Hanover
That’s because at the same time the No. 20 Big Green was beating the overmatched Bears, No. 11 Princeton was doing the same to Pennsylvania, 42-14. The Tigers clinched the championship and their first undefeated season since 1964, two weeks after edging Dartmouth in New Jersey.
During plenty of other years, Dartmouth’s performance would have been worthy of commemorative rings. Instead, it’s second place and pats on the shoulder pads. The last time a nine-victory team didn’t claim the Ancient Eight title was in 2007, when Yale was 9-1 overall and 6-1 in league play, but was runner-up to Harvard, which was 8-2 and 7-0.
“We can’t get that Princeton game back,” Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens said. “When you’re not as excited about a 9-1 season as you might be, it says what the expectations are programatically.”
Saturday’s score was tied, 7-7, during the second quarter, and Dartmouth led only 13-7 at halftime. To that point, the Big Green had fumbled three times and lost two of them, punted twice and turned the ball over on downs, a performance Teevens characterized as a “comedy of errors.”
“I wasn’t worried at all,” Dartmouth defensive end Jackson Perry said. “The first half had a little hiccup, but I knew the offense was going to pick it up and the defense would shut them out.”
Dartmouth opened the scoring on a 1-yard touchdown toss by wildcat-formation quarterback Jared Gerbino. The junior moved as if to plunge into the line before lobbing a basketball-style pass over the top to tight end Connor Rempel during the sixth minute. Connor Davis added the extra point.
Brown’s touchdown came when it recovered Dylan Mellor’s muffed punt return two minutes later. The senior attempted to make an over-the-shoulder catch as he approached the Dartmouth end zone but had the ball skim off his fingers before the Bears corralled it in paydirt.
The Big Green appeared to have taken a 13-7 lead during the last minute of the first half. It was ruled that Hunter Hagdorn had successfully outwrestled a foe for a pass in a back corner of the end zone, but the call was overturned by video replay, leading to Derek Kyler’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Drew Hunnicutt. Davis’ troubled campaign continued when he missed the extra point. The freshman Floridian finished the season 40-of-43 on conversion boots and 6-of-14 on field-goal attempts.
The expected rout materialized during the third quarter, when Dartmouth scored 29 points. Rashaad Cooper had an 18-yard touchdown run, Miles Smith had scoring jaunts of 16 and 12 yards, and Matthew Shearin ran 7 yards for a tally, the fifth consecutive touchdown scored by a senior. Freshman Zack Bair got in on the action as well, scooting 45 yards to the end zone. The final two extra points were kicked by punter Davis Brief and ski team member Kalle Wagner.
The Bears (1-9, 0-7), who lost their 15th consecutive league game and fell to 3-17 during the past two seasons, couldn’t have been happy with a pair of Dartmouth actions during the second half. The first came when kick holder Jack Katzman threw a 2-point conversion to J.J. Jefferies after what appeared to be a perfect snap and with the score 33-7.
The second incident occurred when seven Big Green players, led by tri-captain Matt Kaskey, climbed over a rope behind the end zone and leaped into a snow bank following the final touchdown. All were assessed unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that were individually announced over the public-address system by the referee.
“Jack (Katzman) said he couldn’t get the ball up for the kick,” Teevens said. “That’s his story, and he’s sticking to it. I was disappointed to see the other stuff, and I wish it hadn’t happened. Those guys wanted to continue playing after that and I said no, because it was uncalled for. I apologized to (Brown coach) Phil Estes, and he was very gracious in accepting it.”
A good-feeling counterpoint occurred during Dartmouth’s next drive when diminutive Harry Kraft, the grandson of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, played the first of his two series at quarterback. Making his varsity debut, the senior merely handed off, but his appearance, along with an interception by classmate and defensive backup Justin Porter, made an interminable fourth quarter more bearable for most in an announced gathering of 2,575.
“I’m excited for our program because not a lot of people have a run like this, but I feel a bit badly for the players who worked so hard,” Teevens said. “Those are life lessons, though. Sometimes you work hard and your goals come to fruition, and sometimes not.”
The senior class won 30 games during its four seasons, the most since the Ivy League began allowing freshmen to play at the varsity level in 1993. It had been tied with the classes of 1998 and 2015 entering Saturday’s game.
Cooper rushed 12 times for 98 yards and a touchdown, and Gerbino carried eight times for 91 yards. Kyler completed 17 of 27 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown. Hagdorn caught five passes for 65 yards, and Hunnicutt had four receptions for 36 yards and a score. Kyran McKinney-Crudden had 10 tackles.
Dartmouth’s offense produced 526 yards. Its defense allowed just 248 while holding the Bears to 23 rushing yards in 18 attempts. At times, the visitors all but gave up on running the ball, and quarterback Michael McGovern, who was sacked seven times, completed 34 of 55 passes for 271 yards and had two tosses intercepted.
Notes: Dartmouth won at least nine games in a season for the sixth time since the Ivy League’s 1956 formation. … Big Green linebacker David Emanuels suffered a cut along his hairline during a first-half tackle but returned after intermission. He was treated in a new sideline tent emblazoned with the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center logo. The Big Green is following in the NFL’s footsteps in the use of such an enclosure. … Not far from the medical tent was a small canopy decorated with the Dartmouth athletics logo and covering a pair of space heaters. By the end of the first half, roughly 15 players had jammed themselves underneath it. … Dartmouth scored the most points in a third quarter, 29, since it played Norwich in 1932. … Amazingly, in this age of artificial turf, Saturday’s game was only Brown’s second game this season not on a natural surface. … The Bears’ lone victory was over Georgetown. … There is considerable speculation that Estes, in his 21st year at Brown, may be relieved of his duties before next season. He is a Laconia, N.H., native and a University of New Hampshire graduate. … Dartmouth players are in the midst of final exams for the fall semester, which concludes this week. … Fans were confined to the smaller east bleachers because their larger western counterparts were covered in snow. Teevens and Estes each offered thanks to Dartmouth’s grounds crew, led by Gordie Barnes and John Buck, which successfully cleared the field for play after a Friday storm.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.