Big Green Teams

Victories by Spirited Eleven, Sparked by Talented Backfield Aces, Distinguish '43 Season

A DARTMOUTH football team which was unimpressed by the tales of the - feats and potentialties of Johnny Grigas and his band of Crusaders opened its 1942 season with a decisive 16-7 win over Holy Cross. By mid-season the Big Green had swamped an outclassed Miami eleven, succumbed to Colgate after a great battle, and avenged last year's setback by Harvard.

While 22,000 strongly partisan spectators watched, an untried Dartmouth line stopped three Holy Cross marches and a veteran Big Green backfield made the most of its opportunities. The two chief factors in the triumph at Fitton Field on Sept. 26 were, first, the fine set of defensive formations with which the Indians were equipped, and secondly the low flying punts of the Crusaders' Johnny Bezemis. Defensively Dartmouth kept Holy Cross's running attack in check all afternoon, climaxed by a brilliant goal line stand in the fourth period. Offensively Ray Wolfe and Meryll Frost set up all three of the Green's scoring opportunities with spectacular runbacks of Holy Cross punts.

Just before the first period ended the senior halfback tucked one of Bezemis's boots under his arm and raced from the mid-field stripe to the Crusaders' 26 yard line. On the second play of the second quarter Frost swept his own right end for the first Dartmouth touchdown.

The fact that Holy Cross returned the second half kickoff to the Dartmouth 49 and scored on two pass plays did not stop the Big Green. Later in the third period Wolfe took another Holy Cross punt on his own 46 and aided by some o£ the finest blocking of the game went all the way to the opponent's 8. He later tallied from the six-yard line.

The final Dartmouth points came after another spectacular punt return—this time by Frost from his own 44 to the Holy Cross 4. The Crusaders held, but on the fourth down Captain Bud Kast booted his first field goal of the year. No small factors in the Dartmouth win were the punts of Tommy Douglas and Meryll Frost and the defensive play of guard Maurice Dampier and fullback Douglas in the early and crucial moments of the game.

The Big Green's first home game a week later was little more than a test of the squad's reserve strength. Miami was hopelessly outclassed from the opening whistle, and the chief thrills of the day were provided by Ray Wolfe and freshman backs Larry Bartnick and Jack Sayers. Wolfe scored one of the Indians' nine touchdowns on a reverse which went for 70 yards. On the first play of his college career Bartnick reached pay dirt with a 35-yard run of the hipper-dipper type. Unfortunately for him the score was called back because of a holding penalty, but several plays later this promising freshman tossed a 22-yard pass to Gunnard Reynolds in the end zone.

Dartmouth's final tally was made by sophomore Charlie Holt after yearling Jack Sayers had pushed from the Green's 36 to Miami's 6. Final score: Dartmouth 58, Miami 7.

Against Colgate the Big Green shoved the Red Raiders all over Memorial Field for most of the second half, but unfortu- nately the visitors had crossed Dartmouth's goal line four times before the Indians really began to move. Early in the first period the Maroon scored when A 1 Hanover climaxed a march by tossing a 20 yard pass to Jules Yakapovich in the end zone.

Dartmouth came right back after receiving the kickoff to drive 65 yards to the Colgate 26, from which point Wolfe uncorked a touchdown toss to Jack Monahan deep in the end zone. The visitors from Hamilton added another tally to lead at half time 136. After intermission the Kerr eleven really put the game away by intercepting a Dartmouth pass deep in the Green's own terri- tory and staging a 78-yard march of its own.

For the rest of the second half the Big Green hammered away and when the game ended had narrowed a three touchdown margin down to one. Tommy Douglas sprinted 24 yards off tackle for the second Dartmouth touchdown, and sparked by Meryll Frost the Indians later moved from their own 31 to the Maroon 15. The drive was stalled momentarily, but a Colgate fumble gave Dartmouth a second chance and Wolfe finally went over from the one- foot line. Kast's conversion was blocked eliminating any possibility of a tie and the game ended five minutes later, 27-19. So badly were the Red Raiders outplayed during the second half that it was difficult to say that Colgate was the better team.

