DARTMOUTH 27, HARVARD 7
With thousands of its supporters peering happily through the gloom of an overcast afternoon in the Harvard Stadium, the Green finally got under way and won a football game. They did this very convincingly and, despite the fact that Harvard hadn't won a game either, this triumph was none the less sweet. Playing his last game in the stadium, Johnny Clayton rang down the curtain on his varsity playing days with one of his most impressive performances. He scored two of the Green touchdowns personally and passed for a third, besides running the team most of the afternoon. It was a nice way for him to bow out on a Boston audience.
In the opening moments of the game, Harvard penetrated to the Dartmouth 9yard line, following some running plays through a temporarily disorganized Green line. At this point, the forward stalwarts of Dartmouth rose up in their wrath and stopped the Harvards cold. This was the closest the Crimson was to get to the Dartmouth goal all afternoon, except for their solo scoring jaunt in the fourth period, when a long pass went over the head of the Dartmouth safety man. So completely did the pupils of Line Coach Dell Isola dominate the situation from there on, however, that the Harvard running attack showed a negative 19 yards for the afternoon.
The first Dartmouth touchdown came in the first quarter, following a blazing run-back of a Harvard punt by Bobby Tyler. This speedster, also playing his last game in the Stadium, took a punt from his own 35-yard line and was not stopped until he had reached the Harvard 10. Three plays later, Clayton took it over, with Fry converting. The score remained 7-0 at the end- of the half. Dartmouth scored once in the third and twice in the final period, with Fry missing one of the four conversions.
The second Green touchdown was set up by a Harvard fumble on their own 12-yard line, following which Clayton negotiated the second of his scoring jaunts, this time a bootleg play around his own right end. Shortly after the fourth quarter started, Clayton threw one to sophomore halfback Dick Collins for 38 yards and another TD. The fourth and final tally came after Clayton had retired and Bob McCraney had taken over the signal-calling and passing chores. The chunky senior quarterback hit Dick Brown with a 5-yard toss for the score, following a sustained Dartmouth advance from deep in her own territory.
With fullback Bill Roberts back in uniform and providing the running threat down the middle, the Dartmouth aerial attack also paid off, with two touchdowns resulting directly from this medium. The tall power-runner from Dubuque, lowa, had been hurt in the Michigan game and did not even have a suit on against Pennsylvania and Lehigh. As noted in our last bulletin, this loss was an almost unsurm ountable obstacle to the overall attack of Dartmouth. Other Green standouts against Harvard were Bobby Tyler, as noted, and Dick Brown, who scored one
of the touchdowns and, more important, did some very high-class punting.
But this game, like all the rest of them, was really won up front, where the Green stalwarts for the first time this year played the kind of game of which they are capable. Time and again they tossed back the Harvard runners and swarmed over the Harvard quarterback when he attempted to get off a pass. The Cantabs' negative yardage on the ground is the most fitting commentary on the quality of the defensive line play. In addition, the line (playing without the services of Captain Paul Staley who was sidelined with a bad charley horse) again and again opened large holes through which the backs went tearing by.
The statistics of the game showed the Green with 15 first downs to 10 for Harvard, the latter gained largely through passes plus penalties (see below). Dartmouth amassed a total of 289 yards running with the ball, as compared to the aforementioned minus 19 for Harvard. The success of the ground attack meant that Clayton did not have to take to the air as often as he had on past occasions. Only 14 passes were attempted by Dartmouth, with five completed for 51 yards and two touchdowns and none falling into enemy hands. Harvard completed 6 of 15 for 107 yards.
After the frustration of the previous month, this victory was as happily received as it was well-earned. With an all-Ivy League schedule coming up, Coach McLaughry's charges needed the incentive that only a clear-cut win could give them. The boys were tired of losing, whether they looked good or bad in the process. Moral victories or not, it's more fun to win.
A 54-YARD PUNT RETURN by Bobby Tyler brought the Dartmouth fans to iheir feet in ihe Harvard Stadium. His first-period gallop carried to the 12-yard line and set up ihe first Big Green touchdown.
