With tine Big Green Teams
THE Dartmouth football team opened its 1967 football season in dramatic fashion with a 28-10 victory over the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Before 18,000 fans and on ABC-TV (NCAA Regional Game), the Big Green plotted the downfall of the UMass Redmen with precision. The script could have been written with Alfred Hitchcock in mind.
The Indians received the opening kickoff in the end zone and put the pigskin in play on their own 20-yard line. Six plays later with a fourth-down-and-two situation on the 41, soph Jim Burke went in to punt for the Indians. The pass from center went nearly 20 feet over Burke's head and he caught up with it at the 10-yard line with the Redmen right on top of him. UMass took possession and the Big Green defensive unit found itself backed up to its goal line. Pre-season speculation appeared confirmed as the aggressive defensemen forced UMass to try for the field goal. Ed Sherman, the Redmen's kicking specialist, connected for three points on a 21-yard kick with only 4:03 gone in the first period.
Dartmouth rooters, unsettled over the initial lack of offensive power shown by the Green, were on the alert as veteran QB Gene Ryzewicz led the team up to the line on the Dartmouth 20, after downing the kickoff in the end zone. The UMass defense held tight, however, and the Indians were forced to punt. The remainder of the first quarter found both teams punting often, with the Redmen's QB, Greg Landry, a 6-4, 200-pound pro prospect, threatening to find a scoring opportunity. At the top of the second quarter, a 40-yard punt return by UMass set them up at the Green nine. Landry went in from the one, Sherman converted the point after, and the Green were down 10-0.
Suspense ran high as Ryzewicz directed the Indians 77 yards in 14 plays to the Massachusetts end zone. Highlight of the drive was a 29-yard Ryzewicz-to- Jack Wimsatt pass. The swift quarterback cut over from inside the one at 10:13. Following the kickoff Landry and company headed down the field with determination. This time the Indian defense had elbow room and roverback Sam Faber intercepted a Redmen pass and carried it to midfield. Ryzewicz passed to Randy Wallick for 14 yards to the UMass 36 before Coach Blackman sent in a pair of sophomores, QB Bill Koenig and right halfback Bob Mlakar, to provide an element of surprise in the plot. Better than that, Koenig caught the Redmen completely off guard; on the second play of their varsity career the soph duo combined on a TD pass which traveled almost 50 yards in the air to Mlakar, deep in the end zone. The Big Green went out in front to stay, 14-10. Mlakar made a great catch with two UMass defenders right on him. Time left in the half: 52 seconds.
The Big Green controlled the action the rest of the way, with the Dartmouth defense bottling up the talented Landry. Massachusetts received the second-half opening kickoff on their one, and punted on third down to gain time. To no avail, however, as Little Gene piloted the Indians 70 yards in 15 plays to the hosts' one-yard line. Captain Steve Luxford drove in standing up from his right-half spot, only to have the officials call the play back on a time-keeping mix-up. The Green tried again as the fourth quarter officially got under way, and Steve fought his way to pay dirt along the same route at :03 of the period. Soph Pete Dono- van's kick was good and the Indians led 21-10. Once again the defense proved its worth, as Giff Foley, junior defensive tackle, recovered a Redmen fumble on the Dartmouth 37. The Indians rolled over the UMass defenders with Ryzewicz at the controls to score in seven plays midway through the final quarter. Defensive halfback Gordie Rule collected his second interception of the day on Landry to thwart the final Massachusetts touchdown attempt.
The Indians had rushed and passed for a total of 379 yards, less the 31 yard bad punt pass from center, while Massachusetts was contained to 173 yards total of- fense. UMass QB Landry passed 16 times but completed only five, while the Indians' Ryzewicz and Koenig teamed up for 96 yards and completed four of nine passes. Captain Luxford led the Big Green ground attack with 79 yards on 20 carries. Sophomore Bob Mlakar led Indian receivers with his 35-yard TD reception.
