Williams, Gakenheimer Get Ivy Players of the Week

HANOVER, N.H. — The Ivy League announced its final weekly football award winners of the 2014 season today, and Dartmouth had two among the honorees in quarterback Dalyn Williams for offense and placekicker Alex Gakenheimer for special teams. The two selections give the Big Green a total of 11 selections this season, tied with Yale for the most among the Ancient Eight schools and the most in program history.

A 6-0, 210-pound junior from Corinth, Texas, Williams picked up his third Offensive Player of the Week honor by sharing it with Harvard wide receiver Andrew Fischer. Williams picked apart the Princeton defense in a 41-10 victory on the road, completing 30-of-35 passes for 305 yards and four touchdowns, the last matching a career high. His first touchdown toss came on the game's fourth play from scrimmage, a 58-yard bomb. The other scoring strikes went for four, 38 and 12 yards as the Big Green posted their best overall record (8-2) and conference mark (6-1) in 17 years.

Williams set a Dartmouth records for completion percentage in a single game (.857, minimum 20 attempts) and a season (.675), and he became just the second Big Green quarterback to throw 20 touchdowns in a season (21), joining former NFL QB Jay Fiedler '94. In addition, Williams is the sixth quarterback in Dartmouth history to throw for 2,000 yards in a season (2,119), and he led the Ivy League in completion percentage and passing efficiency (157.57).

Gakenheimer, a 6-3, 185-pound sophomore from Charlotte, N.C., set a career high with 11 points with a pair of field goals and in the victory over the Tigers. His first field goal came from 22 yards out with six seconds left in the first half to allow the Big Green to take a 17-3 lead into the locker room, and his second was a 29-yarder in the middle of the third quarter. Gakenheimer converted all five of his PAT attempts as well, and finished the season fourth in the Ivy League with 73 points, second among kickers.

Other Big Green players to be named an Ivy Player of the Week this fall are senior kick returner Kirby Schoenthaler (Special Teams) after week two, junior nickelback Frankie Hernandez (Defense) twice for his performances against Penn and Holy Cross, senior wide receiver Ryan McManus (Offense) for catching at least 150 yards against Yale and Brown, junior linebacker Will McNamara (Defense) after a 27-7 win at Columbia on Oct. 25, and freshman running back Ryder Stone (Rookie) for posting 114 rushing yards and three touchdowns versus Brown.

Getting a mention on the Honor Roll this week were sophomore cornerback Danny McManus (younger brother of Ryan) who had eight tackles and broke up three passes in his first career start, and senior wide receiver Bo Patterson who caught five passes for 129 yards (his first career 100-yard game) with three touchdowns.

Dartmouth (8-2, 6-1 Ivy) finished the season in second place in the Ivy League standings, one game behind undefeated Harvard.

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