Dartmouth Football Season Begins at Colgate
9/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football, Athletics
The Raiders have won eight of the past nine meetings with the lone Big Green triumph coming in 2005. But it took an incredible second-half surge a year ago for Colgate to pull off a victory in Hanover, N.H. Trailing 28-0 early in the third quarter, the Raiders tied the score in a span of just under 15 minutes of game time, then booted the winning field goal in the overtime period for a 31-28 win.
Dartmouth is looking not only to return the favor, but pick up its first victory at Colgate in this its seventh attempt. Four of the six losses, however, have been by no more than four points.
The two schools have played each other in each of the past six seasons, and although Colgate has won five of those games, again, four of the six have gone down to the wire with the difference being five points or less.
The Big Green is looking to junior quarterback Alex Jenny (Wayland, Mass.) to lead the offense. This is just his second collegiate start, but he saw enough action last year to complete 51.6 percent of his passes for 484 yards and five touchdowns.
Jenny will have targets with experience in senior wide receivers Philip Galligan (Moraga, Calif.) and Eric Paul (The Woodlands, Texas). Galligan hauled in 25 passes in 2007 while Paul snared 15 with three touchdowns in just three games before his season was cut short by injury.
Dartmouth features a balanced offensive attack with a solid corps of running backs led by senior tri-captain Milan Williams (Mobile, Ala.), one of 23 Big Green players ever to rush for 1,000 yards in a career.
On the other side of the ball, Dartmouth features an improved defensive presence. Senior tri-captain Andrew Dete (Marietta, Ga.) is a four-year starter who patrols the middle of the field at linebacker. The Big Green also welcomes back strong safety Ian Wilson (Burbank, Calif.), he of the more than 200 career tackles, who had his senior year in 2007 end abruptly with an injury.
This is the first of six televised games for Dartmouth this year, with Time Warner Sports in central New York providing the coverage at Colgate. To listen to the Dartmouth Radio Network team of Bob Lipman and Wayne Young '72, Big Green fans can tune into WFRD 99.3 FM in Hanover or log on to DartmouthSportsRadio.net to hear the action over the internet. Colgate is also video streaming the game at a cost of $5.95 for the lone event.
