Big Green delivers the goods, beats Quakers

Dartmouth tight end Chris Corbo (26) scores a touchdown while Penn defensive back Shiloh Means (25) tackles him during a football game at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Dartmouth won, 20-17. (Valley News - Alex Driehaus)

Dartmouth tight end Chris Corbo (26) scores a touchdown while Penn defensive back Shiloh Means (25) tackles him during a football game at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Dartmouth won, 20-17. (Valley News - Alex Driehaus) VALLEY NEWS photographs — Alex Driehaus

Dartmouth head coach Sammy McCorkle talks to a referee during a football game against the University of Pennsylvania at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Dartmouth won, 20-17. (Valley News - Alex Driehaus)

Dartmouth head coach Sammy McCorkle talks to a referee during a football game against the University of Pennsylvania at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Dartmouth won, 20-17. (Valley News - Alex Driehaus) Alex Driehaus

Dartmouth wide receiver Painter Richards-Baker (14) runs the ball down the field during a football game against the University of Pennsylvania at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Dartmouth won, 20-17. (Valley News - Alex Driehaus)

Dartmouth wide receiver Painter Richards-Baker (14) runs the ball down the field during a football game against the University of Pennsylvania at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Dartmouth won, 20-17. (Valley News - Alex Driehaus) Valley News photographs — Alex Driehaus

Dartmouth wide receiver Paxton Scott (7) is tackled by Penn linebacker Jack Fairman (23), defensive back Julian Talley (7) and linebacker John Lista (44) during a football game at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Dartmouth won, 20-17. (Valley News - Alex Driehaus)

Dartmouth wide receiver Paxton Scott (7) is tackled by Penn linebacker Jack Fairman (23), defensive back Julian Talley (7) and linebacker John Lista (44) during a football game at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Dartmouth won, 20-17. (Valley News - Alex Driehaus) Alex Driehaus

Dartmouth defensive linemen Ejike Adele (6) and Dakota Quiñonez (99) celebrate after a play during a football game against the University of Pennsylvania at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Dartmouth won, 20-17. (Valley News - Alex Driehaus)

Dartmouth defensive linemen Ejike Adele (6) and Dakota Quiñonez (99) celebrate after a play during a football game against the University of Pennsylvania at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Dartmouth won, 20-17. (Valley News - Alex Driehaus) Alex Driehaus

Dartmouth running back Q Jones (2) fends off defenders as he carries the ball down the field during a football game against the University of Pennsylvania at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Dartmouth won, 20-17. (Valley News - Alex Driehaus)

Dartmouth running back Q Jones (2) fends off defenders as he carries the ball down the field during a football game against the University of Pennsylvania at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. Dartmouth won, 20-17. (Valley News - Alex Driehaus) Alex Driehaus

By ALEX CERVANTES

Valley News Staff Writer

Published: 10-06-2024 8:31 PM

HANOVER — Propelled by a stingy second-half performance from its defense and a master class in clock management from its offense, the Dartmouth College football team christened Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field with a 20-17 victory over Penn on Saturday.

“We had some opportunities to make plays in the first half, but we didn’t,” McCorkle said. “It cost us, but we didn’t panic. I thought we did a good job of staying on the script, and (I) challenged the guys at halftime: ‘Man, let’s finish. Let’s finish each play. Let’s come out and let’s finish this game.’ ”

Coming off a 16-14 victory over Merrimack, one that necessitated some late-game heroics from All-Ivy kicker Owen Zalc, senior defensive end Ejike Adele said the narrow victory primes the Big Green for the realities of Ivy League play.

It was a dogfight before the real dogfights.

Dartmouth, which has earned a share of the Ancient Eight crown in three of the last four seasons, leaned on an emphatic display in the final 30 minutes of play to secure the win over the Quakers as it chases its first outright conference title since 1996.

The win caps an emotional week, one spent honoring the life of longtime coach Buddy Teevens. Less than 24 hours before game time, a gaggle of green descended upon the main gate outside the Big Green’s stadium to witness its dedication in Teevens’ honor.

For McCorkle, the onus fell on this latest iteration of Dartmouth football players to live up to the program’s standard set by Teevens and the teams before them.

