Sports

Quite a Win

It takes about two minutes to toast a slice of bread. And generally it takes about two minutes to peel a. fat, juicy orange. But for Frank Polsinello, it took only one minute, 43 seconds to engineer a brilliant touchdown drive in the Yale Bowl for a nail-biting 24-21 Dartmouth win over the Elis.

The victory, the first of the come from behind variety in the hallowed Yale Bowl since the Mickey Beard era of 1965, broke a four game losing skein to the Elis and kept Dartmouth atop the Ivy League heap with a perfect 4-0 record at the end of October.

"That was without a doubt the best win we've had since I've been here," said six year coach Joe Yukica. "That was quite a win." Yukica, on occasion, can be a master of understatement. Dartmouth's comeback without the services of seven key starters lost for the season with injuries was more along the lines of spectacular.

When Yale scored the first three times it had the ball, Polsinello and company were backed up against a wall. But a field goal by sophomore soccer - styler Craig Saltzgaber and a TD blast from the three by junior Richard Weissman narrowed the gap to 21-10 at the half, an exact reversal of the 1982 half time score.

After surrendering 118 yards passing in the first half, the Green cut that number in half by allowing only 59 yards through the air in the final two quarters. More importantly, after running up 21 points in the first half, Yale was shut out after the break.

After taking over on the Yale 48 yard line following a short punt midway through the third period, Dartmouth needed only six plays to narrow the difference to 21-17. Key completions to fullback Rich Lena and Weissman kept the drive alive, and Weissman got the points on a one-yard run.

Still trailing by four at the start of the fourth period, Dartmouth had to stop Yale three times in Big Green territory to keep alive hopes for a victory. And it was obvious that when Dartmouth got the ball on its own 20 with exactly 2:30 left, it was the Green's final chance. Enter Polsinello, the nation's second-rated quarterback in Division 1 AA, who replaced starter Mike Cara iello in the second quarter when the latter injured ligaments in his right hand. "I didn't panic," said Polsinello calmly. "There wasn't time to panic. I kept saying all along that we were going to win it, but I'm not sure Coach believed me with 2:30 to play."

The winning drive covered 80 yards in six plays. And for the most part, the key play was" 490 X Post, a dandy item that comes in handy during a hurry-up offense. While the offensive line beats back the defense, the play calls for one of four options to develop. In three of them, the quarterback can throw to Jack Daly as the wide receiver or Matt Burke as the tight end or Weissman as the safety valve. Burke caught two passes in that last ditch drive, one for 19 yards and the other for 16, before he rumbled out of bounds at the Yale 22.

And with less than a minute to play, it was 490 X Post again and the fourth option developed as junior Mike Viccora ran a 16 yard dig. Polsinello held his ground and threaded the ball to Viccora at the five-yard line, and the junior miraculously squeezed between the Yale defenders and into the end zone.

"Last year we led them by 21-10 at the half and they came back to win," reflected Yukica. "Some strange things happen when we get together in this place."

Seven Starters Sidelined

After a worrisome 1-3 overall start, Dartmouth geared up for the Ivy title drive at Harvard with a 28-12 victory against the Crimson. But the win was tempered somewhat by the loss of three starters co-captain Dave Fuhrman, an inside linebacker; senior offensive tackle Tom Broadhead; and senior outside linebacker Joe Moore. The three shared the same ward at Dick's House with back-up offensive lineman Brad Kliber, with all four undergoing knee surgery. After surgery on Tuesday, Fuhrman mastered his crutches well enough to give an inspirational speech in freezing temperatures at Friday's Dartmouth Night festivities, October 21.

Joining those four on the sidelines are a handful of back up players plus starters Mike Patsis and Bill Rossi on defense and Slade Schuster and Chris Michalski on offense. "It's the craziest thing," said Yukica. "I've never gone through a season with this many injuries."

