Home Opener Against Sacred Heart on Tap This Saturday

The Game: Sacred Heart (1-2) at Dartmouth (1-0)
Location: Memorial Field, Hanover, N.H.
Kickoff: Saturday, Sept. 25 at 1:30 p.m.
Series Record: First Meeting
Radio: WFRD 99.3 FM
Video, Audio Streams (All provided free of charge this weekend)
Live Stats
Complete Game Notes

Home-Opening Harbinger
For the first time in 13 years, Dartmouth is playing its home opener while in possession of a winning record after trouncing Bucknell in the second half last Saturday for a 43-20 victory. The Big Green outscored the host Bison by a 34-0 margin in the second half while scoring the game's final 37 points.

The Green are hopeful that winning its season opener on the road will lead to great things like it did the last time it occurred in 1997, the most recent Dartmouth team to enjoy a winning record at 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the league to place second.

While the Big Green are also in search of back-to-back victories for the first time since 2003, first-time opponent Sacred Heart will be standing in the way. Dartmouth has not played a new opponent since defeating Davidson in 1987 here at Memorial Field, 38-7.

The Bucknell game was a tale of two halves for the Big Green defense as the Bison managed to put up 296 yards and 20 points in the first 30 minutes, then just 71 yards with nary a tally over the final half hour. Junior linebacker Tyler Melancon and fellow junior end Eddie Smith each had a sack as Dartmouth gradually put more pressure on the quarterback as the game progressed. Sophomore linebacker Garrett Wymore led the Green with seven tackles.

The offense put on a display of firepower not seen by Dartmouth fans in eight years with 481 yards of total offense. Only in the 20-17 double-overtime triumph against Cornell last year have the Green topped that figure. Over the last 35 years, when Dartmouth has gained at least 450 yards, it owns a record of 32-9.

Accounting for 273 of those 481 yards was junior tailback Nick Schwieger, 216 of which came on the ground making him just the second Dartmouth player to top 200 rushing yards in a game twice in a career. Last year the All-Ivy first-teamer set a then-school record with 242 yards against Columbia.

Schwieger wasn't the only Big Green player piling up the yards. Junior Shawn Abuhoff showed why he is one of the most dangerous return men in the Ivy League with 138 yards on special teams returns. Combined with his 56-yard touchdown on an interception return, he nearly topped 200 yards of all-purpose yards as Schwieger did.

For Dartmouth to continue to be successful on offense, it will need to keep the balanced attack it featured against Bucknell — 269 rushing yards and 212 passing yards. Junior quarterback Conner Kempe, making his ninth career start, had one of his most efficient games, by completing 17-of-23 passes for 211 yards and a personal-best three touchdowns. Schweiger was his favorite target, teaming up with the tailback five times, while spreading the wealth a bit as four other receivers each caught three passes.

Two of the three snared by junior wideout Michael Reilly culminated in the end zone, one a 41-yard bomb on the final play of the third quarter to put the Green up, 29-20. Senior tri-captain Tim McManus made his return to the field after sitting out the entire 2009 campaign with a broken leg, collecting three passes for 39 yards.

One area that Dartmouth is striving to improve is its kicking game. Two extra-point attempts were blocked, and a 35-yard field goal sailed wide right early in the game. Granted, the Green aren't entirely sure if they need to improve its punting — they didn't punt once in the game, the first time that had happened in 19 years.

In conjunction with the debut of the new DartmouthSports.com web site, the video stream is being provided free of charge on Big Green insider.

Scouting the Pioneers
Playing its 20th season of football, Sacred Heart has gotten off to a 1-2 start in the 2010 season. The Pioneers pulled off a scintillating 28-25 victory at Marist to start the season, but has since dropped its last two games, including a 41-0 defeat at St. Francis (Pa.) last Saturday.

The problem last week was interceptions as Sacred Heart quarterbacks were picked off seven times by the host Red Flash, the last two in the end zone. Fifth-year senior Dale Fink, who entered the season with 11 Sacred Heart passing records including close to 6,000 yards, completed just 13-of-32 for 72 yards with four interceptions. Despite the turnovers, the Pioneers managed to have the ball more than half the game, a testament to a running game that picked up 149 yards on the ground.

Marcel Archer, a transfer from Central Michigan, pushed his way for 80 yards on 17 carries while Gregory Ibe nearly matched him with 79 on just 11 attempts. The tandem has combined for nearly 400 yards in the first three contests and average just under five yards every time they take a handoff.
Despite Fink's throwing woes at St. Francis, he still has completed 61.4 percent (62-of-101) of his passes, so he will be a dangerous weapon with which the Dartmouth defense will have to contend. His favorite targets have been Rich Rossi and Mark Uyeno, who have 14 catches apiece, but no less than 13 players have caught passes already this season. On short-yardage plays, watch for the play-action pass to Archer out of the backfield, especially near the goal line — he has six receptions for just 17 yards but two touchdowns.

The defense has struggled to keep opponents off the scoreboard, allowing an average of nearly 34 points a game to date. Each time the opposition has advanced to the red zone, it has scored (10 touchdowns, one field goal). Linebackers Mike Zambarano and Chris Mandas each have 20 tackles and an interception, while five of end Justin Embler's 20 tackles have gone for a loss.

Special teams have gone quite well for the Pioneers with punter Robert Shepard averaging 41.6 yards per punt and Jesper Fredriksson providing a big leg for placekicking duties; he already has a 46-yard field goal to his credit in two attempts. Jo Jo Jamiel has the name for a good punt returner and has been solid, while Garry Coles is the big threat on kickoff returns.

Paul Gorham was hired as Sacred Heart's seventh football coach in July of 2004 after compiling 18 years of experience in the trenches as an assistant at the FCS and Division II levels with stops at Massachusetts, Brown, New Haven and his alma mater, New Hampshire. Through six-plus years, he has guided the Pioneers to a 26-40 record. A 1984 graduate of the New Hampshire, Gorham was an All-Yankee Conference tight end in 1983 for the Wildcats.

Second-Half Surge
Trailing Bucknell at the half, 20-9, the Big Green barreled their way to 34 unanswered points in the second stanza to win their first season opener in five years, 43-20. The 43 points were the second most for Dartmouth over the past eight seasons, topped only by the 59-point outburst versus Cornell in 2007.

The Green actually trailed by 14 late in the first half, the largest deficit overcome by Dartmouth since beating Princeton in 1999. That Dartmouth squad trailed 18-0 before squeaking out a 19-18 triumph.

Schwieger Shines at Bucknell
•    Junior Nick Schwieger galloped his way to 216 yards rushing against the Bison in the season opener, the sixth most ever by a Big Green runner.
•    He also caught five passes for 57 yards, giving him 273 all-purpose yards, which ranks third all-time behind Tom Spangenberg '64 (353) and Al Rosier '91 (274).
•    With his 216 rushing yards, Schwieger became just the second player in Dartmouth history to top 200 in a game twice in a career. His other 200-yard game came last year against Columbia when he set a then-school-record with 242 on the ground. David Clark '90 accomplished the feat during the 1989 season, collecting 219 against Penn and 202 versus Brown.
•    For his performance, Schwieger was named the Ivy League Co-Offensive Player of the Week and the Gridiron Club of Boston Gold Helmet Award winner, both for the second time in his career.

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