HANOVER — For the first time in five years, the Dartmouth football team knocked off Harvard, upsetting the previously unbeaten, No. 16-ranked Crimson 24-14 behind a stifling defensive performance on Friday night at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field.
On a night when senior quarterback Grayson Saunier threw for just 42 yards and had almost as many interceptions as completions (5-of-12, 3 interceptions) and the Dartmouth offense was outgained 404 yards to 271, it simply didn’t matter.
The Big Green defense put on a monstrous performance just hours before Halloween, picking off sophomore quarterback Charlie Smith five times, helping Dartmouth (4-3 overall, 3-1 league) pick up the win.
“Just super excited and just so proud of the way our guys came (out). More importantly, the way our guys prepared all week, each day, and they came out here ready to play today,” said Dartmouth head coach Sammy McCorkle.
“I just thought the relentless effort, relentless energy, and the relentless focus on every single play — it showed out there. And we talked about it all week that we need to be in an attack mode. We don’t want to play on our heels. And I thought our guys, in all three phases, came out from the very get-go,” he added.
Friday night was more evidence to support the theory that the Dartmouth defense has found its groove. For the third straight week, the Big Green defense forced multiple turnovers after forcing just one through their first four games.
“The past couple of weeks, the defense kind of found our identity, found our swag, back to Dartmouth culture,” said senior defensive back Cameron Best-Alston, who had two interceptions on the night.
“But that’s just all a belief in our coaches, belief in the brand, belief in the standard. I’d say, like coach said, we’re always going to battle some adverse situations, but it’s all about the response,” he added.
In what wasn’t the prettiest offensive outing, Dartmouth rushed the ball 56 times for 229 yards, led by their quarterback, who carried it 20 times for 109 yards and a touchdown.
“As a quarterback, you want to throw the ball. That’s what you like to do, but when coach calls your number, and you’ve got to go get a job done, that’s what you’ve got to do,” Saunier, who also threw for two touchdowns, said.
Later adding: “Kudos to the O-line, receivers, tight ends, everybody, running backs. They stepped up today, big time.”
The Big Green couldn’t have asked for a much better start, even if they did little offensively on the contest’s first possession.
After first downs on its first two plays, Dartmouth’s offense stalled and punted. Junior punter Luke Armistead’s kick appeared to be tipped, but the Big Green got a fortuitous roll, pinning the Crimson at their own 21-yard line.
Good fortune kept coming Dartmouth’s way as Best-Alston picked off Smith on Harvard’s first offensive play, setting up a Big Green score six plays later on a 1-yard rush from Saunier.
Harvard’s offense tried to bounce back on its next possession and seemed on track to tie the game, driving 80 yards in 16 plays to the Dartmouth 1-yard line in over eight minutes.
But the Dartmouth defense stood its ground; after being stuffed on first and second, Smith was intercepted again on third-and-goal, this time by sophomore linebacker Matthew Boydell, who hawked a ball that deflected off a Crimson receiver.
The sophomore nearly had a pick-six, but was ruled out of bounds at the Big Green’s 39-yard line.
Dartmouth’s offense took advantage again, going 61 yards in 11 plays, picking up two fourth-and-shorts in the process, the second of which was the capper, on a 2-yard shovel pass from Saunier to junior running back Dylan Elder to put the Big Green up 14-0 with 10:50 remaining in the second quarter.
The Big Green forced a punt on the next possession, which Harvard’s sophomore punter Brian Checkley shanked for just 10 yards, giving Dartmouth nice field position at their own 35-yard line.
Trailing by 14, Harvard began to wake up. On the second play after the punt, junior defensive back Xaden Benson picked off Saunier, and the Crimson offense punched it into the end zone two plays later when Smith found freshman wideout Nathan Bailey wide open for a 13-yard score.
Before the break, both squads traded touchdown passes; Dartmouth’s was for nine yards to senior wideout Nick Lemon, who got open on a slant, and Harvard’s was for 38 yards to sophomore wide receiver Ryan Tattersall, who was interfered with but caught it anyway and scampered into the end zone.
Dartmouth elected to let the last minute of the first half run off after Harvard’s score and took their 21-14 lead into the break.
Come the second half, points were scarce. Harvard opened the third quarter with an interception, Best-Alston’s second, but Dartmouth gave it back four plays later, throwing an interception of its own, which was also Benson’s second of the night.
After Saunier’s pick, the Crimson’s offense got rolling, driving 83 yards in 14 plays, getting as close to paydirt as the Big Green’s 12-yard line, but had to settle for a field goal attempt, which junior kicker Kieran Corr pushed left from 32 yards out after a second-down holding call helped stall their drive.
Dartmouth didn’t do much with the ball back, though; Benson picked off Saunier for the third time five plays later, but an unnecessary roughness call on the Crimson pushed them back to their own 42 after the turnover.
Like most of the second half, Harvard’s ensuing drive ended in a turnover: Another interception from Smith, this time by junior defensive back No’Koi Maddox, who caught the ball in the end zone but brought it out before being tackled at the 2-yard line, pinning his own team deep.
The Big Green went three-and-out after the pick in the early stages of the fourth quarter, but the Crimson’s ensuing possession lasted just four plays.
Harvard elected to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Dartmouth 29-yard line, but freshman wildcat quarterback Kise Flannery was stuffed, setting up what would be the final score of the game.
Taking over with 11:39 remaining in regulation, Dartmouth ran the ball 14 times for 59 yards down to Harvard’s 12-yard line, setting up senior kicker Owen Zalc’s 30-yard field goal to take a 24-14 lead with 4:22 left.
“Yeah, it was kind of a grind-it-out drive. We knew that if we can waste some time out and move the ball down the field at the same time, it was going to be huge for us. You know, go up by two possessions instead of just keeping that seven-point lead was going to be key for us,” Saunier said.
“Once we kind of just get on the other side of that field, we have the utmost confidence in Owen,” he added.
Junior linebacker Sean Chester picked off Smith on the second play of Harvard’s ensuing drive, allowing the Dartmouth offense to run the clock down to 24 seconds. With under 30 seconds remaining, the Crimson got the ball back but did nothing with it, sealing the Dartmouth win.
“It’s a big win. We’ve had a lot of good wins here, and that’s our standard here. We want to be in these types of games, and I told our guys, you’ve earned the right to be in this type of game,” McCorkle said.
“That’s a game you want to get, and I’m just so proud of the way the guys went out there and did what we needed to do,” he later added.
With the victory, Dartmouth controls its own destiny en route to an Ivy League title and the coveted automatic bid into the FCS playoffs that comes with it.
The Big Green will look to keep their future in their hands on Saturday when they visit Princeton at noon.
