Five first downs. 175 total yards. 26 yards on 29 carries. That was all the offense had to show for their 60 minutes of play last weekend at Penn. They vowed this week would be different.
Tewnty first downs. 154 yards rushing. Three touchdown passes by Pete Sellers '98. 35 points. They were right.
Dartmouth added a solid effort from the offense to go with the continued strong play of the defense and special teams to blow away Holy Cross, 35-6 on the road Saturday afternoon. The win over the Patriot League foe raised the Big Green's record to 2-0 and extended their unbeaten streak to 19 games, the longest in college football.
The game was exactly as the Big Green hoped to script it as the defense and special teams made big plays, helping to set up the young and inexperienced offense that had struggled in their first game. Holy Cross didn't waste anytime giving away the game as they went for a fake-punt in their own territory on their first possesion of the game, but were shut down by Dartmouth's special teams.
The offense was not about to waste the opportunity of starting a drive at the Holy Cross 42 yard-line. Faced with their first test of the day, Sellers drilled a 17-yard completion to Ken Bollens '98 on third-and-nine to keep the drive alive. Tailback Dylan Karczewski '99 took care of the remainder of the drive with a 14-yard burst before capping the drive with a nine-yard toucdown scamper to put the Big Green up 7-0, providing them with the only score they would need to win the game.
"It was important for us to come out and score on that first drive," Sellers said. "By faking the punt in their own territory, we felt that Holy Cross wasn't respecting our offense because of the way we played against Penn. With that in mind, we went onto the field knowing we were going to get into the end zone."
However, it seemed as if Dartmouth's troubles had returned as they struggled in their next two possesions by turning the ball over, the second time on a fumble in the red zone. But Holy Cross continually hurt themselves with penalties, including one possesion where the Crusaders backed themselves into a third-and-57 yard situation inside their own five-yard line after reaching mid-field earlier in the drive. Combining those mistakes with a blocked field goal by the Big Green, the Crusaders were unable to mount a sustained attack on offense.
After the team was successful in its goal in stopping the Holy Cross running game, Holy Cross tried to move the ball through the air but found the skies to be not so friendly. Brad Verber's '99 first of two interceptions on the afternoon gave the ball to the offense on the other side of the 50-yard line once again, and once again, the offense took advantage.
Sellers wasted no time marching up the field as he opted to get the ball in the hands of the Big Green's newest scoring threat, Karczewski. On the third play of the series, Karczewski caught a swing pass from Sellers and exploded downfield for a gain of 40 yards before being hauled down at the 2-yard line. Sellers ended the drive by finding Karczewski's backfield mate Jeff Link '98 open in the end zone on a play-action fake to extend the Big Green lead to 14-0.
Dartmouth wasn't finished with its first half scoring, as just like the week before, they added a score in the closing seconds of the first half to go up 21-0. Following a defensive stop of the Crusaders, Tom Reusser '00 brought back a Holy Cross punt to the Crusader 39 yard-line with 1:04 left to play. Dartmouth wouldn't even need all of that time as Sellers hit all five of his passes on the drive, including an 18-yard down touchdown strike to Ellis, who finished the game with eight catches for 90 yards.
"We moved the ball well on offense and got our running game going early," Sellers said. "Because they had to respect our run, they didn't play so tight on our receivers and backed off. As a result, our guys could run their patterns and make some plays."
While the offense had scored three times in the first half, it wasn't until the second half that they proved they could go on a sustained drive before getting the ball in the endzone. Verber's second interception gave the Big Green the opportunity to chew up time and increase their lead. The Big Green went on a nine-play, 73 yard drive, their longest of the season, to go ahead 28-0 following a touchdown toss from Sellers to tight end Adam Young '99, who had his finest game in a Dartmouth uniform. Young made many key blocks and caught two passes on the afternoon.
Reserve tailback Eric Davis '99 finished off the Big Green scoring on the afternoon with a 35-yard dash after Dartmouth's defense denied the Crusaders twice inside the 10-yard line, holding them scoreless on both attempts. Holy Cross scored a meaningless touchdown late in the contest to avoid the shutout.
Although the box score shows Holy Cross with 301 yard passing, the Big Green limited the Crusader offense all game with an effective pass rush, notching five sacks overall, three by tackle Brent Crombie '99.
"We couldn't really execute our usual overly aggressive blitzing defense because Holy Cross throws a lot of quick, three-step passes to slant routes and such which obviously doesnt give the defense any time to get to the quarterback," linebacker Zach Walz '98 said. "So it was really important for our front four guys to get a great rush every play and constantly get pressure, and they did a great job."
The pass rush was effective in forcing Crusader quarterback Dan Boland into bad decisions and hurried throws, allowing the secondary to contain the explosive Crusader offense, allowing only one play over 30 yards under the Big Green's bend but don't break philosophy.
"Holy Cross had pretty good receivers so it made all the difference having the defensive guys up front pressuring Boland," cornerback Brad Jefferson '98 said. "A couple of times he was forced to make real bad decisions because he had guys in his face and that allowed us to make some big plays and come up with interceptions."
Sellers finished the game by completing nearly 60 percent of his passes for 234 yards and three scores. More importantly, Dartmouth discovered its rushing attack as Karczewski gained 96 yards on the ground while adding 47 more as a reciever. Bollens was a key contributor as he hauled in four passes. The offense did struggle in holding onto the football however as Dartmouth turned the ball over three times, including two fumbles.
The Big Green will be forced to utilize all of their weapons next week when they return home to re-enter Ivy League play facing Cornell, who was the last team to beat the Big Green, two years ago tomorrow.
