WITH THE BIG GREEN TEAMS
ANOTHER fall season on the Dartmouth . athletic front got under way on Saturday, September 37, when the Big Green football team met Lafayette in Hanover while the soccer squad engaged the University of Connecticut at Storrs. Between that date and the end of November some ten Dartmouth squads are scheduled to meet seventy opponents.
Ten days, before the opening gun (as we write this) the Dartmouth football squad, some eighty strong, are in a real battle for the eleven starting berths for the Lafayette encounter. And as usual at this time of year the comments on the squad are as many and varied as the players. There are those who side with the Eastern sports writers who pick Dartmouth and Princeton to battle it out again for the Ivy League title. There are others who claim the Big Green is vastly overrated this fall and must settle for a third or fourth place berth in the Ivy loop. It could well be either, but as of mid-September the truth probably lies somewhere in between.
Coach Blackmail is not going out on any limb. He feels he has a good squad, but points out that the Indians this fall have fewer returning lettermen than any other team in the league with the exception of Brown. He also is acutely aware of the fact that Dartmouth was underrated last year, had some real breaks along the line, and pulled a few upsets. "Most of our opponents are stronger this fall than they were a year ago," says Blackman and in general no one will dispute this statement.
The Blackman staff still is wrestling with some major replacement problems and an apparent lack of depth. The new substitution rule will mean keeping a fresh team in the game most of the time and at present there's quite a difference between the first and second teams. Linebacking is a major worry. Last year Joe Palermo and Walt Fogarty were defensive standouts. This fall the Indians currently have center Bill Colehower and Bob Boye, a guard, as the top linebackers, but they haven't as yet shown the caliber of the Palermo-Fogarty combination. The quarterback, fullback, center and right-guard posts present problems at the second-team level and beyond. In these vulnerable posts an injury to a first-team player could be crucial.
The new rule on the point-after-touchdown could also cause headaches. The percentages favor the place-kick, but at present the Big Green has not come up with any one player who can boot that all-important point after touchdown with consistency. Al Krutsch, Brian Hepburn and Jim Burke are all giving it a whirl, but the Big Green may find it more profitable to rush or pass for the two points.
The favorable aspects of this mid-September report focus on the high spirit of the current team, fully equal to that of last year, and the absence of any really serious injuries in the scrimmages to date. Center Bob Virostek, who came up with an injured knee, is the only serious casualty reported thus far.
Bob Blackman and his staff, especially conscious this year of the tough sledding in the Ivy circuit, have been working overtime to design some completely new plays, and Dartmouth fans may see more razzle-dazzle than ever before. Coach Blackman admits the innovations are the most pronounced since he introduced the V-system of play to the Dartmouth campus three years ago this fall.
Dartmouth's current first team, and the one most likely to start against Lafayette, is comprised of all lettermen. Bill Hibbs and Scott Palmer are at the ends, Bill Pettway and Dave Bathrick at the tackle posts, Bob Boye and Captain Al Krutsch at the guard slots, and Bill Colehower at center. The first team backfield finds Bill Gundy at quarterback, Jake Crouthamel at left halfback, Jim Burke at right half, and Brian Hepburn at fullback. This is a strong first team with a hard-hitting line, a fast and shifty backfield, good passing and deception, and equally good defensive strength.
Only four lettermen are on the second team, however, with veterans Bill "Moose" Morton and Jim Henander teaming up at the halfback posts, Roger Hanlon at end, and Sam Bowlby at tackle. Sophomore Ken DeHaven, currently sidelined with a minor injury, and Jim Graham, who saw some action as a reserve last year, are at the guard posts. Seth Strickland, another reserve, is at end and Lee Horschman, a junior, at tackle. Bob Virostek or Dune Lanum, who both played some last year, will go at center for the second team.
In the second backfield, besides Morton and Henander, are Seth Moger at quarterback and Mike Cronin at fullback. Both had some experience last year, but need further seasoning. As reported previously, there is a big difference in both experience and ability between the first and second team.
The same holds true of the gap between the second and third teams, pointing up again the lack-of-depth problem. On the Indians' current third team are six sophomores, three in the line and three in the backfield. John Baird and Frank Burnap, both reserves, are at end, sophomores Art Kola and Mike Monney at tackle, and reserve Phil Clark and sophomore Charles Chapman at guard. Either Lanum or Virostek will be at center. In the backfield we find sophomore Jack Kinderdine at quarterback, sophomore Al Rozycki and reserve John Appleford at the halfback osts, and Dick Marrone, another newcomer, at fullback.
It should be pointed out that these are early, tentative lineups which may change as some of the candidates improve during the season.
As for the opposition, the Indians face virtually the same teams they did last year when they won seven games, tied one and lost one, for the best overall record in some twenty years. Lafayette replaces New Hampshire for the opener and not much is known about the Leopards except that when the two teams met in 1955 Lafayette upset the Indians, 21-13. Next up is Pennsylvania which the Indians slid past last year, 6-3, but the Quakers get better each year and this will be a tough one. Brown plays host to the Indians next and the Bruins are always rough at home and are still smarting from the 35-0 pasting inflicted by the Big Green last fall. The Crusaders of Holy Cross invade Hanover on October 18 and are currently ranked among the best in the East - enough said. Harvard at Cambridge on October 25 —and although Coach John Yovicsin has problems he should have many of them solved when the Indians troop into the stadium. The annual Dartmouth-Yale clash should not end in a tie this year for the Bulldogs are out for the 1958 Ivy League crown. The final home game, on November 8, finds Dartmouth meeting Columbia, and while the Lions haven't roared too loudly of late, Coach Buff Donelli is not a man to sit idly by while his teams get dropped. The closing two games are against Cornell and Princeton, both away, and the toughest are last.
How many games will Dartmouth win this fall? You make your own prediction. Right now we'd pick Dartmouth over Lafayette, Brown, Harvard and Columbia - that's four wins. The Penn, Holy Cross and Cornell games are tough choices, but you can't give the Indians the edge in more than two of these games, possibly only one. As for Yale and Princeton, we predict they'll finish one-two in the league. So it looks to us like a five-four or sixthree year. Anything better than that will be an overwhelming tribute to the Dartmouth coaches and the Dartmouth squad.
Coach Bob Blackman, with projection machine, holding skull practice in the field house.
