DARTMOUTH 26, COLUMBIA 21

In one of the wildest finishes seen on Memorial Field since the Fifth Down Cornell game of 1940, Dartmouth outlasted a resurgent Columbia team and won by a narrow margin in the gathering darkness of an unseasonably balmy November afternoon. Lacking much of the fervor displayed in the Bowl the previous Saturday, Coach McLaughry's surprising youngsters were clearly not at their peak for this contest against an underdog and ever-dangerous Columbia eleven that had lost its last three games in the final minutes of play. But this time it was the Green that faded during the closing moments, with Columbia scoring two touchdowns in the last quarter and having the clients on their feet until the gun was fired. The game was finally saved but only, to coin a phrase, by the skin of our teeth.

Dartmouth started out as though about to score another such six-touchdown rout as they had plastered on Yale the week before. On the first play from scrimmage, Hal Fitkin swept around his own left end for 40 yards and was only stopped on the Columbia 38. A couple of plays later, the same speedster duplicated the play, this time for a TD and Dartmouth's first six points. Bill Dey missed the conversion, but this looked like a minor matter at the time. The steam shortly went out of the Green attack after that, however, and it was not until the second quarter that they were able to score again, after having staved off a couple of Columbia attacks that took the visitors on one occasion to the Green two-yard line.

The second Dartmouth score came under especially gratifying circumstances, after John Clayton had passed to Dale Armstrong for what appeared to be a touchdown. The big Dartmouth captain had run 36 yards into Columbia paydirt, only to have the play called back on a clipping penalty. On the next play, little Larry Perry darted around his own left end and ran 42 yards for a touchdown, in which journey he was materially aided by a key block by Bill Dey. Then came the most spectacular play of the game, engineered by Columbia's great fullback Lou Kusserow. He received Bill Dey's towering kickoff five yards behind the goal line and then ran 105 yards for a touchdown, galloping the last 30 yards in solitary splendor. Columbia kicked the extra point and the half ended on the ambiguous note of a 12-7 score.

The third period saw Dartmouth come back with a bang, scoring two touchdowns and apparently putting the game on ice. Herb Carey scored the first of these touchdowns by powering around his own right end for 27 yards, after which he kicked the extra point. The next one came on the gaudiest play of the afternoon from a Dartmouth standpoint, a pass from Clayton to Fitkin in midfield. Handsome Hal caught this one on his own 41 and ran 59 yards for a touchdown, using his blazing speed in the process and being helped by a devastating block by Joe Sullivan which cleaned out the Columbia safety man. Carey then kicked the point and the customers settled back in their seats to enjoy a 26-7 lead.

But they had reckoned without Gene Rossides, the doughty little Columbia quarterback, who forthwith began to pass the boys in Green dizzy. In striking contrast to their interceptions in the Colgate game (see above), the Dartmouth backs were almost completely baffled by the sharp-shooting of Rossides, who completed 13 out of 28 passes during the afternoon, most of them in the fourth period, for total gains of 179 yards. Both of the final Columbia touchdowns were set up by these passes and one was directly scored thereby. With the score now only 26-21, Dartmouth fought valiantly for possession of the ball in the waning moments of the game. They were forced to relinquish the pigskin with a couple of minutes to go and Columbia began connecting again through the gathering gloom. With 19 seconds remaining, Rossides tossed one at Kusserow on the Dartmouth tenyard line, but the ball was knocked down. The final play of the game saw Rossides fading back for another pass, only to be snowed under by a charging Dartmouth line on the Green 29-yard line. And that, dear readers, was too close for comfort.

Columbia scored 18 first downs in this offensive battle to 13 for the Green. Only in yards gained by rushing was Dartmouth clearly superior, with 237 yards amassed in this fashion as against a meager 98 for the Light Blue. The Dartmouth passing attack was not functioning with full efficiency, with John Clayton tending to overshoot his receivers. As it was, he completed only 5 passes out of 12 for total yardage of 112, although we must remember that one of these ventures resulted in Fitkin's touchdown.

This was the last home game for four starting seniors-Captain Dale Armstrong, Joe Sullivan, Ray Truncellito, and Jonathan Jenkins. We will miss them all next year.

STAN WATERMAN, cross-country captain who placed first in all four dual meets and took individual honors in the Heptagonals, Oct. 30. His time against Fordham set a new College record.