Football

Dartmouth's Diamond Jubilee Year football team has dropped its first four games by a total margin of exactly 24 points. AH four games were close and two of them - Colgate and Brown - were games that the Indians might well have won. It is certainly a disappointing and inauspicious start for the Big Green's new coach Bob Blackman and his capable assistants.

There is little doubt on the part of most observers that the Indians would have done better had not Captain Leo McKenna been sidelined with a broken wrist bone. To date this bone has not healed as rapidly as expected, and it seems now that McKenna will be lost for the year. Dartmouth's passing ace Bill Beagle has done an outstanding job in the passing department but his play-calling and defensive work still leave something to be desired, and it is in these departments that McKenna would have been of great help.

The other major factor in the Dartmouth defeats to date has been the lack of any rushing offense. In four games the Indians have ground out only 277 yards by rushing, a per-game average of only 69 yards. There is not a single Dartmouth halfback with either break-away speed or driving power. Top Dartmouth ball-carrier at the moment is fullback Bob Rex, who has gained 20 yards in four attempts for a 5-yard average. Halfback Jack Nicolette has carried 41 times for 126 yards and a 3.0 average, while the other regular halfback, Lou Rovero, has gained 76 yards in 28 attempts for a 3.7 average.

Thus, the Indians have had to rely on passing for their chief offensive weapon. The strong right arm of Bill Beagle has accounted for 53 completions in 105 attempts for a total of 600 yards and five touchdowns. Mike Brown, who has spelled Beagle in most of the games, has completed eight out of sixteen passes for 90 yards and no touchdowns. The Indians' total passing offense thus has accounted for 690 yards and five touchdowns on 61 pass completions to put Dartmouth among the top teams in the nation on pass offense. Bill Beagle ranks among the top five of the nation's passers.

A major role in the passing attack has been played by the Dartmouth ends. Monte Pascoe is the leader with 21 receptions for 182 yards and two scores, followed by the other first-team end, Ron Fraser, who has snagged nine passes for 89 yards and two TD's. Halfbacks Jack Nicolette and Bob Charman follow with six catches for 47 yards and nine receptions for 86 yards respectively. Pascoe is the number one pass receiver in the Ivy League on the basis of his record so far.

There have been other standout players for the Indians to date. Certainly the brilliant blocking and defensive play of fulback Bob Rex must be mentioned along with the bang-up line play of sophomores Joe Palermo, a guard, and Al Gazzaniga, a tackle. Bob Adelizzi, a junior, has stepped into the center spot in a capable manner, while veteran guard John Donnelly and tackle Wayne Kakela have performed yeoman service in the Big Green line.

The closeness of the first four games against rugged opposition, the noticeable improvement in the quality of play by Dartmouth and the continuing high morale of the squad despite early setbacks leave plenty of room for hope that the Big Green will pull one or more upsets in the remaining Ivy League games.

Lafayette 21, Dartmouth 13

Dartmouth's hopes for its first victory of the current season were rudely smashed by a strong and versatile Lafayette team which handed the Indians a 21-13 defeat before a slim crowd of 6,000 at Memorial Field on October 15.

The Leopards wasted no time getting started. Norm Dion took the Indians' kickoff on his own 12-yard line and ran it back to midfield. Then sophomore quarterback Joe Bozik passed to Don Sayenga on the Dartmouth 18-yard stripe and he carried to the 13. Three line plunges brought a first down on the 2-yard line and Dion promptly dove over to score one minute and 18 seconds after the game opened.

For a while the Indians looked as if they were going to make a game of it. Taking the Lafayette kickoff, Dartmouth marched downfield on short passes and steady ground gains to the Lafayette 5-yard line. Here the attack stalled. Lafayette then came back strong at the end of the first period, with fullback Charles Kozicheck ripping holes in the Big Green line, to drive downfield. At the start of the second period the Leopards were camped on the Dartmouth 15-yard line and three minutes later Bozik plunged over for a second TD.

A Lafayette fumble late in the same period gave the Indians another chance with end Monte Pascoe recovering on the Dartmouth 44-yard line. Two plays gained little, but on third down Bill Beagle heaved a long downfield pass which Lafayette halfback John Slotter leaped up to intercept. The ball glanced off Slotter's fingertips and into the arms of fullback Bob Rex who went all the way for the Big Green's first tally.

