With Big Green Teams

FOUR times during the past month the Dartmouth varsity football team has sallied forth on Saturday afternoons to meet some of the best teams in the East and four times the chapel bells have pealed out their victory message in the early dusk of a Hanover fall.

Twice — after the Penn and Holy Cross games - there were hundreds of students, faculty and townspeople waiting in front of the Hanover Inn to greet the returning Indians. There were cheers, songs, and jubilation mingled with the smoke from torches in the night air as the buses drove up. Team members and coaches strode proudly through the cheering throng to say a few words of thanks and hope for the rest of the season.

With four games in the record book and five, all of them against Ivy opponents, to come, no one was predicting an undefeated season, but the feeling was there. This just might be Dartmouth's year.

This 1957 Dartmouth team is not a great team in the strictest sense. Except for one or possibly two players, there are no All-American candidates, but in four games to date there has been a group of lads playing over their heads with a spirit that hasn't been displayed by a Dartmouth football team for a long time.

It's the spirit of players like guard Jim Riffle, who went into the Holy Cross game to replace Al Krutsch when he was injured and who told the Dartmouth students assembled to greet the team: "I'm glad I could help, but I'd rather sit on the bench all season, if it has to be, and watch Al Krutsch play the game he's been playing."

Captain Joe Palermo summed it up this way: "We've got the spirit. You could feel it at Holy Cross. Here we were behind 7 to 0 in the fourth quarter, and not a player in the game was thinking of a tie. We wanted to win badly enough to win."

Whether spirit coupled with maturing ability will be enough to carry the Indians through the five remaining games, no one knows. The experts are picking the Dartmouth-Yale game as one clue; they say it may go down to the wire, to the season's finale between Dartmouth and Princeton.

The four games won this fall plus the three won at the end of the 1956 season make it seven straight for the Big Green and it's been a long time since this has happened.

A major factor in the team's play to date has been the staunch Dartmouth defense which has allowed only 140 yards per game, enough to rank the Big Green twelfth in the nation on total defense. The Crusaders of Holy Cross were able to complete only seven of 19 passes and two of these were last-minute desperation heaves. All together Dartmouth's four opponents have completed only 21 out of 55, passes attempted.

Dartmouth, meanwhile, has piled up nearly 1,000 yards by rushing and passing, has completed 30 out of 57 passes attempted, and has ranked consistently high in punting with almost a 40-yard average. Senior halfback Jim Burke and sophomore halfback Jake Crouthamel are grinding out five yards every time they carry, with halfbacks Bill Morton, Don Klages and Jim Hernander averaging between three and four yards per carry. Dartmouth's quarterbacks also are running frequently on the option plays, with Dave Bradley picking up a 5-yard average, Bill Gundy around four and Doug Fusonie about two. In four games Dartmouth has amassed a total of 72 points against a combined total of 10 for its opponents. But statistics can never tell the whole story, so lets move in for a closer look at the games played to date:

Dartmouth 14, Holy Cross 7

In the most recent game Dartmouth really showed the stuff it's made of by coming from behind in the fourth quarter to score two touchdowns and win 14-7. The Big Green might well have been excused for losing this one because from the very start the breaks seemed to go against it.

On the opening kickoff Dartmouth halfback Jim Burke recovered a Holy Cross fumble on the Crusader ten-yard line, but this was nullified by a penalty. Later in the first period a touchdown pass from Dave Bradley to Burke also was recalled on a penalty, as was a fine 35-yard punt return by halfback Joe Graham. Late in the second period, Jake Crouthamel and Jim Burke got mixed up on a punt return reverse and the Crusaders recovered on the Dartmouth 26-yard line. With quarterback Tom Greene sparking the offense, Holy Cross went over for a score in six plays to make it 7-0 at halftime.

The third period was an even battle with neither team threatening. Again penalties, mostly for offside and backfield in motion, hurt the Indians and on one occasion three successive penalties were called against Dartmouth on three plays.

Then, in the fourth period, Dartmouth pulled itself up by its bootstraps and the action began. Dave Bradley tossed a pass from the Dartmouth 37-yard line to left end Dave Moss who roared down the sideline to the Holy Cross three. Two plays later Bradley plunged over for the TD, Palermo's conversion was true and the game was tied.

