Monday, April 14, 2014

Two-Sport Stars


The Dartmouth rugby team claimed its 14th Ivy League title in 17 years last week with a 52-3 thrashing of Harvard. Senior Robbie Anthony, who wrapped up his career as a wide receiver on the Dartmouth football team in the fall with 16 catches for 131 yards and one touchdown, had the following to say about beating the Crimson for the title in a Q&A pulled together by The Dartmouth:
"I hadn’t beaten Harvard in football yet, except in a couple of scrimmages, which don’t count. It was nice to look at the scoreboard and see us beating Harvard by 50 points. We expect to win that every year, so I guess the celebration was a little more muted than you would expect, but it was still fun. It’s still cool to say we won the Ivy League Championship."

With another Ivy League title safely in hand, the Big Green returned to action Saturday in the Varsity Cup, billed as the "nation's premier XV tournament." Ironically, Anthony found himself lined up against Clemson, where he walked on to the football team and played one semester of rugby before transferring to Dartmouth. The Big Green again won handily, defeating the Tigers, 59-24, to earn a round-of-eight matchup against powerhouse BYU.

Anthony has been joined on the Dartmouth rugby team this spring by three teammates who played a little football in Hanover: former defensive end Zack Fowler, former defensive lineman Max Kingsley and former running back Pedro Robinson.
While Anthony was running up and down Brophy Field, fellow receiver Bo Patterson was helping the Dartmouth baseball team take three out of four games against division-leading Yale at Biondi Park. Patterson, who led the Big Green with six TDs on a team-high 25 catches last fall, played a key role as Dartmouth rebounded from a loss in the first game of Sunday's twinbill to win the all-important nightcap, 4-2.

After Yale scored twice in the top of the fifth of the second game, the speedy Patterson lofted a two-out fly ball that dropped in front of the Bulldog center fielder. Patterson legged it into a double, putting runners on second and third. He came around to score on a two-run double that tied the game.

The Big Green went in front with a single run in the sixth and added a critical insurance tally in the seventh when Patterson led off the inning with a ground single up the middle. He then beat the throw to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single.

The left fielder is batting .262 (the team is at .263) on 11-for-42 with two doubles and six RBIs.

Bidding for its seventh consecutive division title, Dartmouth entered the weekend three games behind Yale. After sweeping two games Saturday, the Big Green dropped the first game Sunday and by most accounts had to win the nightcap to have a realistic shot at another title.

The Big Green plays four games at Brown this weekend before home-and-home doubleheaders with Harvard the next week. Yale will be home for a pair of doubleheaders against Harvard this weekend before closing Ivy League play with home-and-home twinbills against Brown.

Dartmouth's win over Yale in the finale of the series gave head coach Bob Whalen his 499th career victory. The Big Green will try to give him No. 500 Tuesday against UMass Lowell.
An Ivy League "pump-up" video has been posted by something called iReviewFootball:


Dartmouth football had been scheduled to hold its fourth practice of the spring tomorrow but the session has been moved up to this afternoon. Check BGA Premium for full coverage of the first padded practice of the spring.
And finally . . .

It was 39 degrees here on the mountain when I sat down at the keyboard this morning. The temperature is expected to soar to 79 degrees later today. By Wednesday the high is slated to be 39. You know what they say about whether in these parts? Wait 15 minutes. It will change ;-)