Weakness in the Line
One thing was brought out forcibly, and that was the fact that the Dartmouth line of 1931 was not up to par. You take fellows like Paul Crehan and Gay Bromberg, as well as Capt. Harold Andres out of the line by graduation, and that is a serious loss. So despite the fact of the one sidedness of the opening games, the Green showed a forward wall not up to the usual standard, and the contest with Holy Cross for the third game loomed as a real threat to Dartmouth supremacy and we viewed the week-end with trepidation.
On Friday I talked with Jack Cannell after the boys had finished the last practise and naturally I wanted his ideas on the game. "I should say that it will be a pretty close squeeze" said Jack, "one of those one touchdown games; possibly a 14-7 affair." Here's congratulations to Jack; he is the best prognosticator of the crowd.
If you were one of the 12,000 crowd that saw the game and you were not in your seat for the opening kickoff, why you missed half the game.
For Wild Bill McCall took Griffin's kickoff on his own twelve-yard line and started up the field. It might have been a routine runback for a few yards if somebody other than Wild Bill had caught the ball, but in this case the Muskegon boy was going places. The psychological edge was there; Holy Gross was a much feared team, and this fact spurred McCall on. With a heart of steel and flying feet he picked the sideline route and then swung into the open. One by one the Holy Cross men fell by the wayside until only Cavalieri was behind, and with a last flying lunge the Holy Cross end dumped McCall on the Purple three-yard line.
Well, there was the situation. We thought of the fine Temple team which had once come to Hanover and wondered if this were the beginning of a rout. Will Morton had charged over for the touchdown and kicked the goal and the people who arrived late saw only the 7-0 score on the board.
On the next exchange of punts Dartmouth started another march with McCall and Frigard as the chief threats.
From the Dartmouth eighteen to the Holy Cross thirty-two the caravan rolled along, and then the attack terminated with the startling suddenness that one will encounter in major games. Murray intercepted one of Will Morton's passes and Holy Cross took the offensive.
