Football
With exactly one-third of its fall schedule completed, the Dartmouth varsity eleven team has two wins against one defeat. The Big Green opened at home with a 30-0 victory over the University of New Hampshire, lost to Pennsylvania 14-7 on the following Saturday, and in the most recent encounter triumphed over Brown 14-7.
It must be reported that Dartmouth has not looked impressive in any of these three contests. On the basis of performance to date, the Big Green's rating as an Ivy League "dark horse" seems to be stretching it a bit. Coach Blackman's preseason prediction of a fairly strong first team, but beyond that not much, seems to have been borne out —at least in the games to date.
Total three-game team statistics show Dartmouth and her opponents about even and it must be remembered that none of the Big Green's early season opponents is regarded in the class o£ Yale, Princeton, Cornell and Harvard. In three games the Indians have chalked up 36 first downs against 39 for the opposition. Dartmouth has controlled the ball for 168 plays against 195 plays for the opposition, not exactly possession ball. Dartmouth has outgained her opponents, however, by a total of 708 yards to 666, with 501 of these by rushing and 207 yards through the air. The Indians have attempted 32 passes (about ten per game) and completed 16 for a .500 average.
Individual statistics are divided fairly evenly, although reflecting the fact that Coach Blackman has tended to stay with his first team in the two close games. Quarterback Mike Brown, of course, dominates the passing with 14 completions in 28 attempts for 200 yards, while Doug Fusonie has tossed three times only and completed two. Halfback Lou Rovero is the leading ground-gainer, as. he was last, year, carrying 23 times for 114 yards and a 5.0 average. Sophomore Jim Burke has ground out 112 yards in 44 attempts for a 2.5 average while quarterback Mike Brown, running on the option plays or when trapped, has gained 50 yards in 22 attempts for a 3.8 average. After three years it is refreshing to see a quarterback with a plus yardage average.
Statistics are at best the bare bones of the games and a better judgment may be arrived at by this report on the Dartmouth team in action, starting with the most recent contest against Brown at Providence.
Dartmouth 14, Brown 7
Attempting to rebound from a 14-7 defeat by Penn on the previous Saturday, Dartmouth found it rough going before 12,000 homecoming spectators at the Brown stadium, but the Indians came from behind to pull to a 14-7 half time lead and hang on for the balance of the game. Dartmouth started strongly in the first quarter as it marched down field for three first downs. At this point Mike Brown fumbled trying to pass, and the Bruins had their chance. In ten plays they went 53 yards for a touchdown as quarterback Frank Finney and halfbacks Joe McTigue and Joe Miluski alternated on running plays around the ends and up the middle.
Dartmouth came right back as sophomores Jim Mueller and Jim Burke ground through the Brown line for four first downs, and then Mike Brown passed to end Ron Fraser to put the ball on Brown's 10-yard stripe. Burke carried twice, driving to the one-yard line as the first quarter ended, and then Mike Brown dove across for the score in the opening play of the second period. Later in the same period, with the Indians on the march, Dartmouth got a break when a pass from Brown to Ron Fraser was deflected by a Brown defenseman into the arms of halfback Jim Mueller who romped to the Brown 15-yard line. Three plays later Brown hit end Monte Pascoe on the three and Burke carried over for the winning touchdown.
In the second half the Indians were scarcely able to drive past midfield as the Brown defenses tightened. The Bruins had two scoring threats halted, once on a pass deflection and another time when the Dartmouth line held firm. A fourth-quarter downfield march by Dartmouth was also halted and time ran out with the Indians winning 14-7 for their second victory of the season.
Pennsylvania 14, Dartmouth 7
For their second game of the season and first Ivy League contest, the Big Green journeyed to Franklin Field to meet Pennsylvania. The Quakers had gone without victory over a three-year, 19-game span and were anxious to end their losing streak. The Indians were just as anxious to come up with a win in the College's first official Ivy League football game in history. In the end, as The New York Times phrased it, "Pennsylvania found somebody it could beat today" and the Indians bowed to the Quakers 14-7.
In a sense this was the reverse of the Dartmouth-Brown game, as the Big Green scored first, Penn fought back to score twice in the first two quarters and then hung on to the one-touchdown lead throughout the second half.
Dartmouth's starting team opened right up at the start of the game when a 45-yard pass play from Mike Brown to Monte Pascoe carried to the Quaker 5-yard line and two plays later Brown bucked across for the TD.
With 15,000 fans goading them on, the Quakers struck back immediately after the return kickoff. Halfback John Wright broke through the line, evaded the Indian secondary defense and sprinted 56 yards before being stopped. Then Wright teamed with Penn quarterback Dick Ross and fullback Dave Sikarskie in a series of slashing line plays which carried the ball to the Dartmouth 4-yard stripe where halfback Neil Hyland carried it over. Fran Riepel added the extra point for Penn, as Joe Palermo had done for the Indians, and it was a tie game.
In the second quarter the Penn defenses tightened up and forced the Indians to fumble twice deep in Penn territory. On the second fumble, recovered on their own 87-yard line, the Quakers set off on a 14-play scoring drive. The Penn backs hacked away at the Big Green line, gaining the needed ten yards in three and four plays (twice refusing to punt on fourthdown situations). On the Dartmouth 85-yard line, quarterback Dave Ross tried one of Penn's rare passes and hit end Dick Shaffer who scored to send Penn out in front.
Penn dominated the game in the third period with the Indians hardly able to get beyond midfield. In the final quarter Dartmouth started an advance which moved the ball into Quaker territory, but Riepel intercepted a Mike Brown pass and romped back into Green territory. As time ran out the Penn rooters poured from the stands to pull down both goal posts as the Quakers posted their first win in twenty games and extended their jinx over the Big Green which hasn't beaten a Penn team since 1933.
Dartmouth 13, New Hampshire 0
Dartmouth opened the 1956 season with a rather unimpressive 13-0 win over its state rival, the University of New Hampshire. Playing before some 9,500 Memorial Field spectators on a perfect fall afternoon, the Big Green scored unexpectedly in the first period when quarterback Doug Fusonie handed off to halfback Jim Burke and then took a lateral as Burke was being tackled, and raced 74 yards to score.
Dartmouth's second score was also set up by a lateral. Halfback Jim Mueller had taken the second-half kickoff down to the New Hampshire 42-yard line on a nice runback. Two plays later, Jim Burke lateralled to quarterback Mike Brown who scampered to the New Hampshire 6-yard stripe and after two line bucks, Brown dove across for the second TD.
The Big Green had another score called back when a clipping penalty nullified a fine 65-yard scoring run turned in by Dartmouth halfback Don Klages midway in the second stanza.
New Hampshire had two scoring opportunities, once in the second and another in the fourth period, but in both cases the Dartmouth defenses held. Coach Bob Blackman actually kept his first team on the bench for a large part of the game and used only some half-dozen basic plays throughout the contest, but there seemed little doubt that New Hampshire was stronger than anticipated and that the Big Green team was not particularly "up" for this opener. The loss to Penn and close win over Brown that followed were not surprising in light of this opening performance.
Tony Lupien, former major league player who is Dartmouth's new varsity baseball coach, shown at fall practice on Memorial Field. He will also coach freshman basketball.
