Schwieger One of Seven to Earn All-Ivy Football Honors

PRINCETON, N.J. — Dartmouth sophomore running back Nick Schwieger (Norton, Mass.) was named to the All-Ivy First Team by the league's football coaches, it was announced today. Joining Schwieger were six other Big Green players who earned All-Ivy honors — free safety Pete Pidermann (Hialeah, Fla.) and cornerback Shawn Abuhoff (Hialeah, Fla.) on the second team, and offensive tackle Alexander Toth (Bronxville, N.Y.), wide receiver Tanner Scott (Kenilworth, Ill.), tight end John Gallagher (Salem, Ore.) and place kicker Foley Schmidt (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) who received honorable mention.

Schwieger led the Ivy League with 78.3 rushing yards per game, despite missing all but one play of the final three games. His 626 rushing yards were second in the conference, just six behind fellow first-team selection Gino Gordon of Harvard, and he ran for two touchdowns. Against Columbia, Schwieger rolled to a school-record 242 yards (broken two weeks later) on 29 carries, earning conference, regional and national player of the week awards, as he led Dartmouth to a 28-6 victory to snap a 17-game losing streak. The following week he broke a finger at Harvard, effectively ending his season. His 626 yards are the third most by a Big Green rusher over the past 13 seasons.

Schwieger is the first Dartmouth running back to earn first-team honors since Al Rosier in 1991 (although Scott Wedum was a first-team fullback in 2002). He is also just the third Big Green player in the past five years to be named to the first team, joining linebacker Justin Cottrell in 2007 and defensive end Anthony Gargiulo in 2005.

Pete Pidermann

One of the Big Green co-captains, Pidermann racked up 55 tackles from his position at free safety, with one assisted tackle on a six-yard loss. The senior did a little bit of everything for Dartmouth, intercepting a pass at the goal line and returning it 17 yards in the Columbia win, breaking up three other passes during the season, and blocking two kicks. One of those blocks came on a field goal as time expired against Cornell, forcing overtime as Dartmouth rallied for a 20-17 victory in double overtime, the other was on a punt that was scooped up by a teammate and returned for a touchdown at Harvard.

Just a sophomore, Abuhoff was one of the league's top defenders in one-on-one coverage. The sophpmore cornerback tied for the league lead with 14 passes defended, including three interceptions. He also chipped in 41 tackles, 35 of which were solo, with four tackles for a loss and one sack. Abuhoff forced two fumbles, blocked a field goal in the win over Columbia and returned a defensive extra point in the season opener against Colgate. In addition to his defensive work, Abuhoff ranked second in the Ivy League in kickoff return average at 25.2 yards and averaged 8.6 yards on 11 punt returns.

Alexander Toth

Toth was the right tackle on the offensive line, starting every game for the last two years and was the lone senior up front this season for the Big Green. He didn't miss a play all season, helping to set the school single-game rushing record on two separate occasions and bolstering a line that allowed just 18 sacks on the year, the fourth fewest in the conference.

A junior walk-on, Scott worked his way up from the bottom of the depth chart in the preseason to become the leading wide receiver for Dartmouth with 45 receptions for 510 yards and three touchdowns. His 45 catches ranked seventh in the Ivy League while his 510 yards put him eighth. He was the only Big Green player to post a 100-yard receiving game this year, accomplishing the feat twice. Against a top-20 team at Holy Cross, Scott caught seven passes for a career-high 126 yards and a score, then grabbed seven more throws two weeks later at Harvard for 116 yards and a touchdown.

John Gallagher

A reliable receiver and blocker, Gallagher was a steady performer for Dartmouth as a tight end. The sophomore ranked third on the squad with 30 catches for 288 yards with one touchdown, which came at Yale. At Holy Cross he attained a career high with seven receptions, and in the season finale posted a career-best 92 yards on six catches. Gallagher, an ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District I first-team selection, caught at least three passes in seven of the 10 games this season.

Schmidt served as the Big Green place kicker for the second straight year, leading the team with 37 points. He connected on 6-of-9 field goals during the year — drilling both of his 40-yard attempts — and converting 19-of-20 PATs. It was his 40-yard field goal in the second overtime against Cornell that turned out to be the game-winner in the 20-17 victory. Schmidt was the league's special teams player of the week for his performance versus the Big Red, as he also converted a game-tying PAT in the first overtime.

Shawn Abuhoff	Tanner Scott	Foley Schmidt

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