“It was special,” McCorkle said. “That was our big thing: We wanted to make sure we went out there and we represented Dartmouth the way that Buddy Teevens would want us to represent it. They did that, our coaching staff and our players. That’s Dartmouth football.”

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After moving to 3-0 on the season — the program’s best start since 2021 — Dartmouth is beginning to develop an identity, according to the second-year coach.

“Our guys did a good job of taking it one play at a time,” McCorkle said. “They knew it was going to be a battle, but our guys did a good job of sticking to their jobs, fundamentals … throughout the entire game.

“They played with confidence — it was a quiet confidence — but you could tell, offensively and defensively, our guys took the field, they were hungry.”

Here are three takeaways from Dartmouth’s win:

Big Green defense stymies Richardson, Sayin: Jared Richardson hauled in just two passes for 18 yards in last season’s overtime defeat to Dartmouth. The junior wide receiver, on the heels of a first team All-Ivy campaign as a sophomore and a preseason All-American nod ahead of this season, let it be known last week that the latest meeting between the Big Green and Quakers was “personal.”

Richardson wanted revenge, plain and simple.

“We plan to put them away,” he said in an article published on Oct. 1 by The Daily Pennsylvanian. “And put them away early.”

Was the Big Green’s secondary privy to Richardson’s midweek jawing?

“I was definitely aware of the outside noise,” senior cornerback Jordan Washington said. “I feel like coach McCorkle did a great job displaying that to us and relaying that to the team.”

Washington praised the defense’s execution postgame, highlighting a unit that held Penn to 23 yards of total offense in the first quarter, one first down in the third quarter and just three points in the second half. Penn quarterback Aidan Sayin, who threw for 357 yards and two touchdowns in last year’s game, completed just 11 of 27 passes for 123 yards on Saturday.

The Quakers’ two touchdowns — scored on consecutive drives in the second quarter and capped by standout running back Malachi Hosley — alongside a couple of dropped interceptions were the lone blemishes on the Big Green defense’s day.

As for Richardson, his performance Saturday mirrored his game last year: two catches, 18 yards.

Message received.

“Comments were made,” McCorkle said. “You want to make our guys aware of it. … Our guys did a good job of understanding, hearing that, and they were hungry and ready to go out there and prove a point. And I think that’s what they did today.”

The running back room finds a third weapon: In its opening two games of the season, Penn’s defense had surrendered just 90 rushing yards per game to its opponents. The Big Green were evidently undaunted by the number.

Dartmouth ran the ball 42 times on Saturday for 220 yards. Between senior Q Jones and junior Desmin Jackson, who featured heavily in the absence of D.J. Crowther (injury), the two running backs accounted for 199 rushing yards on 36 carries.

Entering the game, Jackson had logged a mere two career carries in his time in Hanover, both of which came in the season opener against Fordham. Playing in Crowther’s stead, the California native scampered for 98 yards on 14 carries, an average of 7 yards per carry.

Jackson credited the Big Green offensive line and first-year running backs coach Braxton Chapman for “putting people where they got to be” to find success.

“We’ve got a really deep running back room,” Jackson said. “Anyone in there, (you) can put them in and they’ll perform at a high level. So it’s really just trusting the people up front opening up holes for us and just hitting it with all you got.”

Proctor settles in for best game of the season: Saturday’s game was one that McCorkle said Jackson Proctor and the Dartmouth offense would have to take what the Penn defense gave them, whether that be a short 3-yard route or running the ball inside. It was all an effort to dominate time of possession and keep the chains moving.

The Big Green did that on Saturday as Proctor rebounded from the Merrimack game with a 24-of-31 passing, 232-yard, two-touchdown performance — the senior quarterback’s best statistical output early this season.

Most impressive of all was the Big Green’s last drive of the game, which lasted 10 minutes and 30 seconds. While it didn’t end in a score for Dartmouth, Penn took over on downs with 11 seconds on the clock and the ball at its own 1-yard line.

The Quakers needed a Herculean effort to tie or win the game. It never arrived.

“We were just doing what we do best,” Proctor said of the offense. “Last week was last week. We learned from it, we grew from it, and we just took it a day at a time. … (The last drive) was a culmination of what we’ve been doing.”

Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.