PENNSYLVANIA 32, DARTMOUTH 0
The next week the roof fell in. After a period of feverish preparation, both the team and the undergraduates believed that they had a fighting chance to pull one of the major upsets of the year. Even one of the national football radio pundits caught the Green victory fever and predicted a Dartmouth win by a narrow margin. And on a sunny Memorial Field, it looked for three quarters as though a hard-fighting Dartmouth team might actually do the impossible and hold a power-laden Penn team to a single touchdown victory—or even (such was the electric atmosphere for part of the game) beat them 7-6. But such a happy ending just wasn't in the cards. Penn was too big and too fast and too good. In the last quarter—to vary the metaphor—the dike broke. The Red and Blue scored four touchdowns in ten minutes through a wilting Dartmouth team that had fought its heart out and just didn't have it any more.
True to its accustomed generosity, Dartmouth presented the opposition with an initial touchdown in the opening minutes of the game. Perhaps "presented" isn't quite the word, for Penn just waded in and took it, gobbling up great hunks of yardage the first time they had the ball. On the first play from scrimmage, a fake pass by one of the many talented Penn backs was good for 17 yards and a first down. Several more ten-yard plunges through the center of an under-manned Green line, varied by a jump pass from the spectacular Skippy Minisi of Penn, was good for the first touchdown. The Penn runner went over for the first TD standing up from the 15 yard line. Shades of the Holy Cross goalline defense did no appreciable good in these early moments. It looked at that point as though Penn could score any time they pleased and that the game would turn into a dismal rout.
But such gloomy predictions reckoned without the undeniable courage of this Dartmouth team. For the rest of the first half, they staved off several devastating Penn attacks, recovering a couple of fumbles in crucial moments and getting better all the time. In the third period, Dartmouth waded in and beat Penn's brains out, moving to four consecutive first downs and penetrating to the 16 yard line and the 26 yard line on two separate occasions. During this delirious interlude, Coach McLaughry's charges also threw the big Penn backs time and again for losses and generally behaved as though they would pull this one out of the fire. Dale Armstrong at end and Jack Young at guard showed to particular advantage during these heady happenings, with Penn pinned back on their heels in highly gratifying fashion.
The fourth quarter opened with the score still 6-0 and with anything liable to happen. It did. Came the deluge. The latent power of the tremendous Penn line and the even more impressive array of large, fast, hard-driving backs began to tell upon a gallant but exhausted Green contingent. The Red and Blue moved for one, two, and three touchdowns as the crowd looked glumly on. The Dartmouth quarterback Joe Sullivan was finally removed after playing his heart out and sophomore Bill Dey inserted in his place. The first move of the latter was to toss a pass squarely into the capacious hands of a Penn end, who quickly marshalled a covey of blockers and romped for the fourth touchdown of that quarter (and the fifth of the game) without a hand being laid on him. That was the end of the game and the nadir of the fortunes of a Dartmouth team that deserved something better in the way of a score than 32-0.
For the second Saturday in a row, the offensive activities of the Green were largely confined to the two fullbacks, Carey and O'Brien. These two sturdy characters spent most of the afternoon spelling one another in the center of the backfield, where their plunges and slants produced most of the Dartmouth yardage. The array of scatbacks at the disposal of the coaching staff at the halfback posts were utterly incapable of authentic action against the combination of size and alertness of the Penn team, Pensavalle was handicapped by a bad shoulder which made it impossible to pass, and Tracy, Perry, Chapman, and Williams were hurled back again and again by the opposing line. Sophomore Hal Fitkin at halfback showed flashes of brilliance, but his best efforts were outshone by the tremendous driving power of his opposite numbers on the Penn team. Carey and O'Brien gave all they had and their 200 pounds apiece were sometimes authoritative enough to penetrate the 250 pound Penn tackles. But these efforts were not enough.
The overwhelming impression on the part of such interested amateurs as your correspondent and of equally interested professionals was that Dartmouth wasn't that bad. In other words, the five touchdown margin did not indicate the game the Green put up and the excitement of the contest for approximately 50 out of the 60 minutes. Most of the Dartmouth offensive strength was expended during the third period, when the Green ran up four of its total of five first downs (as against 15 for Penn) and most of its 106 yards gained by rushing (as against 308 for Penn). For the greater part of the first half and the entire third quarter, Dartmouth was definitely in the ball game. This is not to deny the undeniable power of a terrific Penn team which, in size and depth, surpassed anything the Green will encounter this year. But this was one game when the score fell far short of giving a true picture of the actual happenings. Dartmouth was soundly defeated, but not routed.
DARTMOUTH ON THE GO AGAINST HOLY CROSS: Left, Conrad Pensavelle (44) carries the ball., while Guard Ray Truncellito (69) and Quarterback Joe Sullivan (20) watch hopefully. Right, Dick O'Leary (12) slants around the Crusaders for a gain in the scoreless tie at Worcester. Looking on is Tackle Carl Ward (77).
DARTMOUTH'S DEEPEST PENETRATION INTO PENN TERRITORY came in the third period when the Big Green advanced to the 15-yard line. It ended there, however, as shown in the above play in which Sponaugle (74), Quaker end, stopped Herb Carey (33), Green fullback, for no gain on a play through tackle.
ONE OF DARTMOUTH'S BEST GAINS in the third-quarter uprising against Penn was this end sweep by Herb Carey (33) who made a first down. George Schreck (51) and Jud Hannigan (76) were in on the play.