In the second half Lafayette's diversified ground attack continued to be the dominating factor in the game. The Leopards, running from a straight T, used double reverses, pitch-outs, handoffs and option plays with great effectiveness to control the ball most of the time. In the opening minutes of the fourth period they struck again, this time on a sustained march from the Dartmouth 30-yard line which in five plays through the line earned them the final touchdown.

Late in the game Dartmouth quarterback Bill Beagle began to find his targets in better fashion (he completed 19 out of 42 passes that afternoon). Beagle's passing brought the Indians to the Lafayette 4-yard line from where halfback Bob Charman lugged it over. With time running out the Indians recovered an onside kickoff and Beagle took to the air once again. However, a pass interception cut short the Indian threat and Lafayette had possession when the contest ended.

Brown 7, Dartmouth o

For their third game of the season - the first against an Ivy League foe - the Big Green clashed with Brown University at Providence and went down to a 7-0 defeat. This was only the second time in nine years that a Dartmouth team has been held scoreless and was a disappointing loss to a Dartmouth team which had racked up three touchdowns in each of the first two games and which passed up three scoring opportunities during the afternoon against the Bruins.

The evenness of the game was attested by the statistics which showed the Indians gaining 121 yards on the ground against log for Brown and passing for 79 yards against 111 for Brown. Brown lost three fumbles and Dartmouth four, while Brown made 13 first downs to Dartmouth's 12.

Some 15,000 homecoming fans turned out to watch the renewal of the rivalry which dates back to 1894. Despite a 24-hour rain preceding the game, the field was in fairly good condition and the Indians got moving during the first period when Beagle's passing and the running of Jack Nicolette carried the ball from Dartmouth's 12-yard line to the Brown 17, before the attack bogged down.

Again in the second period the Big Green went on the attack, moving the ball from their own 29-yard line down to the Bruin's 16-yard stripe in ten plays. Here again it was Bill Beagle's passing and Jack Nicolette's running which accounted for the yardage. This time, however, a pass from Beagle to end Monte Pascoe slithered from Pascoe's hands and the Bruins halfback, Bill Cronin, came up with it.

The Indians had another scoring chance at the start of the second half when Brown fumbled the kickoff and the Big Green recovered on the 46-yard line. Again the Dartmouth offense began to click and the Indians moved to the Bruins 9-yard stripe. Here an offside penalty and a play that misfired cost the Indians their final scoring opportunity of the day.

Apparently heartened by the ineptness of the Dartmouth team, at this junction Brown took over on their own 20-yard line and marched downfield in 13 plays to score the only touchdown of the afternoon. Bill Demchack, Brown quarterback, spearheaded the march as he cleverly mixed rushes and passes and then culminated with a masterfully executed play where he faked a handoff to halfback Bob Minnerly and gave the ball instead to Tommy Thompson who raced around end from the Dartmouth 39-yard line to the 12. Then halfback Bob Minnerly, who hadn't carried previously all afternoon, took the ball on three successive plays through the line, lugging it over the goal from the 1-yard line on the third attempt.

In the final stanza Dartmouth could do nothing and found itself mostly within the shadows of its own goal posts. Indian fumbles on the Big Green 10- and 21-yard stripes gave the Bruins the ball twice, but they failed to take advantage. The Indians also recovered two Bruin fumbles in this period but could not move past midfield and the game ran out with Brown winning their first victory of the season.

Holy Cross 29, Dartmouth 21

Dartmouth's first home game of the season combined with a perfect autumn afternoon to bring some 11,000 spectators to Memorial Stadium. Recalling last year's thriller when the Indians put on a dazzling second-half performance through the air to win 27-26, most of the fans were not disturbed when the Crusaders scored first, but when Holy Cross proceeded to roll to a 23-0 halftime lead the game was lost.

The revenge-minded Crusaders took to the air early in the game, and indeed scored all four touchdowns on passes, with quarterbacks Billy Smithers and Jack Stephans splitting the honors. Holy Cross picked up two more points when they trapped Bill Beagle behind the Big Green goal line in the first period.

The Indians finally got rolling in the final period to score three touchdowns, but the Crusaders added another TD in the same period to protect their lead.

Holy Cross opened the scoring in the second quarter when quarterback Jack Stephans tossed a 33-yard pass to Dick Arcand who leaped away from two Indian defenders in the end zone to make a spectacular catch.

Minutes later Arcand rushed in to nab Bill Beagle in the end zone as he was attempting to pass and Holy Cross was up nine points. Midway in the period Billy Smithers fired another pass into the end zone and the conversion put Holy Cross out ahead 16-0. Then with only seconds remaining in the half Smithers heaved a long pass downfield from the Holy Cross 40-yard line and end Paul Tolland completely outraced Dartmouth's safety man to gather it in and go across the goal line unmolested.

