Hanover
The twin-kick killing was the first for Dartmouth in at least 42 years, and the college’s sports information staff was busily digging through older records on Saturday night. Meanwhile, the Big Green’s players, coaches and fans were counting the blessings that allowed their team to overcome some negative numbers and improve to 3-2 this fall.
The Big Green surrendered a season-high 470 yards while accumulating a season-low 255. The Tigers piled up 26 first downs to the hosts’ 13 and Dartmouth was only 2 of 12 on third down. The hosts’ health woes continued with a nasty-looking leg injury to reserve linebacker Alex McCrory and a foot injury to starting center Patrick Kilcommons.
Leading rusher Miles Smith was out hurt, as was backfield mate Rashaad Cooper. So too, were receivers Emmanuel Soto and Houston Brown and cornerback Darius George.
However, George’s replacement, freshman Isiah Swann, led the team with 13 tackles, broke up three passes and recorded his first interception. The defense allowed Towson to convert only 4 of 16 times on third down and the Tigers hurt themselves badly by committing nine penalties for 89 yards. And then there were those blocked kicks, which each maintained the final margin of victory.
The first came with 2 minutes, 19 seconds remaining and occurred on a 22-yard attempt by Towson’s Aidan O’Neill. Safety Charlie Miller split the gap between the end of the line and the lone blocker angled off one end of it and cut in front of the kicker, getting a hand on the ball.
“On their first PAT they blocked down pretty hard and Swanny nearly got it off the edge,” said Miller, who was stationed on the other side. “So I knew they were going to be more wary of him.”
The second smothered boot came from senior defensive end Jeremiah Douchee, who actually lines up in the middle in such situations. Defensive tackle Zach Husain drove a Tiger backwards, allowing the 6-foot-4 Douchee to leap and deflect the ball.
Coach Buddy Teevens “harped all week about making big plays,” said Douchee, who has overcome chronically bad knees to earn playing time. “It was really about who wanted it more. The last two weeks got away from us because we didn’t want it enough.”
Those losses, to Ivy League rivals Pennsylvania and Yale, have all but eliminated Dartmouth from contention for its 19th Ancient Eight title. Saturday’s victory, however, gives the Big Green back a bit of swagger and likely helps convince its players the myriad injuries don’t have to cripple the season.
“They’re maturing as a group and starting to know how hard it is to win,” said Teevens, whose squad visits Columbia (1-4) this weekend and hosts Harvard (4-1) for homecoming the week after that. “You don’t show up and expect people to lay down. You have to fight and compete and I don’t know that we did that completely the past two weeks.
“We’ve addressed that as a team, how every snap matters and you have to look inward. I think they learned today that any play can make a difference.”
Towson (1-4) opened the scoring on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Ellis Knudson to Christian Summers, who had 11 receptions for 140 yards. The Big Green responded with a drive on which Jack Heneghan completed all six of his passes and David Smith kicked a 25-yard field goal to cut his team’s deficit to 7-3.
Swann’s interception, early in the second quarter, led to a 4-yard touchdown run by Vito Penza, a sophomore who notched his first varsity points. Smith added the first of his two conversion kicks for a 10-7 lead, then knocked through a career-long 38-yard field goal for a 13-10 advantage at intermission.
Towson forged a 13-13 tie with a 36-yard field goal from O’Neill that capped the second half’s opening drive. Dartmouth moved back on top at 20-10 after a 40-yard Ryder Stone run and a 23-yard touchdown strike from running back Abrm McQuarters to a wide-open Drew Hunnicutt on a halfback option pass.
Dartmouth’s lone turnover, an interception by Towson’s Diondre Wallace that he returned 20 yards to the Big Green’s 11-yard line, led to a 1-yard touchdown run and a conversion kick that pulled the Tigers within 20-17 late in the third quarter.
After an exchange of punts, Dartmouth’s Ben Kepley delivered another one that was downed at Towson’s 1-yard line. The visitors, however, drove 94 yards in nine minutes and earned first-and-goal from the 5-yard line. Two foiled running plays and an incompletion later, Miller blocked O’Neill’s field-goal attempt.
The Big Green took over on downs but again had to punt, this time giving Towson the ball at its 28-yard line with 33 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and two timeouts in its pocket. Two pass completions set up a 56-yard field-goal attempt by O’Neill with one second on the clock, but Douchee swatted the boot out of the air.
“The first (block) I thought was us not getting it done and the second one, you knew you were gambling to begin with,” Towson coach Rob Ambrose said. “We could have thrown a Hail Mary pass, but the field goal was a higher-percentage chance and the (upright) flags were blowing that way.”
Heneghan completed 14 of 21 passes for 96 yards and had one toss intercepted. Stone carried 14 times for 90 yards and caught five passes for 25 yards.
Said Teevens: “It wasn’t the prettiest game but when we had to do something, we did it. At the end, it wasn’t like we hoped it was going to happen. It was that we were going to make it happen.”
Notes: McCrory, a senior from Ohio and a key special teams player, competed in his 26th consecutive game. “The guys love him because he has a great sense of humor and his motor is always running,” Teevens said. “He’s a fiery dude and he’s always buzzing, with his eyes wide. He’s fun to have around.”… The contest lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes, Dartmouth’s shortest game of the season. Not coincidently, it was the first not to be televised. … Sophomore receiver Jarion Brown said he’s scheduled to undergo knee surgery this week. The Louisiana native has had each of his first two Big Green campaigns wiped out by early-season knee injuries, one on each side. … In a bit of perplexing fashion sense, Dartmouth linebacker and senior captain Folarin Orimolade wore five sweat bands on his left shin, but none on his right. He had the game’s lone sack, giving him 19.5 for his career, fifth on Dartmouth’s career list. … Teevens is 54-10-1 at Dartmouth when it leads at halftime and 48-13-2 when his team creates more turnovers than it commits.