The Harvard Game
The annual colorful crowd which jammed every inch of available space in the Harvard Stadium saw a Dartmouth team, afterwards acclaimed by Grantland Rice as the "greatest on any stadium turf from East to West," just barely manage to hold Harvard to a 1-7 tie at the end of the first half. They then saw one of the most devastating and crushing of steam roller attacks put on which culminated by the second team scoring at the end of the game and Harvard was completely routed by the largest score ever pushed across their goal line by Hanoverians.
The spark plug of this Dartmouth surge was Alton Marsters, "The Special Delivery Kid," who rose to heights which were comparable to his 1927 form by suddenly coming to life at the opening of the second half, scoring two touchdowns and leading his team to an utter rout of the Crimson.
During the intermission between the halves we strolled around the press box shaking our heads and wondering what the outcome would be. Dartmouth, taking the opening kickoff, had careened down the field under the lashing of Marsters and Ed Sutton had gone surely and squarely through center for a score. Then the Dartmouth attack had folded up before Harvard, and the Crimson had forward passed itself to a touchdown which looked as big as a country barn. Dartmouth had stayed in a dormant state for the rest of the half, and the score board read 7-7.
Veteran Dartmouth writers such as Bill Cunningham, Bill Grimes and Charley Parker met in little groups, and sadly shook their heads. They spoke in quiet tones and there was talk about "the avalanche which would follow." The avalanche came, but it was on the unexpected side.
Marsters worked his team down to the three yard line, where Harvard held for downs. Harvard kicked out only 25 yards, and again Dartmouth lined up. This time there was no mistaking their intent. Marsters started for his own left end, cut wide, threw off a few tacklers and raced diagonally across the field to score standing up, and Dartmouth was ahead by a single touchdown. As at Columbia the week before, Marsters was the driving force which raised Dartmouth to a commanding position over a major rival. A few minutes later Giant Gay Bromberg had blocked a Crimson punt, scooped it up and raced 20 yards for the touchdown which started the rout. There was no stopping the Green now, and 52,000 wild eyed rooters saw an inspired team go ahead by scoring two more touchdowns, the first by the irrepress- ible Marsters and the second by Aarne Frigard who caught a pass to tally. The score might have been 40, because burly Henry Johnson ripped through the entire Harvard team in the closing minutes to score a touchdown, but the ball was called back through the technicality that Dartmouth had an extra man on the field who incidentally was in no way connected with the play.
Thus Dartmouth's Green waved over Harvard, and critics were acclaiming A1 Marsters and Dartmouth as the greatest football unit there was to be found. Jackson Cannell had sacrificed forward passes to line play, and his judgment had been upheld by the events of the past two week-ends where there had been no stopping of the Green man power with a touchdown in sight. Players like Shep Wolff and Len Clark had been turned into interfering backs and although they carried the ball very sparingly, they nevertheless were the integral part of Dartmouth's machine. A great end had been uncovered in Stanley Yudickey who teamed in fine fashion with Harold Booma, and the Dartmouth line from tackle to tackle was as rugged as they come.
In that crushing defeat of Harvard, Yale was quite forgotten, but the following Monday Dartmouth prepared itself to evacuate Hanover for the greatest pilgrimage in the history of the College to New Haven. Yale had been upset by Georgia in an early game, but had come back in great fashion against Brown and the Army, mainly through the work of their mighty atom, Albie Booth. Booth had scored five touchdowns in those two games, all that Yale had managed to get, and these five tallies had just managed to turn the tide in each contest. So New Haven and Albie Booth were set to receive Hanover and Alton Marsters, and seven days before the battle anyone could see the epic proportions accruing therefrom. It was the meeting of two fine teams and two All-American stars.
SCENE FROM THE PLAYERS' SUCCESS, "THE ROYAL FAMILY" Dramatic Coach Warren Bentley entertains the crowd for the Cornell game with a play which critics call "the best yet" in Hanover.
