Dartmouth (M) Shuts Out Brown 50-nil

Dartmouth returned home this weekend for their first meeting of the season with Ivy North rival Brown.  The Bears had proved to be the Big Green’s stiffest league competition in recent years, forcing a draw oat Dartmouth's Brophy Field last year. Knowing the Bears to be a tough and worthy opponent, Dartmouth went into the match looking to implement the systems they’d worked on in training and improve from the week before.  The Big Green established control early and didn’t look back on their way to a 50-0 victory in front of the home crowd.

Captain Madison Hughes opened the scoring in the fourth minute finishing off a crisp passing set from John Descalzi ’14 and Dawit Workie ’17.  Hughes would go onto score 20 points in the first half as he added another try and slotted five conversions.  The dynamic Hughes/Workie combo kept firing as the match unfolded.  Workie would go on to score in the second half off a Hughes pass that seemed to fool everyone except the freshman flyhalf.  Inside center Colin Walmsley ’15 was also a dominant force, turning aggressive defense into offense, as he picked off two Brown passes in stride and ran them back for tries.  

Walmsley explained, “Intercepts are one of the rewards of the aggressive defense we’ve been playing this season.  We were working together really well today and put them under a lot of pressure.  It’s nice to see our team strategy working like that.”

The Big Green defense has now not conceded a point in over 160 minutes.

The second stanza saw several reserves get extended minutes and make the most of it.  Rex Littlefield ’14 showed off some real speed on the wing and made several effective offloads to teammates as well as finding the try zone himself.

“Each week we set ourselves goals and work to achieve them. This week against Brown I think we turned the corner. Our defense and discipline was good against a physical Brown team, which was very pleasing,” said Dartmouth coach Gavin Hickie.

Hickie continued, "We still have plenty of work-ons as a team but I feel we are really starting to buy into the system. As a coach, I am very satisfied with where we are right now."

Action continues next Saturday in Cambridge as Dartmouth visits Harvard. The 1st XV match is set for an 11AM kickoff with the 2nd XV to follow at 1PM. Brown will return to their home turf next week, hosting a struggling Yale squad.