After a narrow win in their season opener, the DRFC travelled down to Massachusetts to face off against highly ranked American International College under Friday night lights.
It was an exciting game, with AIC setting the lead early after some hot-steps from their 12 to bring it within meters and their 8-man finishing the job. It wouldn’t take Dartmouth long to respond, in what was an example of knowing and utilizing the laws of the game to your advantage. Off a line-out inside the AIC 22, but still ways to go to the end zone, Dartmouth elects to maul. Here AIC elects for a clever lineout maul defense tactic: not engaging the opposition thereby not officially creating a maul. Normally if the mauling team advances with no opposition bound it would be a penalty against them, with one exception. If the ball remains at the front of the maul the team is allowed to advance. Luke Wilson ’25 would utilize this relative obscure rule to outwit his opposition and walk 15 meters untouched into the end zone thereby leveling the game.
Despite Dartmouth dominating the territory battle, AIC would be the more efficient team, defending their line passionately, holding Dartmouth up on multiple occasions and going on to score the next two, unconverted, tries off counterattacks; 5-15 AIC. With few minutes left to play in the first half Dartmouth would finally capitalize off their territory dominance off a quick-tap 5-meter line. It was Rocky Dutta ’26, the severely undersized freshman making his A-side debut, who would make a quick-tap and pass to Quinn ‘The Crazy Man’ Heyneman eager to show why he’s earned the nickname as he bounces and pounces off multiple helpless AIC defenders on his way to the end zone. Dartmouth 10-15 AIC, halftime.
The first few minutes of the second half would see AIC scoring first to extend their lead. With the clock-winding down and two scores down, The Dartmouth ruggers knew it was time to make plays, and the play makers stepped up. The reliable Matty ‘Ice’ Anticev (gr) fields a deep AIC clearance and sees an aggressive, but unorganized, AIC kick-chase, utilizing his footwork and poise to nonchalantly step half their team and put Dartmouth in an attacking position. After some messy, but effective, forward hands the quick ball stays alive and finds its way to the electric Abe ‘Ate the Ham’ Kamara ’25 on the wing who makes a dash for the AIC try-line, getting caught just short. Here skipper Matias ’T’ Calvo ’23 says I have had enough an easily punches in the final inches with little AIC resistance. As Dartmouth worked to mount the comeback, AIC would make their job more difficult as they scored another try off some hard and quick carries to make it a 10-point game.
Dartmouth’s pursuit of a comeback would become even more difficult as skipper Jaime Chuidian ’23 receives a yellow card with 12 minutes left in the game from a high tackle that erupted into one of the two brawls that transpired during this game. Though Dartmouth struggled to play out of their own half since the last AIC score, they would still find a way to score, this time off an AIC scrum at the half-way mark. Despite losing the hook, The Dartmouth pack pushed over and through the AIC scrum in an impressive manner until the ball stood at the hands of junior captain, newly turned 8-man, Danny Locascio ’24. Here Danny certainly benefited from his days at center as he runs around the defeated AIC scrum, breaks a tackle, and utilizes this momentum to put a step on the fullback allowing him to run all the way to the try line and dive for the score. With 2 minutes left in the game Jaime Chuidian ’23 returns to the field to give The Big Green a full 15 as they look to find a way to score 3 more and complete the comeback. Unfortunately for the DRFC, not all comebacks are meant to be. A missed connection between 12 and 14 sees the ball fly out of bounds and the ref blow the final whistle. Final score Dartmouth 24-27 AIC.
This loss was a heartbreaking one for the team, and one that will have serious repercussions later in the season. The men of the DRFC put on the green jersey representing a campus that had been struck by tragedy earlier in the week. Despite the emotional pressure the men were under, there was considerable improvements in all aspects of play, especially problem areas from the week prior like scrums and penalties (though penalties remain an issue). This loss puts Dartmouth as second in their division with AIC solidifying their first-place spot. With AIC having already played the tougher sides in our division, these rankings will likely hold, meaning Dartmouth will see itself playing an away game against the winner of the other division come playoffs (currently Brown). As disappointing as this, still hypothetical, outcome might be, it gives Dartmouth the opportunity to undeniably reclaim their reign over the Ivy League with two back-to-back away games at Brown on October 22nd and 29th.
It is to be noted that though Dartmouth failed to deliver the win, the DRFC that took the field this weekend was a considerably better team than the week prior. The team is showing more and more glimpses of world-class rugby, and it is only a matter of time until all the pieces click for the DRFC to become unstoppable.