In a surgical destruction of the hapless Rams, the Big Green football machine rebounded from a tough opening week loss to Pennsylvania, pounding Fordham 34-14.
Well, sort of.
Dartmouth, now 1-1, did win handily, but not before a hideous first 21 minutes tattooed with four quick punts, two interceptions and a fumble.
Dartmouth notched its first touchdown on a drive it started from Fordham's 11 yard line. Co-Captain Pete Oberle '96 capped the drive, plowing through the Ram's front line from the four to give the Big Green a 6-0 lead.
Four possessions later, Fordham answered in convincing fashion. Ram safety Dave Gaffney snagged starting senior quarterback Ren Riley's 43-yard heave fromthe arms of a Big Green wide receiver to give Fordham the ball at their own two.
Fordham's offensive corps then took over, and after just barely escaping senior nose tackle Jeff English's near quarterback sack in their own end zone, the Rams advanced 98 yards down the gridiron in 10 plays to take the lead 7-6.
Two possessions later, Rileyhad to leave the game with a concussion, prompting Coach John Lyons to hand the offensive reigns over to fleet-footed quarterback John Aljancic '97.
Aljancic, who had gotten some playing time in relief in the previous game against Pennsylvania, soon after steered the Big Green offense back on track.
The Big Green attackers finally started clicking again starting with a seven play, 54-yard march on their final possession of the first half. A monstrous block from tight end Darren Gaffney '97 allowed Aljancic to trot in for a 12-7 Dartmouth lead.
In the second half, Dartmouth left the majority of its blown chances and inconsistency behind. On Dartmouth's second possession, the Big Green set the tone for the remainder of the day. Aljancic, on second and seven from the Fordham 39, launched a spiral to Eric Morton '97 in the end zone to put Dartmouth up for good, 21-7.
"It was a real good ball by Aljancic, and he had good protection," Lyons said, "and Eric [Morton] just ran by the secondary and made a diving catch."
Though Fordham did respond late in the third quarter with a quick 30 yard incision through the Dartmouth defense to narrow the gap, it was the Aljancic to Morton connection that proved to turn the momentum around for good in Dartmouth's favor.
Dartmouth scored its next touchdown on a five play, 36-yard drive that ended with another Aljancic touchdown run. Fullback Pete Sperger '98 highlighted that drive with a 21-yard rush to the Fordham five, setting up the Aljancic sneak two plays later.
The icing on the cake in this game came complements of outside linebacker Dan Liebsh '98, who blocked his second Fordham punt to give the Big Green the ball at the Fordham 20.
Wide receiver Morton broke just free enough from his defender once again, and Aljancic deposited the pigskin to Morton, who was then tackled at the one.
That left fullback Robert Corso '98 to do the finishing touches, as he paved a one-yard hole through the line of scrimmage to clinch the wallop, 34-14.
On defense, Dartmouth's hardworking 11 once again silenced early-season concern's about their effectiveness. Inside linebackers Brian Schmidt '97 and Mark Abel '97 had 10 tackles apiece, and right tackle Scott Hapgood '97 and co-Captain outside linebacker Taran Lent '96 each added two sacks.
Lyons was happy to see the game finally turn in Big Green's favor, but not satisfied with the first-quarter detour Dartmouth had to endure.
"We just didn't really get in a rhythm offensively [early on], and we continued to hurt ourselves in turnovers, and that's one thing we've been stressing to work on," Lyons said.
As for next week against Cornell (1-1) for Dartmouth's first home game of the year, Lyons is optimistic but cautious.
"Although we put 34 points on the board we did a lot of things to hurt ourselves; we had too many penalties ... [and] five turnovers. We just can't have that type of thing" [next week].