Harvard and Colgate scouts had evidently been so impressed by the manner in which Dartmouth's fast backs had swept the Holy Cross and Miami ends that both Andy Kerr and Dick Harlow had equipped their respective elevens with a type of defense designed to prevent any repetition of this in their own games with the Green. By doing so, both Colgate and Harvard had weakened their tackles and it was this weakness which Dartmouth finally exploited for most of its yardage.

Neither Harvard nor Dartmouth were impressive during the first half. The Crimson unexpectedly employed a seven-man line for most of the game, and it was not until the second half that the Big Green discovered the tackle weakness. Harvard failed to stage a real touchdown march of its own during the first thirty minutes when it had the initiative. Ray Wolfe intercepted a 20-yard pass deep in his own territory, and several plays later Tommy Douglas was caught in his Harvard end zone for the only Crimson points of the game.

Trailing 2-0 the Green took a bad Harvard kickoff in the second half and returned the ball to the Crimson's, own 49. This was the first time that the Indians had been in Harvard territory, but sparked by reservists George Pulliam at fullback and freshman Larry Bartnick at halfback the Green went down the field unchecked. Seemingly stopped at the Crimson's 10 on fourth down, Dartmouth scored on a pass from Bartnick to Joe Crowley deep in the end zone. Kast's placement was good and the Big Green led 7-2.

Dartmouth needed another score to really put the game out of reach of the Crimson and in the final period the opportunity came. Monahan recovered a Harvard fumble on the Crimson's 26 and Douglas and Wolfe collaborated for the touchdown. Captain Kast once again made the conversion and the final count was Dartmouth 14, Harvard 2.

After the Harvard game it was clear that Coach Tuss McLaughry had developed two great backfields—one of Captain Bud Kast, Ray Wolfe, Tom Douglas, and Jack Burroughs, and the second of Larry Bartnick, Meryll Frost, George Pulliam, and. Art Carey. Freshmen Carl McKinnon at guard and Hal Bowman at center proved against the Crimson that they were ready for college football. The Green still lacked reserve strength in the line, but barring injuries the Indians seemed destined to add a few more scalps before the season ended.

On other fronts, Coach Harry Hillman's cross country team, defending Ivy League champions, opened its season with a smashing victory over Colgate on Oct. xo. Dartmouth took the first nine places including five firsts to win 15-55. Those who crossed the finish line at the same time were Don Burnham, Paul Hanlon, Stan Waterman, Chuck Richardson, and John Watkins while the other Dartmouth men among the first nine were Bob Williams and Dick Whiting, tied for sixth, and Dick Tracy and Philip Gray, eighth and ninth respectively.

Rebounding from a 5-0 loss to Amherst on Oct. 2, the soccer team trounced Mass. State 4-1 the following week. Howie Price, shifted from inside to outside left for this contest, teed off successfully twice to lead in the scoring. Sparked by veteran right fullback Fritz Witzel the Green's defense broke up most of the opponent's scoring threats considerably short of pay dirt.

Jim Pert, sidelined during the Amherst game with an infected foot, accounted for the third goal against Mass. State and Warren Gillespie booted the ball into the net for the fourth.

Led by Warner Wilcox, who compiled the best Dartmouth score, the sailing team finished third in the Jack Wood Trophy dinghy race held on the Charles on Oct. 18. Harvard was first, M.I.T. second, and Brown fourth.

Wall scaling and obstacle racing in the military manner are offered on the recreational program this fall. Thiscourse in Military Physical Training is under the direction of Harry Hillman, track coach.

VITAL GAIN IN GREEN TOUCHDOWN MARCH Tommy Douglas (32) spins through the Holy Cross line and secondary for a y-yard gainjust before Frost scored Dartmouth's first touchdown. The Green fullback carried to the20 before he was downed by Grigas (extreme right).

MERYLL FROST GOES TEARING BY The Big Green's tow-headed speedster off for a long gain around the Miami flank in thefirst quarter of the opening game at Hanover.