DARTMOUTH 16, CORNELL 7
They Carried Tuss McLaughry off the field after this one. A surging, fighting, opportunistic Dartmouth team had just defeated a heavily favored Cornell aggregation that had not hitherto been defeated. Overcoming an initial touchdown deficit, scored in an opening period which looked as though the Big Red could score practically at will, Dartmouth came roaring back to score a safety and two touchdowns and win a game that was the most exciting contest ince (and more than faintly reminiscent of) the legendary Fifth Down affair in 1940. This was the sixth and the hardest of the major games this Dartmouth team has won this season, after its opening defeat by Pennsylvania. This was the one the boys wanted to win. That is why, in as whole-hearted and spontaneous a gesture of happiness and respect as Memorial Field has even seen, the victorious green-shirted players hoisted their coach to their shoulders and bore him from the field.
The scoring glory for this epic encounter was again divided between Johnny Clayton and Red Rowe, by now the greatest forward-passing combination in the history of Dartmouth football. Both Dartmouth touchdowns came from short passes from Clayton to the towering end, with Bill Dey accounting for the conversions. The other two points were scored on a safety, after Captain Herb Carey had crashed through to pin a Cornell ballcarrier behind his own goal line. These 16 points scored on a burly and powerpacked Cornell team might even have been increased during the second half, when several of Clayton's passes barely eluded his receivers who were in the clear. But 16 points was all that was absolutely necessary and the Green will settle for that.
The game started as though unbeaten Cornell were going to continue that way. A perfectly executed lateral-forward sailed over the head of the Dartmouth secondary for the initial Big Red TD, with the receiver running the final 20 yards without a dissenting hand. Before and after that paying excursion, Cornell had spent the first quarter and part of the second biting off large pieces of real estate—B, 10, and 15 yards at a crack—with the right side of the Dartmouth line being unable to do much about it. The backs were really going ing tearing by, but they had red and white jerseys on.
The first Dartmouth score came on the aforementioned safety, after a penalty had set Cornell back almost to their own end zone. The latter had incautiously tried to run the ball around the side of the line patrolled by Captain Carey, with unhappy results for the Red. Coach McLaughry's boys scored again in the second period. Carey was also instrumental in this tally, after intercepting one of Pete Dorset's (the talented Cornell quarterback) passes. This feat was especially noteworthy, inasmuch as Dorset had hitherto the best interception record in the East (and possibly the nation), with 92 passes this year and last thrown without an alien completion. But Carey caught this one and brought it back 28 yards from midfield. Tyler then carried for 5 and Clayton fired a pass to Rowe on the Cornell 5-yard line. After a couple of running plays had inched the ball to the 3, Clayton bulleted a jump pass over the line to Rowe, who caught it for the score. Dartmouth was ahead for good, with the half ending 9-7.
The intermission was put to good use by Coaches McLaughry and Dell Isola, who worked out offensive and defensive line formations which stopped the Big Red cold in the second half. With the Dartmouth forwards physically outmanned by the towering Cornell line (especially at the tackles), the Green smothered the Red running plays during the second half in a manner considered wildly improbable in terms of the first-half performance of the two forward walls. In the final moments of the contest, indeed, the Green was winning going away, and Cornell abandoned completely the running tactics that had been so devastating and instead took to the air. This performance, directed by the sharp-shooting Dorset, had the hearts of the majority of the 17,000 clients (incidentally, the largest crowd ever to pack its way into the modest confines of Memorial Field) in their mouths. It was not until Tom Collins intercepted another Dorset pass in the waning moments of the game that the Dartmouth partisans could relax.
But we anticipate. Coming, as noted, out for the second half with fire in their eyes, the Green gradually took the game away from Cornell, despite the plethora of reserves at the disposal of the team from far above you know what. In the third period, a Cornell fumble was recovered by the alert John Chapman and Dartmouth started its most formidable sustained march of the day, advancing some 55 yards to a second touchdown. With Bill Roberts, Gerry Sarno, and Bob Tyler carrying and Clayton passing, the ball was carried down the field, culminating in Rowe's second touchdown catch. From that point on, Dartmouth hung on grimly and even played the heavier and favored Cornei operatives off their feet. The closing moments were played in a crescendo of hysteria in the Dartmouth stands, which erupted when the clock ran out and Dartmouth had won.
A glance at the statistics tell the story, especially the unquestioned superiority of Cornell on the ground in the early periods. Cornell ran up 14 first downs to 8 for the Green, with 143 yards gained in rushing (mostly in the first half) by the Red, as against a meager 96 on the ground for Dartmouth. The aerial duel between Clayton and Dorset spells out the margin of victory. The stalwart Dartmouth ace completed 10 out of 19 passes (and narrowly missed for several others), whereas the Cornell sharpshooter could do no better than 8 out of 20. As it was, Cornell made more ground through the air than Dartmouth (139 yards against 80), but the Green connected in the payoff spots and Cornell didn't.
We have introduced this account of one of the greatest Dartmouth victories of recent years out of its chronological context. When Dartmouth beats Cornell any time, it is top news for readers of this family journal. When they beat them in 1949, it is something extra special. We return you, herewith, to the more modest (but still highly satisfactory) string of victories that led up to this one.
TWO EXCITING MOMENTS AS DARTMOUTH UPSET CORNELL: Left, Bob Tyler (42) in the second quarter scoots down the sideline until collared by Cornell's Hilary Chollet Right, Dave Beeman gathers in a short pass from Clayton, while Red Rowe (82), who snared both Green touchdown passes, looks on.
ON THE MARCH AGAINST HARVARD: Left, John Clayton (20), far right in photo, starts his 28-yard "bootleg" run to the Crimson two-yard line to set up first Dartmouth touchdown. Stew Young is throwing the key block on the Harvard end. Right, Capt. Herb Carey (33) dashes 17 yards as Ted Eberle takes out a Harvard halfback. Other Green players are Dave Beeman (85) and Dick Gowen (79). Dartmouth tallied three touchdowns in the first hal .
