Dartmouth Sweeps Weekend At Home
Hanover, NH – This weekend was another successful one for the Big Green. Dartmouth rugby faced two more Ivy League opponents at home, adding two more wins to their strong season.
Dartmouth started off the weekend with a match against Ivy powerhouse Columbia on Saturday in cool, windy conditions. The Green started scoring early, with junior lock Nate Brakeley ’12 leading the way early on with two tries of his own. Not far behind was co-Captain Chris Downer ’11, who also ran in two tries, finding the corners of Columbia’s try zone with ease. Derek Fish ’12 found the posts in one of these first four scoring drives, and Dartmouth was up 22-0 with plenty of time to spare in the first half. The rest of the first half for Dartmouth was dominated by Co-Captain Paul Jarvis ’12, who ran in four tries. Fish had better luck this time, converting two out of the four tries, putting Dartmouth ahead 41-0. Columbia attempted to mount a counterattack late in the first half, with Columbia Captain Derek Lipscomb leading the charge, but the Dartmouth defense held firm. In the second half, Jarvis kicked off the scoring with a try, followed by tries from Sam Gehret ’11 and Mike Gordon ’12.
The final score of the Columbia match was 58-0.
Next up for the Big Green were the Cornell Big Red. Dartmouth kicked off the match on Sunday at 11 am, and set the tone early on with a series of scoring drives. First up was sophomore Christian Fisch ’13, his first A-side try, followed by fullback Carl Zehner ’11. Lock Nate Brakeley ’12 ran in his third try of the weekend, followed by two more from senior Ian Hogg ‘11. Fish made two of these kicks, putting Dartmouth ahead 29-0. Senior hooker Lane Bracken ’11 added a try of his own to the pile, and Derek Fish was able to convert both Bracken’s and a try of his own, putting the Green ahead by 41. Senior prop Dave Gomez ’11 finished out the half with a try, bringing Dartmouth’s first-half total to 48-0.
In the second half, seniors Carl Zehner and Ian Hogg were able to add two more tries to their tally for the weekend, putting the Green up 60-0. However, showing great determination, Cornell was able to put the ball into Dartmouth territory off of a kick and in a frenzied chase managed to find the try zone, putting 5 points on the board for the Big Red. Dartmouth responded with another try by Derek Fish ’12, who converted his own try. Finally, senior tighthead prop Charlie Grant ’11 found space off of a great pass from lock Nate Brakeley ’12, and was able to run another one in for the Green.
The final score of the match was 74-5, Dartmouth.
If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview, please call Charlie Grant at (978) 857-2851 or e‐mail Charlie at charlie [dot] grant
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