Later turnovers help doom Dartmouth against Yale
Published: 10-08-2023 2:13 AM |
HANOVER — The wind whipped around Memorial Field on Saturday. Upon it, the Dartmouth College football team’s 31-24 loss to Yale dealt a blow to the Big Green’s Ivy League title hopes.
Not since 1982 has a team with two league losses captured an Ancient Eight crown. Which means Dartmouth, after this week’s nonleague finale at Colgate, must run the Ivy table during its last five games to have a realistic chance at its first championship since 2019. The Big Green is 2-2 overall and 1-1 in league play.
Yale, last season’s Ivy champion, won in Hanover for the first time since 2010 and for just the second time during the teams’ last six meetings.
Dartmouth forged a 24-24 tie after a seven-minute scoring drive with seven minutes to play that ended with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Jackson Proctor to Paxton Scott. However, the Big Green’s next two possessions, and its last two of the contest, ended with Proctor passes being intercepted.
Meanwhile, Yale scored the contest’s final touchdown with six minutes remaining on a 69-yard touchdown pass from Nolan Grooms to Ryan Lindley. Defensive back Sean Williams, attempting to cover the Bulldogs receiver, stumbled and fell as the pair cut across midfield.
“It’s very frustrating and disappointing that we couldn’t come away from this game with a win,” said interim head coach Sammy McCorkle. “Our guys battled the entire game, and we were better than they were in a lot of the stats, but those turnovers really hurt us, put us in tough situations.”
Yale also scored on Sean Guyton’s 70-yard interception return for a touchdown when the Bulldog picked off Nick Howard’s pass with two minutes remaining in the second quarter. That play, and the subsequent extra point. pulled the visitors into a 7-7 tie.
Dartmouth, which uses Howard primarily as a running threat from the quarterback position, utilized Proctor as its throwing option. Dylan Cadwallader, who filled that role initially this season, left last week’s victory at Penn because of injury and didn’t play Saturday.
Article continues after...
Yesterday's Most Read Articles
Dartmouth used its first possession of the second half to drive to Yale’s 1-yard line. However, two Howard plunges into the line didn’t result in a score and, on third down, the fifth-year senior had a shotgun snap sail through his hands.
The Big Green settled for a 32-yard Owen Zalc field goal and a 17-17 tie.
Yale went three-and-out on its next possession and punted, but the ball caromed off Dartmouth blocker Cam Maddox and was recovered by the Bulldogs, costing the hosts a chance with the ball.
Yale went up, 24-17, by driving 82 yards in seven plays and scoring on a 4-yard Grooms pass to Mason Tipton early in the fourth quarter.
Proctor completed 17 of 23 passes for 120 yards and a touchdown and had two passes intercepted. Scott had 60 yards on five catches, and Howard rushed 17 times for 87 times and two touchdowns.
Dartmouth, which held the ball for 10 more minutes than the Bulldogs, outrushed Yale, 221 yards to 36, but surrendered 239 yards passing while managing only 147 itself.
Notes: Attendance was announced at 2,880. … Braden Mullen had two of his team’s three sacks. … Joseph Vaughn led all players with 15 stops for the Bulldogs. … Scott is the 15th player in Big Green history with 100 receptions. … Howard has 12 multi-touchdown games in his career, two shy of the Dartmouth record held by legendary Myles Lane from the Class of 1928. … Dartmouth had not turned the ball over four times in a game since coughing it up five times during a 24-21 loss against Brown in 2016.