Coach Blackman was very pleased with the way his team handled their tough opening assignment, particularly the strong defensive demonstration. His immediate concern, however, was the scouting report from Holy Cross' 26-14 victory over Yale the same afternoon. The Crusaders appeared impressive both offensively and defensively, and were ranked as the number one team in New England when they traveled to Hanover to meet the Indians on Memorial Field the first Saturday in October. Fortunately, the Big Green had sustained no serious injuries against Massachusetts and were emotionally "up" for the Crusaders, who defeated them 7-6 at Worcester last fall.
The 35th gridiron meeting of the two schools was witnessed by a standing- room-only crowd of 14,513, and the out- come was seldom in question. Playing to a cheering, partisan grandstand, Indian stars unleashed a stunning display of of- fensive and defensive prowess, overrunning the Crusaders 24-8. Senior quarterback Gene Ryzewicz seemed unaware much of the time of the efforts of Holy Cross' heralded defensive squad, as he led three scoring drives and crossed the goal line twice on his own. Star of the Big Green offensive line was senior tackle Hank Paulson who opened wide holes in the Purple defense for roaming Indian backs. HC Captain Glenn Grieco, All-East middle guard, provided Paulson with a stiff test, but the quick, light, 196-pound tackle proved equal to the situation.
The script was reversed this time, for when Holy Cross ran out of downs after the starting kickoff, a bad pass from center gave the Green the ball on the HC 20. Ryzewicz came on and rolled into scoring territory on the fourth play, from seven yards away with only 2:33 gone. Pete Donovan came in for a good PAT and the home team was ahead 7-0. The Crusaders looked dangerous, however, and minutes later a long pass from QB Phil O'Neil to end John Vrionis barely went incomplete in the Indian end zone.
O'Neil, who gained 123 yards passing for the Crusaders, spent most of the afternoon picking himself off the field following the superb pass rushes of de- fensive ends Randy McElrath and Pete Lawrence, along with tackle Giff Foley. Following several punt exchanges the Crusaders began a sustained drive which ended abruptly on the Dartmouth 26 where defensive halfback Bruce Saylor recovered Tim Hawkes' fumble. Taking advantage of the Crusaders' discomfiture, Ryzewicz coolly engineered a 15-play, 73-yard journey to the end zone, marked by two Ryzewicz-to-Wimsatt passes for key first downs. Gene sped over from the one-yard mark at 2:55 of the second quarter, and Donovan booted his second PAT to give Dartmouth a 14-0 lead.
The Indian defense then went to work in earnest, forcing Holy Cross to punt twice before the offense moved down to the Crusader 19. Pete Donovan added a 29-yard field goal to the mounting Indian score at 14:59 of the second period. The Green carried the second- half kickoff to the Purple 13 before losing momentum. The visitors moved to the Dartmouth 42 before losing the ball on downs. The Indians moved eight yards in two plays to the midfield stripe, where HB Bob Mlakar cut up the middle and outdistanced three Crusader defenders to the end zone. Pete Donovan completed Dartmouth's scoring with his seventh PAT in seven tries, and the scoreboard lights read 24-0.
Holy Cross drove down to the Green 3 before losing the ball on downs to the outstanding Indian defense. Unable to move out of such close quarters the Big Green elected to punt. Here their kicking game caught up with them, as a poor punt set the Purple up on the Dartmouth 21. Indian punters averaged only 16.5 yards per punt against the Crusaders; poor passes from center, a great rush from Holy Cross' big, powerful de- fensive line, and the inexperienced Dartmouth kicking corps kept the Indian defense busy all afternoon. This time, however, O'Neil posted the score in six plays, passing into the end zone to Vrionis at 3:51 of the fourth quarter. The Crusader QB then connected with his other end, Bob Neary for the two-point conversion.
Dartmouth collected 330 yards total offense against the Crusaders, 165 on the ground and the same in the air. HC rushed for 77 and passed for 123, for a 200-yard total. Ryzewicz passed for 156 yards on 11-17 completions. Bob Mlakar led the Green in both rushing and receiving, running 11 times for 83 yards and a 7.5 average, and gathering in five passes for an additional 55 yards.
