It's five straight Octobers now that a struggling Dartmouth football team has found itself rejuvenated after playing Harvard.
This time Dartmouth did it by a 28-12 count. Saturday afternoon at the Stadium.
For the fifth straight year. Crimson Coach Joe Restic was left wondering just what had happened after it was over. "I don't know what it is," he said in his post-mortem. "We go into this game every year--something crazy happens to us, something that turns our week around."
Last year, it was having his top two quarterbacks sidelined with injuries: this year it was a host of injuries that either kept first-stringers out of the starting lineup or out of the game.
A thigh injury kept halfback Mark Vignali, Harvard's leading rusher, from starting, and put a heavy burden in the early going on wingback-turned-halfback Steve Ernst (11 carries in the first quarter). Cornerback John Dailey still has fluid in his right knee; he didn't play. Neither did defensive tackle Barry Ford, nor linebacker Andy Nolan, whose deep thigh bruise has calcified, restricting his mobility. And Restic's usual backup QB, Brian White, was unavailable for action, suffering from a blood clot in his throwing arm.
On the field, what killed the Crimson was turnovers--seven of them. They were really the whole story of the game; the two teams were roughly even in almost every other statistical category. Harvard had 17 first downs: the Big Green, 16. Harvard outgained its visitors in total yardage, 335-325. Jim Villanueva's average punt was seven-tenths of a yard longer than what Richard Bayless typically kicked for Dartmouth.
But the Dartmouth defense, which had intercepted one pass in its previous four games, snagged three of starting quarterback Chuck Colombo's losses and one of replacement Greg Gizzi's throws. And it fell on three of Harvard's four fumbles.
Before the game the Crimson coaches stressed to their charges the importance of taking advantage of their strong punting game. "We lost that because we turned the ball over," Restic said. With Villanueva's punting average close to 40 yards (though it was 32.5 Saturday), the Harvard mentor figured it this way: "A back who carries for 100 yards on 20 carries, if he fumbles twice, you subtract 80 yards [in lost field position] and he's got a one yard per carry average."
It was after the first period that the turnovers had an obvious difference, as drives of 45 and 27 yards were enough to create two Dartmouth touchdowns. Harvard scored once in the wake of a Big Green turnover, after reserve defensive back Bill Hyland intercepted to set up the game's final TD, with five minutes remaining.
Three big gainers were enough to give the visitors a 14-6 advantage in the opening period. Harvard controlled the game for all of one possession, with Steve O'Brien and Ernst taking short Colombo passes for long gains, the latter for a touchdown just 3:01 into the game. After Villanueva kicked his extra-point try wide to the left, Dartmouth's potent air attack quickly erased the Crimson lead.
On the Big Green's third play from scrimmage, quarterback Frank Polsinello heaved one 36 yards over the middle; his star split end Jack Daly took it there and carried it to the Crimson 12, for a 53-yard gain. Three plays later, Polsinello found Daly in the end zone.
Late in the quarter, Dartmouth took the ball on its own 13-yard line but two big plays ate up ground quickly. Fullback Rich Lena found a hole on the right side of the line and pulled away for a 33-yard gain. Three plays later, a Polsinello pass to Mattey Lopes gained 44 more yards, bringing the Green to the Crimson 13. The afternoon's second Polsinello-to-Daly TD soon followed.
Just past the midway mark of the second quarter Colombo threw the first of his three passes that fell into the wrong hands, as linebacker Len Fontes picked one off. K.C. Smith retaliated for Harvard, taking the ball right out of Daly's hands barely a minute later, but Fontes, not to be outdone, grabbed his second interception to give the Green the ball at the Harvard 45. Five plays later it was a 21-6 lead for Dartmouth.
Fontes victimized Colombo for the third time early in the second half, running the ball back from midfield to the Crimson 27. Ten running plays were enough to produce the final Big Green score four and a half minutes later.
Late in the third quarter, Restic sent senior Greg Gizzi in to do the rest of the signal-calling. In the final quarter, the Crimson out-gained the Green and controlled the ball more than three-fifths of the period. And after Hyland's second interception gave Harvard the ball on the Dartmouth 38, Gizzi directed the Crimson's second scoring drive, culminating in a pitch to Vignali for a one-yard run.
Restic, realizing that his quarterback situation is still far from settled, called Gizzi's performance "deceptive." "You bring someone in at that stage of the game and there's no pressure on him. He did well, but don't get carried away by that."
Gizzi completed eight of 12 passes, for the same yardage Colombo had--95. He followed Colombo's example in a different way on the game's penultimate play, passing into the arms of Dartmouth's Ed Simpson.
THE NOTEBOOK: Dartmouth's Lena gained 108 yards on just 17 carries--a 6.4 yards-per-rush average. H--Steve Ernst 21 pass from Chuck Colombo (Jim Villanueva kick failed) D--Jack Daly 9 pass from Frank Polsinello (Craig Seltzgaber kick) D--Daly 23 pass from Polsinello (Seltzgaber kick) Richard Weiseman 17 run (Saltzgaber kick) D--Richard Lena 1 run (Saltzgaber kick) H--Mark Vignali 1 run (Greg Gizzi pass to Steve O'Brien falled) Att.--22,724.
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