With the Big- Green Teams

THE hands on the scoreboard clock at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca showed less than four minutes to play in the first half. Bill Robertson, the Cornell quarter-back who engineered a fourth-period onslaught last year that brought the Red a 24-21 victory over Dartmouth, took the ball at the Dartmouth 28-yard line and scanned the field for a receiver.

Cornell was trailing, 13-0, as the patterns formed and Robertson was aware of the need for a touchdown. His receivers flooded to the left side of the field - all save one who flared toward the right sideline. This was Robertson's man. He flipped a soft pass toward his receiver and must have suffered an instant of utter agony as a giant white jersey hove into view in the right flat.

Pete Lawrence, hampered since the early moments of the Princeton game with an ankle injury that was slow in mending, stretched high into the air, performed a shaky little jig as he regained his balance and clutched the ball to his chest, then started a lumbering 70-yard journey toward the Cornell goal. Like a great prairie schooner, Lawrence gained ground over the turf that had been turned into mire by a week of snow and rain. He side-stepped Robertson as the Cornell quarterback tried to avert disaster. It wasn't until Lawrence neared the Cornell 25-yard line that Cornell's Ed Zak drew near enough to bring Lawrence down. But again the 6-4, 230-pound defensive end reacted by slowing a bit, then delivering a classic straight arm that left him alone as he crossed the goal.

It was a play that demoralized Cornell, trailing 20-0 at the half and with little hope of staging a repeat of its 1967 second-half comeback. In a larger sense, however, it may have marked the turning point for Dartmouth's beleaguered football team, a gritty group that has seemed star-crossed this season, suffering an unprecedented flood of injuries and having the misfortune to run into the likes of Princeton, Harvard, and Yale on afternoons when these traditional foes chose to unveil their best efforts of the season.

The 27-6 victory over Cornell brought the Big Green's record even at 4-4 on the eve of the finale at Penn. The road from the opening victory over New Hampshire to the triumph at Ithaca can only be described as a test in disappointment and grim determination. Despite the numerous difficulties, the Indians have turned the 1968 season into one of the most gratifying demonstrations of fortitude ever shown by a Dartmouth team.

Take Lawrence, for example. The giant senior from Cherry Hill, N. J., was expected to be one of the finest defensive ends in the East this fall. Then came a twisted ankle against Princeton. He sat out the Brown game and then reinjured the ankle in the first half of the Harvard game. He was still immobilized at Yale and was a pathetic sight as he tried to pursue Columbia's great quarterback, Marty Domres, over the Memorial Field turf on November 9, a day after the field had been cleared of three inches of snow and was hardly the place for firm footing. He barely appeared to be back to normal at Cornell.

Or, consider Larry Killgallon, the 210-pound junior middle guard from Bryan, Ohio, who came back after suffering a broken leg in pre-season practice to earn selection to the ECAC's weekly all-star team for his superlative efforts against Brown and Harvard. Killgallon chose to return from Cambridge with two friends and was injured in a head-on collision en route to Hanover. He suffered damage to muscles in his arm and was again lost for the season.

But wait, there's more. It seems that the volume of injuries diminished substantially when the team won and this appeared to be true at Cornell. Then, as the players were showering, it was discovered that a dozen had been burned by a paint-like substance that pranksters had used to create a Playboy bunny head in the middle of Schoellkopf Field. Cornell players, too, were victims of the unfortunate situation.

All of this, however, should only magnify the broad assortment of outstanding performances that have produced the late-season resurgence by the Big Green. After what can only be described as a lackluster day at Harvard Stadium, which resulted in a 22-7 victory for the Crimson, the Indians tangled with highly regarded Yale led by their fine quarterback, Brian Dowling, before more than 50,000 spectators in the Bowl and a regional television audience. Although the vaunted Elis took the game, 47-27, they did not win until they had stopped Dartmouth drives inside the three-yard line on two occasions, were saved from another possible Indian touchdown as the first half ended with the Green on the Yale seven, and produced a touchdown of their own on the final play of the game.

Left with a 2-4 record as they made the trek home from New Haven, the Indians regrouped and unveiled a specialized defense that neutralized the passing wizardry of Columbia's talented Mr. Domres. The Lion quarterback, considered an outstanding candidate for professional football, was completely ineffective until the final seven minutes of the game when he passed for two touchdowns and ran for another to narrow the Indians' 31-0 lead to 31-19. All of Columbia's points came against Dartmouth's reserve units as Bob Blackman's defensive aides sacrificed a lineman in favor of a fifth back to provide greater protection in the secondary against Domres' passes.

In the first half, Domres completed only four of ten passes for 24 yards. Optimistically, the defensive perimeter included only one senior - Rick Wallick - who worked with juniors Jack Roberts and Joe Adams plus sophomores Murry Bowden and Russ Adams. Bowden and Joe Adams, by the way, are a pair of Texans who must rank as two of the hardest hitting performers that the Ivy League has seen in many years.

The modified defense was utilized also at Cornell whenever the Red was in a long-yardage passing situation and again it worked to perfection.

The Dartmouth defensive unit, led by the versatile backs plus junior tackle Ernie Babcock from Milton, Mass., and linebacker Rick Lease from Chesterland, Ohio, has spent more time on the field this fall than any other group of Ivy League players. Dartmouth has run fewer offensive plays than any other Ivy team and has faced more plays on defense.

The offense has found itself as the season wanes. Blackman has an exceptionally healthy situation at quarterback where junior Bill Koenig from Salem, Ore., has been alternating with sophomore Jim Chasey from Los Gatos, Calif. Both have shown the ability to move the team and have combined for nearly 1,000 yards passing.

Credit for the steadily improving performances by the Indian attack rests on the consistent blocking of fullback Dave Boyle and Captain Randy Wallick, the sturdy right end. Boyle, from Hendersonville, Tenn., was easily the lightest fullback in the Ivy League but he teamed with Wallick to deliver blocks that turned the halfbacks into the open. Additionally, Wallick ranks as the leading receiver for the Indians with almost 400 yards gained.

"There have been many times in the past when I have felt tremendously proud of a Dartmouth football team," said Blackman. "There has never been a group, however, that I have greater respect for than this year's team. It is truly remarkable that they have maintained such spirit and morale in the face of so much bad luck and such an unbelievable number of injuries."

A TD Upside Down: Columbia quarterback Marty Domres was stood on his headall afternoon by the Green defense, but this time he scored from the 1-yard line.

The first of three Dartmouth touchdowns scored by Bob Lundquist (27) in the 47-27loss to undefeated Yale came on this 4-yard plunge over the middle.