ITHACA, N.Y. — Buddy Teevens has long been averse to returning kickoffs, and with sound reasoning.
Ivy League teams kick off from the 40-yard line, compared to the 35 in other conferences, making a return past the 25 unlikely. But few plays can change the complexion of a game like a long kick return — as Teevens and the Dartmouth College football team saw firsthand Saturday at Cornell’s Schoellkopf Field.
The Big Green had just taken their first lead of the game late in the third quarter when Big Red freshman Davon Kiser took senior Ryan Bloch’s kick at his 9-yard line, made his way to the left sideline and sprinted 91 yards untouched to put his team back in front. Dartmouth came up just short on its final drive and suffered a 17-13 defeat in its final Ivy League road game of the year.
“We’ve done a real good job, prior to that, on kickoffs,” Teevens said. “They weren’t doing much with it. (Kiser) is dangerous, and they blocked us well. That hadn’t happened to us all year long, and we certainly picked a bad time to allow it.”
With junior Dylan Cadwallader out due to a concussion, sophomore Jackson Proctor made his first collegiate start at quarterback for the Big Green (2-7, 1-5 Ivy League). But after the first drive, which ended in a three-and-out, Proctor never saw the field again as senior Nick Howard played the rest of the game, the most action he’s seen since Sept. 30 against Penn.
Howard and the offense took over down by four with 1:29 left at their own 28 and moved steadily downfield, reaching Cornell’s 8 with four seconds left. Senior receiver Jonny Barrett hauled in Howard’s pass on the final play, but he was just out of bounds in the back right corner of the end zone.
“I just threw it a little too far,” Howard said. “Jonny made an unbelievable catch. We had what we wanted. It’s a game of inches. On every single play, an inch can make the difference. I just have to give him a chance to make that play and stay inbounds; he’s more than capable.”
Cornell (5-4, 2-4) turned the ball over on downs in Dartmouth territory on its first possession, then wore the Big Green defense down on its second drive, which stretched across the first and second quarters. The Big Red took more than 8½ minutes off the clock, going 84 yards in 15 plays and taking a 7-0 lead on a 1-yard run by Robert Tucker III.
Dartmouth’s defense was on the field for nearly 38 minutes to just 22 for the offense, even though the Big Green later received back-to-back possessions due to the kickoff return touchdown.
The well-rested offense responded immediately, converting three third downs on the next drive. At the Cornell 16, senior running back Noah Roper took a handoff and had lots of time to throw, finding junior wideout Jarmone Sutherland for a score. Sophomore punter Davis Golick, handling holding duties in place of Cadwallader, mishandled the snap on the extra point, and Bloch’s kick never got far off the ground.
“(Roper) is a smart player and an athletic player,” Teevens said. “It was a nice play at a nice time.”
Dartmouth had a golden opportunity to take the lead before halftime after a sack by junior linebacker Danny Cronin forced the Big Red to punt from their own end zone. But from the Cornell 31, sophomore Dartmouth running back Q Jones was dropped for a loss on first down, and Howard’s fourth-down pass was batted at the line of scrimmage. It remained a 7-6 Big Green deficit at the break.
Howard led Dartmouth to a go-ahead touchdown late in the third, connecting with junior tight end Jace Henry over the middle for a 22-yard score and a 13-7 lead — an edge the Big Green enjoyed for precisely 12 seconds thanks to Kiser.
Cornell added a field goal early in the fourth quarter, but on the first play of the Big Red’s next drive, fifth-year linebacker Joe Heffernan forced Tucker to fumble, which senior Charles Looes recovered in Cornell territory. Looes also led Dartmouth with 12 tackles.
“Everyone just ran to the ball,” Looes said. “That’s what our defense is about. At the bottom of the pile, I saw Alex Schmidt shove it to me, and I locked my eyes on it and got it.”
For the second time, though, the Big Green failed to score on a drive they started across midfield. Howard had picked up a first down on a third-down scramble but chose not to slide and lost the ball as he was hit. Safety Demetrius Harris recovered for the Big Red.
“I’m pretty sure I was down on that,” Howard said. “I’ve got to hang onto the ball. I’ve made that play a million times. I got lazy, got undisciplined.”
Cornell then ran nearly seven minutes off the clock as quarterback Jameson Wang made several big plays to keep his offense on the field. Dartmouth got the ball back after a missed 45-yard field goal — and came inches away from a miraculous game-winner.
Howard completed 19 of 33 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown, but the Big Green barely got anything going on the ground, with just 47 rushing yards on 20 attempts. Wang was 13-for-18 passing for 128 yards and, critically, did not turn the ball over.
Dartmouth concludes a disappointing season at Memorial Field next Saturday against Brown.
“It’s been a tough, long season,” Teevens said. “They keep playing hard right to the final snap. A one-score game and we have an opportunity at the end of the ballgame; we’re just not converting. In years past, we did; this year, not so much.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.