A Familiar Name Headed This Way

Add another name to the growing list of early decision commits to Dartmouth. Brad Dornak, brother of sophomore defensive back Matt Dornak, is a running back at Westlake High School in Austin.

Word out of Texas is that Brad was recruited as a wide receiver after working out at the position last summer at the Dartmouth football camp. The younger Dornak is 6-foot, 190 pounds with 4.5 speed in the 40, a terrific vertical jump and a reputation as a crushing blocker. Last year Dornak helped Westlake make it to the state finals in Class 5A, the largest division in Texas. This year's playoffs begin Nov. 16.

To see an interview with Matt Dornak and a teammate, click here. For a very nice story about the Dornak brothers and a service project they initiated that distributes warm clothing to the homeless, check out this story.

The Harvard Crimson has an article on the new helmet being developed by former quarterback Vin Ferrara. The company website can be found here. ...

The Yale Daily News has a column seeking support for the unbeaten Bulldog football team over the final three games. The column includes the following reminder:

Somewhere between SAT scores and GPAs, Ivy Leaguers have forgotten the reason the Ancient Eight was founded: football. Let us at least take a moment to appreciate that we attend Yale at a time when our school is at the top of a league that has historically prided itself on football.

One reader emailed me after yesterday's rant that there's yet another PSU I'd forgotten about: Plattsburgh State University in New York.

A local reader sent along this link to the New Hampshire Division IV football standings where Hanover stands at 8-1. Check it out. The team records in the division are 9-0, 8-1, 7-2, 6-3 right down in order to 0-9. As the reader wrote:

"Everyone beat the teams below it in the final standings, and lost to those above it. 10 teams, 5 games each weekend...45 games total...and ZERO upsets...What are the odds ???"

I have an answer: Long.

Leaving football behind for a second, the Ivy League men's basketball poll came out and the good news is that Dartmouth is picked right behind Princeton. Unfortunately, that's not a good thing this year. The poll:

1. Cornell -- 119 (10 first-place votes)
2. Yale -- 104 (3)
3. Penn -- 97 (1)
4. Columbia -- 80 (1)
5. Brown -- 70 (1)
6. Harvard -- 43
7. Princeton -- 40
8. Dartmouth -- 23

And finally, I can appreciate Charlie Brown's plight with the Great Pumpkin. For the 11th year in a row we had no trick-or-treaters up here on Moose Mountain last night. We usually put a full basket of candy on the steps, hoping against hope that at least one kid will stumble down our driveway and dump the whole thing into his or her bag. Alas, we'll have to wait another year for that Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.