DARTMOUTH 31, HOLY CROSS 7
The next week, the Green came roaring out of Davis Field House on a sodden and overcast October day and practically blew the bulky Holy Cross invaders out of Memorial Stadium. Looking like an entirely new team after the debacle against Pennsylvania, Dartmouth handled the ball with sureness, blocked with authority, ran with vigor, and generally did themselves proud against a Holy Cross team whose potentialities were never allowed to unfold. All this occurred without several of the key members of Coach McLaughry's talented backfield, who spent the afternoon sitting on the bench, nursing various injuries. Bobby Tyler broke his arm in the Penn game and is out for the season; Bill Dey languished in the press stand with torn muscles in his hip; Hal Fitkin was ill from a mysterious glandular infection and, although dressed, never got off the bench; and Captain Herb Carey was able to play only a few moments before he retired with a recurrence of an old ankle injury. With Johnny Clayton as the sole representative of the first-string backfield, the boys still carried on superlatively.
The outstanding star of the game was Bill Roberts, filling in for Captain Herb Carey at fullback. With Bill Dey (as noted) out of the picture, Roberts was the only ranking fullback on the premises and he had a personal field day. Carrying the ball 18 times, he accounted for 195 yards, which was considerably more than the entire Dartmouth team was able to amass against Pennsylvania. Roberts was off for at least three long jaunts—of 34, 52, and 55 yards respectively—and on the third attempt he went all the way. The first time he broke away, he raced to the 4-yard line before he was pulled down. Two plays later, Clayton went over on a quarterback sneak for the first Dartmouth score. But Roberts came through as a truly great runner on his first chance to show himself in the big time.
The Dartmouth scoring went somewhat as follows. In the first period, Clayton scored the first TD from the one-yard line. In the second period, the second long jaunt by Roberts set up another score, which was actually negotiated by little Eddie Williams, who darted through the gargantuan Purple forwards and into the end zone. This third touchdown came on a bullet pass from Clayton to Rowe, thereby establishing a pleasant scoring relationship left off at the end of last season. In the third period, Roberts produced his electrifying 55-yard cruise to the goal line, making the score 25-0. In the fourth period, Jerry Sarno, who played an outstanding game at right half, in place of the ailing Hal Fitkin, broke through over his own left tackle and sprinted 38 yards for the final Dartmouth touchdown. The Crusaders only score came in the third period, with Dartmouth leading 25-0, when one of Gil Muellers' passes went squarely into the arms of a purple-shirted player. The latter had nothing between him and the goal line but the open sky and negotiated the distance without a hand laid on him.
The Crusaders brought their usual flock of behemoths to town, with eight tackles on the roster weighing over 220 pounds and with their starting tackles weighing 255 and 237 respectively. Against this awesome collection of bone and muscle, the Indian forward wall managed to open some gratifying holes, with the end result that Dartmouth gained a net 337 yards by rushing, against a puny 65 yards for Holy Cross. The Indian air attack was also functioning in high gear, with John Clayton doing most of the tossing but with Bob McCraney getting off a couple of successful heaves. The Dartmouth total of completions was 12 out of 19 attempts for 105 yards, which was very good going indeed.
Despite these offensive and defensive heroics, the game closed on a somber note for the Green. Little Eddie Williams, who played the best game of his career, was carried from the field in the final quarter with a fractured fibula (the outer and smaller bone of the leg below the knee). Williams spent six months of last year immobilized with a broken vertebra incurred in pre-season practice, after which it looked as though he could never play football again, let alone want to. This fall he came back, only to have this second crippling blow. With Bobby Tyler out for the season with a broken arm and Williams now rendered hors de combat, Dartmouth has lost its two fastest backs in its first two games. With the various sicknesses, sprains, separations, and dislocations plaguing other ranking members of the backfield, Coach McLaughry will need every one of his remaining able-bodied ball carriers.