Dartmouth tightened up its defenses in the scoreless third period, then opened up an attack in the fourth quarter which was sparked by quarterback Mike Brown. Cleverly mixing plays, Brown ran and passed the Indians to the Crusaders oneyard line where he lugged it over on a quarterback sneak. Minutes later the Crusaders fumbled away a scoring opportunity on the Big Green's one-yard line and Bill Beagle, coming back in at quarterback, passed the Indians downfield and then went over himself from the oneyard stripe.

The Crusaders were not to be denied and came back quickly as quarterback

Jack Stephans fired a running pass to half-back Jack Ringel from midfield. Ringel snatched the ball on the Dartmouth 25-yard line and assisted by some excellent blocking went all the way. Just before the game ended the Big Green again marched downfield and a nine-yard pass from Beagle to end Monte Pascoe produced the final score of the afternoon.

There was no doubt that Holy Cross was the better team. Dartmouth's ground attack netted only 37 yards all afternoon against 174 for the Crusaders. The Crusaders used a seven-man line against the Indians during the first half to check the Dartmouth ends and rush the passer. It was effective, but they abandoned it during the second half when they led 23-0, and this was when the Big Green passing attack began to click, albeit too late.

Colgate 21, Dartmouth 20

For the first time in recent years Dartmouth opened its football season away from Hanover and this change must have been too much for the Indians who got ahead of Colgate 20-0 in three periods and then allowed the Red Raiders to come back in the final frame for three touchdowns and a 21-20 victory.

It was an amazing comeback for a Colgate team which despite a potentially powerful squad had allowed the Big Green to control the game from the start. It was Colgate's quarterback Guy Martin completing an amazing eight out of nine passes and the running and pass catching of halfbacks Jack Call and Frank Speno which produced the dramatic finish before a homecoming crowd of some 9,000.

Trailing 20-0 at the. start of the fourth period the Red Raiders suddenly awoke to march 74 yards on four plays with a 36-yard pass from Guy Martin to Jack Call accounting for the first tally. The Indians, figuring to outlast Colgate, stuck to the ground and a few minutes later Colgate took a Dartmouth punt on their own 40-yard line. This time it required five plays to produce a score with a 42-yard pass from Guy Martin to Frank Speno setting up the tally. Halfback Jack Call plunged over from the 1-yard line for the tally.

Unable to get out of its own territory the Indians were forced to punt again late in the game. The Maroon eleven took over on the Indians' 37-yard line and two passes later had their third touchdown of the afternoon. This time it was a 29-yard heave from Martin to Call which produced the score. Martin also contributed the three conversions including the all-important final point which provided the margin of victory.

Prior to the Colgate comeback, it had been Dartmouth all the way. Dartmouth had found early that its rushing attack was woefully weak, netting only 44 yards in the game. However, the Indians' passing attack clicked as Beagle tossed 27 passes, completing 14 for 151 yards and all three touchdowns. End Ron Fraser snagged two of these scoring passes, while Monte Pascoe caught the third.

To Bob Blackman, making his Dartmouth coaching debut, the game must have been a heartbreaking loss. As Andy Kerr, veteran Colgate coach for 18 years, put it just as the game ended, "That Dartmouth coach must feel as though he's had his pocket picked!"

November Schedule

VARSITY FOOTBALL - Nov. 5, Columbia at New York; 12, Cornell at Hanover; 19, Princeton at Princeton.

FRESHMAN FOOTBALL-"A" Team: Nov. 5, New Hampshire at Hanover; 11, Brown at Providence. "B" Team: Nov. 5, New Hampton at New Hampton.

SOCCER - Nov. 1, Amherst at Hanover; 4, Brown at Hanover; 12, Cornell at Hanover.

CROSS COUNTRY-Nov. 4, Heptagonals at New York; 14, Intercollegiates at New York.

Bob Rex, junior fullback, whose work has been one of the few bright spots in the Big Green ground attack this year, makes a good gain against Brown.

Dartmouth end Ron Faser, who caught two of Dartmouth's three touchdown passes in the opening Colgate game, had too much opposition on this one and just missed it.

Ready for a practice run over the cross-country course are (l to r) John Ceely '58, Jon Stokesbary '58, Coach Ellie Noyes '32, Don Burkhardt '57 and Captain Doug Brew '56.