It all came down to pride for the Dartmouth football team as it squeaked by the Columbia Lions 14-13 in its final home game of the season Saturday.
Knowing that it had no chance of winning the Ivy League title, the heavily injured Big Green set out to avoid losing to Columbia for the first time since 1971 and for the first time to the Lions at Memorial Field since 1941.
The game was not pretty, but Dartmouth was able to outwork the Lions all day to earn the win, though nearly blowing it in the closing moments.
Dartmouth improved to 2-3 in the Ivy League and 4-4 overall. Columbia, which has not had a winning season in 23 years, fell to 2-3 in the league and 4-3-1 overall.
As they have been all season, the Big Green were again smitten by the injury bug. This time they lost quarterback Jerry Singleton '96 to a broken wrist, running back Mike Triplett '96 to an injured ankle and outside linebacker Eric Swanson '96 to a knee injury.
The injured players joined six other starters already sidelined: running back Pete Oberle '96, quarterback Ren Riley '96, tackle Brian Larson '97, safety Adam Scheier '95, defensive back Chris Boran '95 and co-captain outside linebacker Hunter Buckner '95.
Because of the added pressures, Coach John Lyons was understandably elated after the game, knowing that the Big Green could win, despite the loss of some major players.
"[Its] one of the most satisfying games that I've ever been through here at Dartmouth, especially after so many key injuries."
Lyons' satisfaction could easily have been anguish, though, as Dartmouth nearly gave away the win to an undeserving Columbia team.
Ahead 14-7 in the fourth quarter, the Big Green flirted with danger, but lucked out as Columbia first fumbled at the Dartmouth one yard line. The Lions did succeed on their next possession, tightening the score 14-13.
Columbia then went for the two-point conversion and the win on a passing play to 6-foot-4-inch tight-end Brian Basset in the far left corner of the end zone. But Dartmouth's half-foot-shorter and 65-pound-lighter cornerback Brian Crowell '96 came up big, tipping the ball away from the larger receiver's grasp.
Columbia got the ball back on a perfectly executed onside kick, but the Big Green defense took no chances this time as it shut the Lions down and clinched the victory.
After a poor showing against Harvard last week, Dartmouth's defense came into the game with added incentive. If it weren't for two Columbia fumbles inside the 20-yard line, the outplayed Lions might have thwarted those plans.
"We really felt like we had something to prove to ourselves, and with the fact that Boran and Buckner wouldn't play, we knew we had to pick it up a notch," said co-captain inside linebacker Josh Bloom '95.
The beat-up defense did exactly that, especially at the line, where it compiled six sacks - two by Taran Lent '96 - on Lion quarterback Jamie Schwalbe.
On offense, using a collection of rushers, timely passing and a little luck, Dartmouth penetrated the Columbia 30-yard line five times during the game, but only converted twice.
After the Lions opened the scoring with a touchdown in the 12th minute of the game, the Big Green offense quickly responded.
On the first play of the possession, Singleton showed tremendous poise as he got chased from the pocket, paused for a split second until wideout David Shearer '95 broke free and then lofted a 63-yard pass to Shearer, who was taken down from behind at the 11-yard line.
Singleton didn't get to finish the drive because two plays later he was smashed by a Columbia defender behind the line of scrimmage, ending his afternoon and his season.
In stepped Jon Aljancic '97, who ran the ball around the right end and carried a few Lion defenders with him to the Columbia one-yard line. On the next play, Aljancic again took care of business himself with a dive over center Ben Barber '95 into the end zone.
That play, the first touchdown converted by the Dartmouth offense before the fourth quarter in two weeks, deadlocked the game at seven, until Dartmouth's first drive in the second half.
Dartmouth again wasted no time, driving 74 yards in eight plays. This time, the rushing-by-committee plan worked, as tailbacks Jon Clark '96, Ambrose Garcia '97 and Zack Ellis '98 contributed 39 yards on four carries.
The catch of the drive went to Matt Puryear '95, who sacrificed his body on a passing play that most receivers dread. The crossing pattern left him vulnerable to a crushing tackle by a Lion defender, just after he pulled in the high pass.
Dartmouth finished the drive in a carbon copy of its first score, as Aljancic kept the snap and charged up the middle from the one-yard line, putting Dartmouth ahead 14-7.
The often scrambling Aljancic, who led the team in rushing with 62 yards on the day, was a big key to the Big Green victory.
Lyons was very pleased about the performance of his third starting quarterback this season.
"What Jon gave us is the ability to make things happen. He provided the spark that we needed offensively," Lyons said.
On Saturday, Dartmouth travels to Brown to face the Bears, who are 2-3 in the Ivy League and 4-4 overall after beating Harvard 23-17 Saturday.
