Worcester, Mass.
The Big Green trailed by seven points early, but knocked Crusaders quarterback Peter Pujals out of the game during the second quarter. The senior entered the game leading the country in completions, but exited with an ankle injury. Dartmouth hurt his backup soon after and down to its third-string signal-caller, Holy Cross sputtered on offense, losing two fumbles, having two passes intercepted and managing just 285 yards.
Aside from the opening minutes, Dartmouth’s defense was outstanding for a second consecutive week, its dominance coming despite the return of only one starter from last season’s Ivy League co-championship team. The returnee, senior linebacker Folarin Orimolade, had a team-high eight tackles and two sacks against the Crusaders.
“We call ourselves the No Name Defense,” said cornerback Jarius Brown, whose team hosts Pennsylvania on Friday night in the teams’ Ivy League opener. “Not a lot of people know about us, but they’re going to wake up to us real soon.”
Dartmouth ran 44 times for 208 yards, sophomore Miles Smith carrying eight times for 71 yards and a touchdown. Junior quarterback Jack Heneghan, starting his second career game, completed 18-of-29 passes to nine different receivers for 240 yards and a touchdown. Freshman Hunter Hagdorn caught three passes for 62 yards and ran for a 10-yard touchdown.
Holy Cross (1-3) beat Morgan State in its opener and hung tough during losses to ranked foes New Hampshire and Albany. But the Crusaders fell apart Saturday, frustrating coach Tom Gilmore, a former Big Green assistant during the 1990s.
“That was a really tough game for those of us wearing purple,” said Gilmore, whose program last won a Patriot League title in 2009. “We gave up some big plays to let them out of long-yardage situations. We were pressing too much and the wheels kind of fell off.”
The wheels were not only on, but gaining serious traction when Holy Cross returned the opening kickoff 32 yards and ran for 35 yards on its first play from scrimmage. Three plays later, Pujals delivered an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Montgomery, who broke a Darius Miles tackle on the sideline and shrugged off a goal-line hit from Lucas Bavarro to score.
Dartmouth answered with an eight-play, 73-yard drive that lasted three minutes and ended when Hagdorn swept right, took a Heneghan handoff and dove into the end zone. David Smith booted the first of his five extra points for a 7-7 tie.
Miles forced a fumble late in the first quarter and Dartmouth took over at its 39-yard line. A 22-yard completion to Hagdorn and a 35-yard touchdown run by Miles and the visitors led, 14-7, two minutes before the stanza’s end.
Dartmouth punted on all four of its second-quarter possessions, but still scored 30 seconds before intermission. The Big Green used two timeouts to force Holy Cross to punt from its 5-yard line, and booter A.J. Wells dropped a low snap before pursuing the ball with what appeared to be a halfhearted effort. Miles recovered in the end zone and his team was up, 21-7, at halftime.
“Turnovers are always one of the biggest determining factors, and we handed them a touchdown,” said Gilmore, noting that his team regularly practices punting out of its own end zone. “That was a huge turning point.”
Dartmouth retained momentum to begin the second half, taking its opening kickoff and driving 65 yards in seven plays and scoring on Ryder Stone’s 4-yard touchdown run. Holy Cross answered with a 42-yard field goal, but Dartmouth tacked on the game’s final points early in the fourth quarter when Heneghan zipped a 10-yard pass down the middle to tight end Cameron Skaff. The play capped a 13-play, 67-yard march.
“We knew (Holy Cross) had a high-powered offense and they got one on us early, but we came here to score points too,” Hagdorn said.
The Crusaders’ next two possessions each ended when Bun Stratton intercepted Geoff Wade passes. The Hawaiian sophomore started at one safety slot and junior Ross Wood at the other in place of injured starters Charlie Miller and Colin Boit.
Notes: The strangest moment of the day occurred when Smith slithered under the front edge of the stands, adjacent to the visitors sideline, in pursuit of an errant football. When the junior attempted to reverse course, his shoulder pads caught on the structure’s lower edge. It took about a minute for his backup, Alex Gakenheimer, to free him. “I was really hoping we didn’t score right then,” said Gakenheimer, who stole several concerned looks at the field during the rescue. Dartmouth had the ball at the time. … Gakenheimer had a 45-yard field goal attempt blocked with nine minutes remaining. … A group of roughly three dozen fans sat in the end zone stands to start the game. They wore black shirts wearing “Stand Against Racism.” Only four remained after halftime. … Big Green receiver Emory Thompson caught two early passes for 51 yards but left with what appeared to be a concussion and did not return. Also hurt was tight end Blake Orvis, who suffered a lower leg injury. … Orimolade earned the Johnny Turco Award as outstanding player of the Holy Cross homecoming game. … Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens praised Fitton Field’s natural turf, saying it was a nice a surface as he could recall playing on. … Dartmouth backup quarterback Bruce Dixon IV played during his team’s final drive.