Gutsy Performance
Shortly after noon on October 17, 1981, Rick Stafford's teammates were getting ready to play Harvard at the stadium in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Stafford should have been the starting quarterback for the Big Green on that day. Instead, Stafford was lying in a hospital bed in Hanover 130 miles away. His leg was encased in a massive cast following knee surgery required by an injury suffered during the previous Saturday's loss to William & Mary. The only other occupant in his small hospital room was his mother. For Stafford, the highlight of that day one year ago would be his transfer to nearby Dick's House, the student infirmary, where he could listen to the Dartmouth-Harvard clash on the radio.
Stafford's injury had thrust sophomore signal-caller Frank Polsinello into the spotlight. Polsinello, in his first varsity start, completed nine of 13 passes for 114 yards to lead Dartmouth to a 24-10 victory over the Crimson. The triumph gave the Green a 2-0 Ivy League record following three straight non-league losses and started the team rolling toward a twelfth Ivy League championship, which the Green shared with Yale.
The knee injury clouded Stafford's football future. Some people felt that the Somerset, Massachusetts, resident's football career might be finished. Even head coach Joe Yukica conceded in August that Stafford was a question mark for the 1982 campaign. But the six-foot-four, 215- pound senior came back ready to play. Polsinello had earned the starting assignment and handled the quarterbacking chores in the 21-0 opening loss to the University of Pennsylvania. But Polsinello was injured during the 28-12 defeat at the hands of Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the second game of the season, suffering a shoulder separation that would sideline him for five weeks or more. The quarterback assignment returned to Stafford. A strong Colgate University team defeated Dartmouth, 38-21, at Hanover and then the Green traveled to Williamsburg, Virginia, where it lost 24-16. That loss gave Dartmouth a 0-4 record and its slowest start since 1955. It also set the stage for Harvard's quadrennial visit to Hanover and the beginning of six straight Ivy League games.
Harvard entered the game favored, since it had a 3-1 record. A crowd of 17,000 saw the Crimson score first as Jim Villanueva, son of former N.F.L. kicker Danny Villanueva, booted a 26-yard field goal in the first period. But Dartmouth took a 7-3 lead into the locker room at halftime on an eight-yard touchdown run by senior co-captain Sean Maher and a conversion by Geoff Andrews. The score marked the first time all season that Dartmouth had led in a game. Harvard narrowed the margin to a single point in the fourth quarter as Villanueva kicked a field goal from 42 yards out. Dartmouth took" possession of the ball at its 20-yard line, and two plays later Stafford scrambled ten yards to pick up a first down by less than a foot. The game's key play occurred two plays later. Dartmouth faced a third-andnine situation from its 32-yard line. The action was close to the Dartmouth bench, and Stafford motioned to Yukica that he wanted to call a time-out. "He was a little psyched about it," said Yukica. "He was worried on third down and wanted to be protective. He had been sacked twice on the same play earlier in the game, and another pass had been broken up. He signalled me for a time-out, but I waved him on. I said run it and he did. I just felt we had a chance with it." Stafford faked a handoff and threw long down the middle toward senior split end John Olejniczak. Olejniczak caught the ball in stride at Harvard's 30-yard line and outran defender Chris Myers to the end zone. The 68-yard strike was the longest scoring pass in the history of the 85-game Dartmouth-Harvard rivalry.
"They had been doubling Jack Daly quite a bit, making it tough on the back side," explained Yukica. "So we went to the right man. I would have been happy at the time before the ball was snapped if we had hit Jack for the first down. But as it turned out, he had two choices—Jack or Ole-and he picked the right guy." Olejniczak's touchdown and Andrews' conversion gave Dartmouth a 14-6 lead, but did not end the game's drama. Harvard came right back, marching 70 yards in just over two minutes. The Crimson's quarterback, Jack Riordan, scored on a 15-yard run to bring the visitors to within two points of Dartmouth. Harvard went for the twopoint conversion, but Riordan's pass fell incomplete. The Big Green recovered the ensuing on-side kickoff attempt and held onto the ball as the final seconds clicked off on the Memorial Field scoreboard, which showed Dartmouth a 14-12 victor.
"It was one of the gutsiest performances of any of the Dartmouth teams I've ever been associated with," said Yukica. "When you've got two teams that play like we did today, nothing is going to come easy. Both defenses played well. It's just a question of not making a critical mistake or turning it over. If we didn't get good defense it would have been tough. Our defense won the ball game. But you don't win bail games by magic, you have to be solid in all areas."
The victory also put Dartmouth right back into the thick of the Ivy League race. ''We're back in the picture," said Yukica, noting that the loss was Harvard's first in League play and gave Dartmouth a 1-1 mark. "There's only one team-Pennsylvania that hasn't been beaten in league play. We've gotten better every week, and we hope to seek continued improvement as the season progresses. It's going to be that kind of year in our league."
Yukica had praise for Stafford: "I thought he played real well. He made some critical plays." Stafford was one of the last players to leave the field and return to the locker room in the Davis Varsity House, where he was the center of attention for a few moments as reporters asked him for his reflections on the game as his boisterous teammates noisily savored their victory over the visiting Crimson. Stafford was reminded that he was lying in a hospital with his damaged knee exactly one year ago. He was asked if his contribution to the Dartmouth victory meant a lot to him. "It certainly does," Stafford said. "I feel unbelievable."
Rick Stafford's victory comeback mack him feel"unbelievable."
