which' spelled defeat for Dartmouth. A pass from Dooley to MacAvoy was intercepted on Yale's 30-yard line by McGonigle, a Yale substitute, and carried back down the field 47 yards to Dartmouth's 25-yard line. Goodwine, another replacement man, advanced the ball further for Yale. The Dartmouth team was making a determined and 'courageous stand within the shadow of its own goal posts when once more Yale attacked through the air. McGonigle passed to Scott who caught the ball and tumbled over the Green goal line for the final and deciding touchdown.
Throughout the afternoon's play Dartmouth's ineptitude with the forward pass, the weapon so successfully brandished last year, was conspicuous. Yale men crowded and rushed Dooley so that he had little opportunity to pass with accuracy, and Yale men covered Dartmouth receivers so effectively that few of the Green tosses were completed. Dartmouth hurled 13 passes and completed but 3 while Yale, attempting 10 such thrusts completed S. Yale showed a wealth of power and versatility, with a line which tore great gaps in the Green defense, and backs such as Noble, Goodwine, Kline, and Bunnell who took every advantage of such gaps. For Dartmouth Davis, Phillips and Hardy gave excellent accounts of themselves in the line, witlj Horton, Black, Lane, MacPhail and Dooley showing well at almost every opportunity. Dartmouth did withstand several savage (assaults and held the Yale team for downs several times when the Blue was within striking distance of the goal line. The most spectacular play of the day was staged by Bunnell, of Yale, who, picking up a Dooley punt on the Yale goal line took advantage of brilliant interference given by his team-mates and carried the ball 63 yards down the field deep into Dartmouth territory.
It was a grand game!
The 1926 Coaching Staff
