Dartmouth Falls in Fifth Granite Bowl to No. 15 UNH, 45-24

Sept. 25, 2004

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HANOVER, N.H. - The Dartmouth football team held a 14-10 second-quarter lead before No. 15 New Hampshire used its passing game to rally for its fifth straight Granite Bowl victory, 45-24, on Saturday at Memorial Field.

Saturday's match up was the fifth for the two schools since resuming their annual rivalry, dubbed the Granite Bowl, in 2000. The loss spoiled the home opener for Dartmouth (0-2), which returns to Ivy League play next Saturday at preseason favorite Penn at 12:30 p.m. New Hampshire (3-1), ranked No. 15 in this week's ESPN/USA Today Division I-AA poll, travels to No. 11 Villanova next Saturday at 6 p.m.

Big Green junior quarterback Charlie Rittgers (Lebanon, Ohio) led the offense by going 28 for 48 with 349 yards and three touchdowns, each to a different receiver. Sophomore tailback Ray Rochester (Rockville, Md.) had a touchdown and 89 yards receiving, and senior receivers Andrew Hall (Greene, Maine) and Bob Murphy (Rockland, Mass.) each scored off a Rittgers pass. Junior linebacker Josh Dooley (Tuttle, Okla.) made 11 tackles while senior strong safety Chris Dodds (Mount Pleasant, S.C.) had 10 tackles and a sack.

New Hampshire scored the first 10 points of the game late in the first quarter. Redshirt freshman Ricky Santos (Bellingham, Mass.) tosses his first touchdown pass to sophomore receiver David Ball (Orange, Vt.) and junior Connor McCormick (Forty Fort, Pa.) booted a 36-yard field goal, but the Big Green quickly answered. On the first play of the second quarter, Rittgers found Rochester for 73 yards to make it 10-7, and Rittgers hit Hall on the Big Green's next drive with 7:54 left in the period for a 14-10 lead.

From there, the Wildcats took charge and reeled off 35 of the game's last 45 points. Santos found junior tight end Jon Williams (Rochester, N.Y.) for a 15-yard score at 5:58 to put New Hampshire in the lead for good, and junior defensive back Baron Flenory (Pittsburgh, Pa.) returned an interception 87 yards to make the lead 24-14 in favor of New Hampshire.

Junior Erik Hinterbichler (Albuquerque, N.M.) gave the Big Green life early in the second half by knocking home a 20-yard field goal to make it 24-17. New Hampshire countered before the end of the period with one-yard plunge by senior R.J. Harvey (Albany, N.Y.) and a 42-yard score from Santos to Ball to increase the lead to 38-17.

Murphy scored on a 10-yard pass from Rittgers with 10 minutes left in the game to make it a two-touchdown gap, but senior receiver David Bailey (Bronx, N.Y.) hauled in Santos' fourth touchdown pass from 22 yards out with seven minutes left to produce the final score.

While New Hampshire held slim edges in time of possession, 30:09 to 29:51, and passing yards, 383 to 349, the Wildcats picked up 11 more first downs and 87 more rushing yards than the Big Green and converted on 60.9 percent (14 of 23) of its third-down opportunities. The Big Green went six of 18 (33.3 percent) on third down, punted nine times, and Rittgers was picked twice.

Rittgers' 73-yard pass to Rochester was tied for the ninth-longest pass play in Big Green history, and the longest since an 84-yard play in 1988, and his 349 passing yards vaulted him into eighth place in Dartmouth history with 2,766 career passing yards.

Santos led New Hampshire's air attack with 374 yards and four touchdowns on 32 of 50 passing while Ball hauled in 10 catches for 204 yards and two scores. Junior linebacker E.J. DeWitt (Newport, R.I.) led the New Hampshire defense with 12 tackles while Flenory and sophomore defensive back Corey Graham (Buffalo, N.Y.) each picked off a pass.

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