The next Saturday the Big Green opened its Ivy League season with a surprising 23-0 victory over Pennsylvania. Penn boasted QB Bill Creeden, leading offensive returnee in the League, and owner of every passing record at Pennsylvania. The Quakers felt confident that this fall they could score, if not win, against any team they would play. Once again the Dartmouth defense rose to the occasion, allowing Creeden only 83 air yards and a very poor completion average: 10-32.
This time the Green had to do without the valuable services of Ryzewicz, who had injured his knee in the first quarter against Holy Cross. Soph QB Bill Koenig got his first varsity starting call. While super-passer Creeden searched vainly for a weak spot in the Indian secondary, Koenig completed 11 of 22 passes for an amazing 213 yards. Koenig also proved his running ability, dodging for 45 yards on eight carries. The total Big Green offensive output was 419 yards. Penn picked up 154 yards in all.
The Wallick twins, Rick and Randy, of Dixon, Ill., notched the first two Dartmouth scores within 58 seconds of each other, certainly some sort of Ivy first. Randy gathered in a 36-yard pass from Koenig at 6:26 of the first period on a 68-yard scoring drive. Donovan kicked his eighth successive PAT giving the Green a 7-0 lead. Penn ran three plays following the kickoff without any positive results and elected to punt on fourth and six at their own 26. Defensive safety Rick Wallick received the kick on the Green 41 and raced 59 yards along the left sideline to score at 7:24. A brilliant fake to the inside and then cutting back out eliminated the final Penn defender after a quick block by Mlakar sprung Rick loose at the start. Donovan's kick was wide of the mark, so Dartmouth had a quick 13-0 ball game going their way.
The Indian defense held Penn at bay during the half, and a Green drive stopped on the Penn 36 at halftime. Late in the third quarter Koenig lofted a 57-yard pass to Mlakar which carried to the Pennsylvania seven. The Quakers couldn't hold out, and fullback Dave Boyle, starting his second varsity game, cut in from the one-yard line. Donovan made the PAT good as the Indian lead grew to 20-0. When another Green drive slowed up on the Penn 22, Pete Donovan calmly booted his second career field goal from 32 yards out for the final score. Bruce Saylor, soph defensive halfback from Caldwell, N. J., and Gordie Rule, Chandler, Arizona, did outstanding jobs of containing Creeden's passing, and it appears that the Indians have developed a potentially great defensive backfield.
The Dartmouth-Penn game in Han- over was part of busy Ivy action: with Cornell handing Princeton a stinging 47-13 beating; Harvard outclassing Columbia badly, 49-13; and Yale finding its offensive punch to take Brown 35-0. Much attention focused on the Harvard- Cornell game at Ithaca the following Saturday as the Indians traveled to Providence to play the Brown Bruins.
The Big Green easily took a 41-6 win from Brown, while alternating Ryzewicz and Koenig at quarterback. Ryzewicz, with no apparent ill effects from his injured knee led the Green much of the way in an* effort to regain his timing. Koenig once again amassed valuable experience while demonstrating great potential. Ryzewicz completed three of five passes for 20 yards and two touchdowns. The Indians easily dominated the game; and spectators were treated to the sight of Dartmouth's offensive unit marching relentlessly for score after score.
In all, the first offensive team saw action in less than half the game as Coach Blackman tested new talent for future service. Scoring five times during their brief appearance, the leading Indians connected on short, quick drives and unimpressive yardage statistics, having benefited from the spectacular punt and kickoff returns of sophomore half- back Bob Mlakar. Bob dodged Bruin tacklers for 114 yards in return yardage.
The Green took the opening kickoff and drove 64 yards in eight tries, with Captain Luxford scoring from the two. Pete Donovan's kick was good, and with only 4:09 gone in the first quarter the Green was ahead to stay 7-0. After punt exchanges, Mlakar took a second Bruin punt on the Dartmouth 18 and eluded tacklers to the home team's 31-yard mark. Back-to-back penalties on Brown set the Indians up with first and five on the 11. Little fullback Dave Boyle picked up another first down on the Bruin five, but an offside call pushed the Green back to the nine. Ryzewicz was in top form as he rolled out and dropped a neat pass into Boyle's waiting hands in the end zone. Donovan's PAT split the posts, upping the score to 14-0.
