Dartmouth Football Falls to Holy Cross, 28-16, Despite a Late Rally

Saturday, October 15

Worcester, Mass.

TBA

Dartmouth College

1-4

Holy Cross

5-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Dartmouth

Holy Cross

Dartmouth Football Falls to Holy Cross, 28-16, Despite a Late Rally

10/14/2005 8:00:00 PM | Football

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Oct. 15, 2005

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WORCESTER, Mass. - Fitton Field was flooded and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney had declared a state of emergency. Both were ominous signs of foreshadowing for the Dartmouth football team as it was outplayed for three quarters before staging a late rally. The Crusaders' Steve Silva set two school records as Holy Cross held on for a 28-16 victory on Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the Big Green falls to 1-4 on the season while the Crusaders improve to 5-2 overall. Silva set records with 353 all purpose yards and 167 punt return yards. The senior captain rushed for one touchdown, threw for another and had an 87 yard punt return for a touchdown.

"In the first half we did a poor job of protecting the passer and we dropped a number of passes. We challenged the guys in the guys at the half to step up. We knew it had to be a complete effort," said Big Green coach Buddy Teevens.

Dartmouth, which managed just 100 yards of total offense through the first three quarters, piled up 218 yards of offense in the fourth quarter alone, sparked by two long touchdown drives. The Big Green put together a 12-play, 84 yard drive, capped by a Josh Cohen to Sam Seiberling nine-yard touchdown pass and after Holy Cross was forced to punt, Cohen engineered a 7-play, 94 yard drive that was topped off when Ryan Fuselier caught Cohen's 11-yard touchdown pass.

Cohen finished with 290 yards passing for Dartmouth, completing 25 of his 44 tosses. Fuselier hauled in eight receptions for 90 yards and Jason Raiti, Seiberling, and Brett Lowe had three catches apiece. Jason Bash gained 22 yards on seven carries to lead the Big Green on the ground.

Holy Cross took control of the game in the first half. Quarterback John O'Neil tossed a three-yard pass to Gideon Akande to give the Crusaders an early 7-0 lead with 5:41 left in the first quarter. Silva completed a six-yard pass to Sean Gruber at the start of the second quarter and then followed that up by scoring on a one-yard touchdown run with 9:42 left in the half to give Holy Cross a 21-0 advantage. He closed out a dominant second quarter with his 87-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Silva finished with 132 yards rushing and had eight receptions for 39 yards. O'Neil was 15 for 27 for 132 yards.

The Big Green will be in action again next Saturday, October 22, when it hosts Columbia at Memorial Field.