Season Coming to a Close at Home Against Princeton

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HANOVER, N.H. — The youthful Dartmouth football team is aiming to end its season on a high note when it hosts the Princeton Tigers (3-6, 2-4 Ivy) on Senior Day this Saturday on Memorial Field at 12:30 p.m. in the battle for the Sawhorse Dollar, given annually to the winner of this game since 2002. The Big Green (2-7, 2-4 Ivy) have split their last four contests and are coming off a grueling 14-7 overtime loss in the rain and mud at Brown.

For Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens, this will be his 100th game at the helm of the program in this his second stint as the head coach. He began his tenure with the Big Green in 1987 and coached through the 1991 campaign. Following terms as the head coach at Tulane and Stanford, Teevens returned to his alma mater for the 2005 season and currently has a 35-62-2 record at Dartmouth.

The Dartmouth defense held one of the best offenses in the Ivy League in check most of the day last Saturday, limiting the Bears to a single touchdown in regulation. Three times Brown started a drive inside the Big Green 30, only to be turned back without a single point each time. That Dartmouth was able to have such success while missing both starting defensive ends with injuries and featuring six sophomores, three freshmen, one junior and one senior on the field most of the day speaks volumes about the improvement of the squad. After yielding at least 30 points in each of the first five games, the Green have held three of the last four opponents to 10 or fewer points in regulation.

Sophomore linebacker Diego Fernandez-Soto had one of his best games with 10 tackles to lead the team, and freshman safety Garrett Waggoner earned Ivy Rookie of the Week honors for recording nine stops and breaking up two passes. The defense also blocked a field goal with five seconds to play that would have won the game for the Bears, Dartmouth's eighth blocked kick of the year. Only two other FCS teams (Eastern Kentucky, 10; Central Connecticut State, 9) have blocked more kicks.

The offense, meanwhile, struggled to produce as it was bogged down by the unceasing rain, amassing just 221 yards on the day. Freshman quarterback Greg Patton, who ran for a school-record 243 yards in his first varsity game the week before, could only muster 35 yards on the ground against the 11th-ranked rushing defense in the FCS as Dartmouth finished the day with 60 yards running the ball. Patton did have some success throwing the ball, completing 7-of-10 passes for 145 yards, including a screen pass to sophomore receiver Michael Reilly that turned into a 77-yard score, the longest pass play of the year for the Big Green and the ninth longest in the program's history.

Both teams have similar statistical rankings nationally on both offense and defense, so perhaps the game will come down to special teams play, where Dartmouth has a decided advantage. With sophomore Shawn Abuhoff returning punts and kickoffs, the Green have one of the top return men in the Ivy League. Princeton, however, ranks last nationally in punt return average at less than two yards per return, and among the bottom five teams in kickoff returns. The Tigers are also just 4-of-8 on field goals with three of the four misses being blocked. That plays right into the Big Green's aforementioned kick-blocking ability, which has been partially responsible for Dartmouth's opponents connecting on just 6-of-19 field goals this year, including only one of the last 10.

Princeton has won the last five meetings between the two schools and seven of the last eight, including a 28-10 triumph last year in New Jersey, and the all-time series is deadlocked at 42-42-4. Tiger running back Jordan Culbreath ran for 276 yards in that game, but will not be available this year as he continues a battle against aplastic anemia, a life-threatening disease in which bone marrow does not produce enough blood cells. Last week Princeton may have finally found a suitable replacement for Culbreath in Kenny Gunter who ran for 119 yards on 23 carries and one touchdown in a 24-17 victory over Yale.

The last Big Green win in the series came in Hanover in 2003, 21-15, although the loss two years ago came in overtime, 17-14.

The game will be broadcast by WFRD 99.3 FM out of Hanover with Bob Lipman calling the action and Wayne Young '72 providing analysis. Big Green fans can also listen over the internet at www.DartmouthSportsNetwork.com, or watch the video stream of the game live through the Big Green Insider section of the official Dartmouth athletics web site, www.DartmouthSports.com.

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