Minutes later the Big Green had another opportunity when Ben McAdams. from his linebacking position, snagged a Holy Cross pass deep in Indian territory and ran it back to the Crusader 48-yard line. Then quarterback Bill Gundy, on a nicely executed option play, ran to the Holy Cross 16. Dave Bradley replaced Gundy at quarterback with three minutes left in the game, then tossed into the end zone to Dave Moss, who had faked his man out beautifully, and Dartmouth had its second score. Again, Palermo's conversion was good and that was the game.

Dartmouth 35, Brown 0

Playing its second home game of the season with a crowd of 12,000 on hand, the Big Green really showed its potential as it rolled to a 35-0 win over hapless Brown. Pre-game ratings had the game a toss-up with Brown mentioned for possible Ivy League honors, but on this day the Indians could do no wrong and Brown could never get started.

The Indians, who did most of the scoring in the first half, started early in the game when Captain Joe Palermo blocked a punt on the Bruin 18-yard line. Six plays later Jim Burke crashed off tackle to score and Palermo converted. In the second period with halfbacks Jim Burke and Jake Crouthamel pacing the way, Dartmouth drove deep into Brown territory and quarterback Dave Bradley scored on the option play. Brown a few minutes later was pinned deep in its own territory by a fine Gundy punt and tackle Bill Pettway broke through to spill Brown halfback George Gorgodian in the end zone for another three points.

A Bradley-to-Crouthamel pass late in the second period gave the Indians still another score. Then, after a scoreless third period, Brian Hepburn on a punt reverse handed off to Bill Morton on the Brown 37-yard line and Morton bulled his way down the sideline to tally. The final score came with two minutes remaining as quarterback Doug Fusonie tossed a long pass to halfback Joe Graham who scampered over from the Bruin 30-yard line.

Dartmouth 6, Pennsylvania 3

Not since 1933, when it triumphed 14-7, had Dartmouth won a football game over Pennsylvania, but this fall the Indians ended the Quaker jinx by the narrow margin of three points. As expected it was a tightly fought game all the way.

Pennsylvania, unable to get near the Dartmouth goal line because of the Big Green's magnificent defensive play, decided to settle for a field goal in the waning minutes of the second period and went off at half-time leading by a 3-0 score.

In the third period, the Quakers had another opportunity when they intercepted a Bradley pass and raced back to the Dartmouth 35. Five plays later they were camped on Dartmouth's four, but Scott Palmer broke through at end to stop one Penn play and Al Krutsch broke up a fourth down drive to give Dartmouth the ball.

Heartened, the Big Green then cut loose and, sparked by a key run by halfback Bill Morton, drove all the way to the Penn six-yard line. There sophomore quarterback Bill Gundy heaved a pass to Scott Palmer in the end zone and the Indians had a score. Joe Palermo's try for the point never materialized due to a wobbly pass from center, but it made no difference as the Big Green held on against last-ditch Penn efforts to win 6-3.

Dartmouth 27, New Hampshire 0

The Indians opened the 1957 season with an impressive 27-0 victory over intrastate rival New Hampshire. U.N.H., which boasted a fine passer and runner in quarterback and co-captain Bob Trouville, threatened to take an early lead when in the second period Trouville passed to halfback Pete Stewart for a score. However, U.N.H. was ruled offside and the play was called back.

The Indians came back hard, driving into U.N.H. territory midway in the second period, with Burke carrying for the first score and Palermo converting. Two minutes later Dartmouth had the ball again and this time halfback Jake Crouthamel crashed through for a second score to put Dartmouth ahead 13-0.

With Dartmouth dominating the play in the third quarter, halfback Bill Morton got off a fine 30-yard romp which carried the ball to the New Hampshire 5-yard line. Three plays later Morton crashed off tackle to score. Again in the final period, with Burke and Crouthamel carrying, the Big Green marched down to the U.N.H. goal line. Crouthamel finally plunged across for the TD, and Palermo converted.

Dartmouth's offense piled up 260 yards, while its defense showed its potential by holding New Hampshire to 34 yards on the ground and 47 through the air.

Halfback Jim Burke (32), whose ball-carrying was a feature of the 35-0 victory over Brown, shown sweeping downfield on one of his longest gains of the day. Convoying him are Walt Fogarty (54), Captain Joe Palermo (66) and other green-shirted players.

End Scott Palmer about to receive the passfrom Bill Gundy that beat Pennsylvania, 6-3.