Dartmouth Wins Ivy 15s Title
Hanover, NH – Saturday evening, the men in green again took to the turf at Scully-Fahey Field. This time, an Ivy League title was on the line. Dartmouth and Harvard met in the championship game after both teams won their semifinal matches the week before, over Penn and Cornell respectively. Knowing the Crimson to be a tough and worthy opponent, Dartmouth went into the match looking to implement the systems they’d worked on in the past weeks’ training and to improve from their semifinal performance. The Big Green established control early and didn’t look back on their way to a 52-3 victory in front of the home crowd.
The senior wing with two CRC rings, Kevin Clark, opened the scoring in the eighth minute as he capped off a crisp passing set from co-captains John Descalzi and Neil Greene. Clark would score four tries on the night, all coming in the first half. While Clark’s ability to find the try zone was a constant, the assists came from a variety of teammates. Captain Madison Hughes, returning from a winter spent touring with the Eagles 7s squad, representing the US at the highest international level, held his defender until the last second before hitting Clark for the second score of the match. Hughes would go on to total 10 points, all coming from conversions.
When asked for his thoughts on the match Clark commented, “Our successes in the game came from an effective week of practice and continued improvements throughout the spring. While the results on our spring tour weren't great, playing such talented teams prepared us well. Getting our captain back was the last piece of the puzzle, and with him here our attack really clicked. Having him out there inspires confidence in everyone else on the field. We played very effectively as a unit, from 1 through 15 everyone played their part on the field.”
Senior lock Dylan Jones made a stellar pass to Clark for the wing’s completion of his hat trick midway through the first segment. Clark would put one more on the board after a great downfield run by Tyler Moragne followed by a Zack Fowler trundle and an ultimate offload from center Robbie Anthony. Junior fullback Wilson Chockley would also dot one down before halftime finishing off a pass from Ryan Galloway ‘15 after the lock’s tremendous effort to wade through defenders and keep his legs churning forward.
The Big Green defense, led up front by the likes of seniors Ned Kingsley and Rett Young and junior Andrew Berson, was also staunch on the night, holding the Crimson to one second half penalty kick.
The second stanza began with a Robbie Anthony try a few minutes in off a solid passing set from Moragne and Fowler. Minutes later Brian Flint ’14 would make a heads-up play, surging through the Crimson defensive line, then biding his time until Neil Greene arrived for a timely offload. Greene would then hit Fowler to ultimately touch the ball down for five. Sophomore Jack Braun scored Dartmouth’s final points later on in the half as he powered his way over the line dragging multiple defenders with him. Moragne, who had made the pass from the ruck to a determined Braun, would make the ensuing conversion.
This half also saw several reserves get extended minutes and make the most of it. Hard runs by Mike McDavid ’15 and useful kicking and all-around play at the flyhalf position from Will Scheiman ’14 highlighted the closing minutes.
“A lot of hard work has gone into retaining our Ivy Conference Champions title. The boys have been working since August and it’s satisfying to see the planning, preparation and hard graft pay off, particularly for our seniors who have led the team by example from the start of the season,” said Dartmouth coach Gavin Hickie.
Hickie continued, "We now shift our focus to the Varsity Cup and are very excited to welcome Clemson to Hanover Next week."
As stated by Coach Hickie, action continues next Saturday in Hanover as Dartmouth hosts Clemson in the first round of the Varsity Cup. Time of kickoff for this match will be announced later in the week.