Fordham 14, Dartmouth 6
Dartmouth opened the season on Memorial Field by losing to an air-minded Fordham aggregation by the score of 14-6, in the first gridiron meeting in history between the two institutions. A crowd of some 11,000 spectators shivered in the brisk wind of an unseasonable opening day, as the Green stopped the Rams cold on the ground, only to prove almost completely baffled against the air-borne slants of Fordham's sophomore quarterback, Roger Franz. With the defending Dartmouth halfbacks virtually helpless to do much about it, the visitors passed the home forces dizzy, and completed 14 out of 26 passes for a total of 215 yards through the air, as against a meager 36 yards on the ground. If the Dartmouth secondary had been able to break up (or intercept) more than a handful of enemy passes, the game would have assumed a different complexion. As it was, the contest was lost in the secondary.
Dartmouth opened the game as if it were about to spring a heartening upset and defeat the favored invaders. The Green controlled the ball during most of the first period and even managed to score a touchdown through the air, on a toss from quarterback Gene Howard to halfback Al Reich which was good for a combined forty yards. Coach McLaughry's charges were considerably buoyed by this heady experience and kept the Rams away from the Dartmouth goal until the closing minutes of the half. The second period ended with the score 7-6 in favor of Fordham, with this tally and the one in the third quarter combining Dartmouth errors with brilliant forward passing. The only time Dartmouth got anywhere near pay territory in the second half followed a pass interception by safety man Charlie Curtis, who dashed to the Fordham 23yard line. The Green tried a pass which was intercepted and that was about all there was to the scoring attempts. Time ran out on Fordham on the Dartmouth 5yard line, as the Rams were on the verge of another score.
The reader may have inferred by this time that this was a rather dull game. He is quite right in this assumption. From the Dartmouth point of view, the contest was an especially gloomy affair, with the Green unable to muster a sustained offensive of any kind, either on land or through the air. The home forces gained a net 38 yards from scrimmage and pieced together six first downs, as compared to 13 first downs for the visitors. Dartmouth tried ten passes and completed two of them, one for their only score. The Rams, as noted, made 215 yards on 14 completions out of 26 attempts, which was a very creditable performance.
The current aggregation lacks the lethal one-two punch of John Clayton and Bill Roberts that characterized the Dartmouth play for the past two or three years. When the opposition would choke up the middle to stop Roberts, Clayton would pass over their heads. When they spread out to stop the passes, Billy ("the Dubuque Express") would romp down the center. Dartmouth has no thrower in the same league with Clayton this year, nor does she have a runner with remotely the power of Roberts.
The only bright spot in this admittedly drab picture was the defensive line play of the Dartmouth team. I stress the defensive aspects of this performance, inasmuch as Coach Dell Isola's charges were something less than brilliant on the offense. But the boys did pile up the running game of the enemy in highly gratifying fashion, with a total net yardage on the ground, as noted, of 36 yards for Fordham. It might be remarked parenthetically that these 36 yards by rushing for Fordham and the 38 yards for Dartmouth by the same means must constitute some kind of record for modern college football. Much of the meager forward yardage of each team was erased by the losses amassed by the quarterbacks, as they were tossed far back of the line of scrimmage time and again. The fact remains, however, that the defensive line provided the one happy note of the afternoon for Dartmouth.
In the search for a quarterback to fill the shoes of John Clayton and his understudy Bob McCraney, the coaches in this opening game used Gene Howard, who first wore a Dartmouth uniform in the closing years of the war when, as a freshman, he participated in the slaughter inflicted upon the Green by Notre Dame. After a protracted hitch in the armed forces, Howard returned this fall and was given the job of directing the team from the T-formation. A truly great punter, he runs the team well and passes adequately, but he is no Clayton, a fact that he himself would be the first to admit. There is an array of small halfbacks, who in the opening game were unable to do very much either on offense or defense. There is, as yet, no devastating ball carrier who can run over and through the opposition, although the 200-pound sophomore fullback, Dick Jennison, may blossom out before he is through.
ACTION IN THE OPENER: Gene Howard (20), Green quarterback, gets away for a gain around end against Fordham at Hanover. Shown also are Tackles Vince Jones (77) and Bob Herr (78) and Center Mike Papantones (55).
"GET HIM OUT OF THE WAY!" Tom Collins, with 40 yards to go on his 74-yard touchdown gallop against Penn, points out an obstructing Quaker to Fred Fedeli and suggests that a block would be helpful. The Indians' acting captain took a punt on his own 26-yard line in the third period and went all the way.
