Dartmouth College senior quarterback Grayson Saunier played strong — at times clutch and turnover-free — football for most of Saturday afternoon, but a late misfire proved costly as the Big Green fell 24-20 to No. 7 Lehigh in its football season opener at Goodman Stadium in Bethlehem, Pa.
With 19 seconds remaining and trailing by four points from the Mountain Hawks’ 26-yard line, the Big Green were within striking distance of pulling off the upset of Lehigh, who played Saturday without its starting quarterback, junior Hayden Johnson, who suffered an injury that forced him out of last week’s win over William & Mary.
On a second down and 10, Saunier dropped back to pass and tossed a ball toward junior wideout Ky’Dric Fisher down the left sideline, only to see it picked off with one hand by senior defensive back DJ Brown to seal the win for Lehigh (4-0).
“It’s not the result we wanted, but I tell you what: I thought our guys, they played hard,” Dartmouth head coach Sammy McCorkle said.
“We talked about it all week: It’s about physicality and effort. I think our guys, across the board — offense, defense, special teams — they checked the box on that every snap. We knew it was going to be a 60-minute game, and that’s what it was.”
Despite the loss, it was mostly a solid day for the Dartmouth passing game. Saunier completed 17 of 30 passes for 262 yards and a touchdown but also had the interception. Senior wide receiver Nick Lemon led the Big Green (0-1) in receiving with five grabs for 102 yards.
That said, the senior quarterback felt his unit left some plays out on the field.
“We beat ourselves today. There were times where we could have taken the lead, or we could have hopped on them earlier, and they got the best of us sometimes,” Saunier said.
While the passing game had its moments, the Dartmouth ground game was quiet. The Big Green averaged just 2.1 yards per carry and had 62 yards on the ground.
Defensively, Dartmouth seemed up to the task of slowing the Mountain Hawks’ rushing attack, which ranked No. 2 in the nation and averaged about 316 yards per game entering Saturday. Lehigh amassed 218 yards on the ground and averaged 4.7 yards per carry, both season lows.
“It was all about effort, swarming to the football. We knew we had to get more than one guy there. I mean (Lehigh senior Luke Yoder) a heck of a running back, and he showed that at times there, breaking some tackles. We’ve got to clean that up a little bit, but overall I thought the guys just pursued the football,” McCorkle said.
For a team that runs the football well and was down its starting quarterback, Lehigh showed confidence in sophomore quarterback Derek Morgan, having him drop back to pass three times on its opening drive after forcing a Dartmouth three-and-out to start the game.
That said, Lehigh still leaned on its run game and went 67 yards in 10 plays, capped off by a 1-yard rush from Yoder, who was No. 4 in the nation in rushing yards entering Saturday, to go up 7-0 with 8:29 remaining in the first quarter.
Dartmouth answered on its next drive, but with three points, a theme early in the game.
Senior kicker Owen Zalc booted a 49-yard field goal to cap a nine-play drive that could have been extended if not for a third-down pass that went through tightly covered senior wideout Ian Scott’s hands.
The Big Green forced a three-and-out on the ensuing possession and scored again on their next drive. But the points once again came from Zalc, this time from 50 yards out after penalties stalled a drive in the Mountain Hawks’ red zone.
Lehigh gave itself some breathing room on its next drive, marching 80 yards in 15 plays, taking up nearly nine minutes, ending with a 13-yard pass from Morgan to junior wideout Nick Palumbo, who made a diving grab along the left sideline of the end zone. The play was reviewed and upheld by the officiating crew to give the Mountain Hawks a 14-6 lead.
Dartmouth’s offense caught fire before halftime and went into the break with momentum, trailing 14-13. Saunier completed five passes for 81 yards on the nine-play drive, including a 33-yard touchdown to Fisher.
The Mountain Hawks were held to three points on the opening drive of the second half. Dartmouth then, on the ensuing possession, accomplished a feat no other team has done so far this season: taking the lead on Lehigh. Sophomore running back Myles Craddock rumbled into the end zone from two yards out to give the Big Green a 20-17 lead with 2 seconds left in the third quarter after a successful 10-play, 75-yard drive.
Trailing for the first time this season, the Mountain Hawks’ offense worked its way to Dartmouth’s 9-yard line, but penalties and a nice run stop forced Lehigh into a third-and-goal from the Big Green 15.
On third down, Morgan dropped back to pass and threw an incompletion intended for junior wide receiver Jamaire Harden. But Dartmouth junior cornerback Niquis Ratcliff was called for pass interference, setting up a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Yoder for a 24-20 Lehigh advantage with 8:41 remaining.
The Big Green had two drives deep in Lehigh territory with an opportunity to retake the lead before the final whistle but couldn’t find the end zone and fell just short of an upset.
“(I’m) proud of the way we fought. Offense and defense both proved to ourselves that we can hang and we can beat the No. 7 team in the country, so we’re proud of what we did, but we don’t accept anything less than a victory,” Saunier said.
Dartmouth hosts Monmouth in its home opener on Saturday at 1 p.m.