The good news is the development of several understudies, including Len Fontes, whose father is secondary coach with the New York Giants. Fontes, whose listing at 5-10, 200 pounds in the football program is generous, recovered a fumble and picked off three passes against Harvard to tie a school record. Junior linebackers Ed Simpson and Peter Wade also blossomed in the face of adversity.

A Green First

It has never before happened in Dartmouth athletic history. Junior Jim Sapienza won the Heptagonal Cross Country championship for the second straight year, fighting off a painful cramp and Harvard's Andy Gerken for a six-second victory at Van Cortlandt Park,

No runner has repeated since Army's Curt Alitz won the race in 1976 and 1977. Sapienza now sets his sights on the IC4A and NCAA Champions hips in November. Sophomore Frank Powers turned in an All Ivy performance as well, finishing fourth as Dartmouth took fourth in both the men's and women's team competitions.

Freshman Ellen O'Neil was the first Big Green women's finisher at fifth, and junior Kathy Olney was right behind. O'Neil had never seen the tricky Van Cortlandt Park course but that didn't prevent her from being the first freshman across the line.

A Greens First

The Dartmouth women's golf team won the first tournament in its young history, edging James Madison by a single, slim shot for the first ever ECAC crown. Junior captain Sue Johnson carried her spectacular summer season into the fall by sweeping medalist honors with rounds of 76-77 153 on her home course of Hanover Country Club.

Dartmouth followed that up with invitational wins at Princeton and Mt. Holyoke to close the fall season. "The ECAC championship means we have established ourselves as one of the top programs in the East' said Coach Izzy Emslie Johnson (no relation).

"It means all the players know what it's like to be a champion," concluded Coach Johnson.

The Sprint out Pass

A higher than average completion rate of 60 percent is what Coach Yukica expects in the passing game. And the sprint out is one of the basic passing strategies.

The pros call it the moving pocket, but no matter in the college or pro ranks, the quarterback takes the snap and sprintsout, usually with two backs blocking while the receivers "flood" an area. And if the defense can't "contain," the quarterback poses a running threat.

"When it's mixed with some dropback or partial sprint plays, the sprintout can be a high producer. And that's what we assess at the end of a game," said Yukica.

It takes a mobile quarterback to make the sprint out work, and this year's twosome of senior Frank Polsinello and junior Mike Caraviello both fit the mold.

"And there are a lot of variations that work off this play, too," said Yukica. "This is another base play that easily adapts to situation plays."

But there's more to Dartmouth football than the sprint out. That is just one page in the Dartmouth playbook that measures a hefty two inches thick for the defense and one and a half inches high for just the offensive bacK field.

There are also whole lists of codes to memorize and execute routinely like Zip, Zap, and Zoom. There's Rip Away 18 or Rip to 18. There's Hum and Ham.

"We're working with smart athletes," said Yukica with a knowing smile. "They don't have any problems memorizing the material."

The game plan for Saturday actually takes shape on the preceding Sunday when Coach Yukica and his staff develop about 95 percent of it so the quarterbacks can have the plays before Monday's practice.

After that come the daily practice sessions to implement and execute. And on top of all that, the all important "check" system must be developed, enabling the quarterback to change the play at the line of scrimmage if there's something bothersome about the defensive alignment.

"There's always more than one answer," said Yukica. "Both Frank and Mike developed very fast in this area as sophomores and they use tremendous imagination, instinct and ability. And there's nothing more gratifying than watching a check develop into a big run or big pass," he added.

The Big Green fans were jubilant as junior Mike Viccora carried the ball into theend zone for a last-minute, game-winning touchdown against the Elis in theYale Bowl on October 29.

Cross country record setter Jim Sapienza added another feather to his capwith his second consecutive championship at the Heptagonals.

The sprint-out pass, a single page out of a two-inch-thick Big Green playbook, is oneof the basic football passing strategies and a consistent choice for this year's highlymobile quarterback, Frank Polsinello '84.