Football

After showing a spark of promise in the second half of its opening game, won by Ivy champion Pennsylvania, 217, the Dartmouth football team came apart against New Hampshire and was routed 66-12. It was the most points scored against the Big Green since the 74-0 loss to Harvard in 1888.

In the Ivy League opener, Dartmouth did not have the defensive strength to stop Penn's powerful running game, which netted 253 yards, most of them by Comizio, who ran for 136 yards and two touchdowns. Early in the second half co-captain Dave Gabianelli engineered a 75-yard touchdown drive and brought the score to 14-7. He completed five of five passes in the drive, tossing to sophomore Craig Morton for the score. The running of Ernie Torain was the other bright spot in the Green comeback. But that was the end of Dartmouth s chance to cheer. Comizio resumed his romps through the line and soon produced another Penn touchdown for the final score of 21-7.

Although the Dartmouth ground defenses were shown to be very porous, the work of the secondary was good, and on the basis of its second-half performance the Green had hopes of improving as the season advanced. No one was even remotely expecting what happened in the New Hampshire contest. Dartmouth scored on the very first play of the game when Gabianelli connected with Craig Morton, who had outsped the Wildcat secondary. It was all downhill from that point on. New Hampshire's superior weight in the line and hard-charging backs gradually wore down the Green and the second half was a nightmare of missed tackles, fumbles, and dropped passes. New Hampshire was not trying to run up the score, although previous 40-0 and 56-6 pastings from Dartmouth could have been an incentive. They played their reserves for most of the fourth quarter, but even then they had too many horses and the yardage and the points piled up. The total UNH offense was 529 yards, 308 of it by rushing. Gabianelli was again Darmouth's top performer, completing 14 passes for 266 yards. Craig Morton cont inued to show his class as a receiver, and although tailback Torain was stifled by the Wildcat defense, Trent Pansze had one dash 22 yards for a touchdown, long after it had any meaning.