Dartmouth 28, Army 14
Dartmouth came to life against the depleted Army forces in Michie Stadium and pounded out a decisive 28-14 victory for their first win of the season. Capitalizing upon successive fumbles by Coach Earl Blaik's untried youngsters, the Green combined alertness with a passing and running attack which contrasted strikingly with their two previous performances. Dartmouth scored early in the first period, when Army fumbled the kick off and Don Myers recovered for the Indians on the Army 24. A couple of plays later, Dartmouth had scored and were never thereafter headed, one touchdown coming in every period. All told, Army lost the ball four times on fumbles and Dartmouth capitalized on three of them.
Perhaps the most exciting news, apart from the final score, was that Dartmouth finally found a quarterback. This valuable operative is sophomore Jim Miller, who weighs 170 pounds and hails from Evanston, Illinois. This youngster played almost the entire game on offense and his playcalling, ball-handling, and, above all, his passing were more than a little reminiscent of the late (at Dartmouth), great John Clayton. Miller had been known right along as the best ball-handler o£ the current quarterbacks, but his passing abilities had not been as patent. In the course of the afternoon at West Point, he connected with 12 passes out of 21 attempts, for a total of 158 yards. His completion record might well have been even more spectacular than it was, for several of his tosses were right in the hands of his receivers, only to be dropped through over-anxiousness. Our readers, therefore, should happily hear more about this boy during the next two years.
It is, o£ course, always easier to pick out excellent performances in victory than in defeat. Several elements of this rousing encounter, therefore, should be pointed out. First was the improved pass defense of the Indians, whereby the Black Knights were able to connect with only four out of 19 passes. Safety man Charlie Curtis was especially prominent in this department. Halfback Tom Collins had another good day both on offense and defense and made one of the touchdowns, as well as setting up another. The offensive ends, notably big John McDonald, looked good on grabbing passes. Halfback Dick Collins (no kin) flashed some of the speed that has hitherto been only potential and had his best day of varsity competition. The center of the Dartmouth line also played well and kept the Army running attack pretty well under control. So the credit for this victory should be shared among a number of Coach McLaughry's operatives.
A brief rundown of the Dartmouth touchdowns is in order: (1) made by Al Reich in the first quarter, following a Dartmouth recovery of the initial kickoff and set up by a Miller pass to Doc Dey and a run by Tom Collins; (a) made by Russ Smale in the second quarter and set up by long runs by Dick Collins and fullback John Foster, who also had a very good day; (3) made by Tom Collins in the third period and set up by several consecutive passes by Miller—the touchdown itself came on a five-yard toss; (4) made by Roger Warner in the fourth period and set up by a gg-yard screen pass from Miller to Foster. Hank Fry made good on every one of the conversions. While we're on the subject of scoring, Army's first TD came .in the second period. The second one came in the closing seconds of the game when, after the last Dartmouth touchdown, the Green kicked off and neglected to go through the concluding formality of tackling the Army ball carrier. The latter ran 97 yards down the middle and did not stop until he hit the Dartmouth end zone. Then the game was over.
In the matter of first downs, the opponents were even, with 14 apiece. The Dartmouth running game came to life and produced 144 yards on the ground, as compared to 120 for the Cadets. Jim Miller, as noted, connected with 12 for 21 through the air, as compared to four for 19 for the Army. Dartmouth lost the ball only once on a fumble, whereas the home team lost it four times, with fatal results to their victory hopes. The Green was severely hurt by penalties, with nine infractions charged against them for a total loss of 83 yards, as compared with a lone penalty for West Point for 15 yards. Many promising marches were thus nullified through the overenthusiasm of Coach McLaughry's charges, but everything came out all right in the end.
As our readers can guess, this contest was a pleasant one for your correspondent to chronicle. We trust there will be more such pleasures this fall.
FIRST TOUCHDOWN AGAINST ARMY: Only a few minutes after the game at West Point had started, Al Reich went over for the first of Dartmouth's four scores. The 28-14 win was the Big Green's first.
SOPHOMORE QUARTERBACK FIND: Jim Miller, 170-pounder from Evanston, 111., came into the limelight in the Army game. Above, he hands off to Tom Collins (45), with Jack Foster (35) and Tom Bloomer (66) as blockers.