The stingy Indian defensive squad went to work and five plays later returned the ball to the second Dartmouth offensive team. The new Indians couldn't build up momentum, however, and the ball changed hands frequently until Mlakar deposited another Brown punt on the Bruin seven-yard line. A clipping penalty on the runback moved the ball back to the 37. Ryzewicz stepped back into the ball game and directed the club down to the five, where he dropped back, pumped his arm twice, and rifled the ball to big soph end Jack Wimsatt on the goal line. Donovan came on for his third boot of the afternoon to give the Green a comfortable 21-0 lead.
Brown's lethargic attack came alive and controlled the ball for the rest of the half, with their rookie quarterback Hal Phillips filling the air with footballs. A pass interference call against the Indians gave Brown a much-needed first down on the one. Two plays later as time ran out in the half, fullback Steve Wormuth penetrated the Indian defense for the score. Brown elected to try the two-point conversion attempt, but linebacker Rick Lease intercepted Phillips' pass to block the attempt.
Following intermission, Indian defensive end Pete Lawrence collected a fumble from scrambling QB Phillips, and the Big Green's first offensive club went in. Five plays later Steve Luxford went around left end on a pitchout from Ryzewicz to cap the 22-yard ramble. Pete Donovan made his fourth kick of the afternoon and upped the score to 28-6. Luxford, who scored two touchdowns and led the team in rushing with 69 yards on 13 carries, left little doubt that switching him from defense had paid off for the Green this fall.
Brown's offense was shaky at best as Phillips recovered his own fumble on the first play from scrimmage after the kickoff and threw an interception to the Indian's Jack Roberts at the Brown 31-yard line. Little Ry called on Luxford three times, and then pitched out to Mlakar around left end again. It worked this time too, with only 4:40 gone in the third period. Donovan made good in his final appearance to give Dartmouth 34 points to Brown's 6.
Both teams traded punts until late in the fourth quarter when the defensive back Bruce Saylor intercepted a Phillips' pass on the fly and raced 34 yards for his first varsity touchdown. It was a score for the defense, which demonstrated its capability by limiting Brown to six yards in total rushing in the game. Reserve QB Bill Kinschner came in at the controls following Joe Adams' successful PAT kick. Kinschner couldn't engineer another score, and the total rested 41-6 for the Big Green.
During the afternoon, however, the Ivy race had tightened up. At Ithaca, Harvard put together a clever 14-12 vietory over a determined Big Red squad. Harvard's shifty halfback Vic Gatto threw two passes, including a 41-yard touchdown bullet. Yale, with Brian Dowling at QB for the first time this season, drubbed Columbia 21-7, to remain among the undefeated Ivy clubs. The Indians clearly had their work cut out for them the next week at Harvard, where the Ivy championship could very well be decided. Once past Harvard, Yale and Cornell loom as threats; but who knows what might happen if the offense should break loose as often as it has in the past. The big question in Indian plans was the medical status of defensive standouts Rick Wallick and Norm Davis, both of whom were injured early in the action at Brown. Healthy, this squad has the potential to race to an Ivy title.
Sophomore halfback Bob Mlakar, ofCleveland Heights, shown on a 50-yardtouchdown run against Holy Cross, hasbecome one of Dartmouth's most explosive backs this fall.
Captain Steve Lux ford '68, speeding to a sizable gain in the Holy Cross game, hasmore than justified Coach Blackman's shifting him from defense to offense.
A gift of the Class of 1939, Dartmouth'snew electric scoreboard was dedicated atthe Perm game. L to r: Bob Gibson '39,DC AC member; Dick Jackson '39, CoachBob Blackman, Class President Bert MacMannis '39, Athletic Director Seaver Peters '54 and Bob Kaiser '39, executivecommittee.
