Image courtesy of @DartmouthFTBL (Twitter)
Trailing by four at halftime on a day that the program renamed its stadium after Buddy Teevens, Dartmouth put forth a second half effort that would have made the late coach proud.
The Big Green held the Quakers without a point over the final 30 minutes and pulled out a 20-17 comeback win.
Dartmouth is now 3-0 overall and 1-0 in league play with a big one against Yale next weekend in Connecticut.
“I can’t say enough how proud I am of that football team,” said head coach Sammy McCorkle, whose remarkable run since taking over for Steevens last year continues. “The first half, they were prepared, came out and really battled. We had some opportunities to make some plays in the first half that we didn’t and it cost us, but we didn’t panic. I thought we did a good job of staying on script.”
The Big Green out-gained Penn by a whopping 439-211 margin and held the Quakers to just 88 rushing yards and well as a 3-10 clip on third down. Dartmouth was an impressive 11-18 on third down and held the ball for 37:27, including a 10:30 drive late in the fourth to put the game away. By the time Penn got the ball back, just 11 seconds remained and the Quakers were backed up to their own one yard line.
“I challenged the guys at halftime, let’s finish each play, let’s come out and let’s finish this game,” added McCorkle of the dominant drive to close things out. “Our offense coming out in the first drive of the second half, we were sending a message. Our defense did a great job responding and shutting them down. That last drive, I told our team after the game, you’re developing an identity. To be able to take the ball 10 minutes, to hold onto that thing and drive the length of the field was critical.”
Dartmouth actually opened the scoring with a 10 yard TD catch for Chris Corbo from Jackson Proctor, capping a six-play drive that spanned 48 yards and took just 2:39. But, Penn scored two touchdowns in the second sandwiched around an Owen Zalc 42 yard field goal.
The lone score of the third quarter was a Scott Paxton 12 yard touchdown grab to cap a nine-play, 69 yard drive spanning 3:20. Another Zalc field goal six seconds into the fourth quarter from 39 yards out put Dartmouth up 20-14. Penn put together an 11-play drive, but struggled to move just 49 yards before a field goal with 10:41 left cut it to three.
That’s when Proctor (24-31/232 yards/2 TD), Q Jones rushing (101 yards on 22 carries) and Desmin Jackson (98 on 14 carries) sealed the deal with the impressive final march downfield.
“Big shoutout to the coaching staff, Coach [Braxton] Chapman putting people where they have to be,” added Jackson. “We have a really deep running back room. Any one in there can go in and will perform at a high level. It’s really trusting the people up front, opening up holes for us and hitting it with all you’ve got.
“Big shoutouts to the O line and coaching staff for putting us in positions that we need to be.”