Dartmouth Outmuscles Boston College to Advance to the Northeast Semi-finals

Saturday’s 50-8 win over Boston College was a bittersweet one for the Dartmouth seniors. Consisting of only four active players and prop Matt Dricoll ’10, who is out for the fall season with a knee injury, what the group has lacked in quantity they have made up for in quality of play and leadership to guide a young Dartmouth side. Each senior knew his four year career would see its last match on Brophy field when the Big Green ran out to face the Boston College Eagles, and only a win would keep Dartmouth playing for one more week.

“We were the first class to play all four years here [on Brophy Field] and it has been tremendously humbling to add to the tradition of the DRFC,” said Dartmouth senior and co-captain Mike DiBenedetto. “I remember our first game here as freshmen [a 5-7, last second loss to the Harvard freshmen] and what an emotional game that was for us. It was great to go out with a big win against a competitive, physical BC side and, on behalf of the seniors, I want to thank all the underclassmen for their efforts today. I am honored to have played my final game here with such fine men as these.”

Boston College opened the match firing with intensity, giving the Big Green everything they could handle at the contact point. Carried by early tries by Charlie Grant ’10, the Dartmouth side was able to establish a 10-5 lead it would never relinquish. “We kept a lot of pressure on them throughout and a lot of our opportunities came from that pressure… We did a great job supporting each other and we are hoping to keep up that sustained effort to finish out the last week of the season,” said Grant.

A heads-up steal in a maul at midfield from senior lock Tay Stevenson ’10 sparked a Dartmouth try finished by Chris Downer ’11 to end the first half, giving the men in Green the momentum going into a second half that would see Dartmouth score 26 unanswered points to close out the match.

“This is obviously a disappointing result for us,” said BC captain Conor Hynes ’10. “Dartmouth gave us more than we could handle… They showed us how the game is supposed to be played.” Eugene Montjoy, Head Coach of the Boston College side, echoed his captain’s comments: “We were outplayed by a better team… Phenomenal performances by [Paul] Jarvis [‘12] and [Will] Lehmann [’12] and great sportsmanship by Dartmouth coach Alex Magleby [‘00]. We wish Dartmouth the best of luck.”

Lehmann remarked, “I give credit to the BC side for maintaining their intensity for the entire 80 minutes; the score-line does not reflect the fight they put up, particularly in the first half.” Lehmann’s four tries, and subsequent conversions by Derek Fish ’12 and Tommy Brothers ’11, accounted for half of the Big Green’s offensive output on the day. “With regards to the tries I scored, they were all set up by a team effort. In no situation did I do all the work myself and I just happened to be the beneficiary of all the hard work the team put in.”

Boston College wraps up its fall campaign at the same place it started; “We wanted to get back to Hanover [after the Royall Lyme Classic], but obviously things didn’t go the way we wanted [today.]… We did some good things [this season], but we have a lot to improve on going forward.” The Eagles return a number of their starters next year.

“BC is a well-coached, physical side that made us work today. Coach Montjoy & BC have the makings of a good program,” said Magleby. “As for us, we have some work to do this week if we are to be successful next Saturday.” 

Dartmouth will look to continue its season when it takes on Syracuse next Saturday, November 14 in West Point, New York as Army plays host to the Northeastern Territorial semi-finals and finals. Syracuse defeated Harvard 36-19. A win on Saturday would put the Big Green in a position to win its first Northeast championship in over a decade and guarantee them a bid to the National Sweet Sixteen this spring.