The Aerts-ful Dodger: No. 14/15 Dartmouth Wins on Hail Mary

Saturday, November 2

Cambridge, Mass. / Harvard Stadium

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

7-0 , 4-0

Harvard

4-3 , 2-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Dartmouth

Harvard

Dartmouth celebrates the game-winning, Hail Mary touchdown to defeat Harvard, 9-6.

Photo by: Gil Talbot

The Aerts-ful Dodger: No. 14/15 Dartmouth Wins on Hail Mary

11/2/2019 4:53:00 PM | Football

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Box Score (HTML)Hail Mary Highlight Full Highlight Package

Derek Kyler escaped the rush and Masaki Aerts hauled in the 43-yard pass in the end zone

By: Rick Bender

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — For 59 minutes, it appeared that No. 14/15 Dartmouth would suffer its first loss of the 2019 season as the Big Green trailed host Harvard by three with one minute on the clock, no timeouts and the ball at their own 4-yard line. Yet somehow, junior quarterback Derek Kyler guided Dartmouth the 96 yards, ending on a 43-yard Hail Mary to junior Masaki Aerts in the end zone as time expired to lift the Big Green (7-0, 4-0 Ivy) to a miraculous 9-6 victory on Saturday afternoon at Harvard Stadium.

Harvard looked as if it had sewn the game up when Kyler fumbled the ball on a sack at the Dartmouth 9 with 1:19 to play. The Crimson ran three plays and forced the Big Green to use up their final two timeouts while the defense forced the Harvard runner out of bounds on the second-down play to stop the clock. Instead of taking the field goal facing 4th-and-goal at the 2-yard line, Harvard elected to go for it. But David Chalmers and Ross Andreasik teamed up to knock Devin Darrington back two yards and turn the ball over on downs.

Kyler returned to the field unfazed by the daunting task ahead and began by taking what the Harvard defense would give him — passes over the middle. The first went for eight yards to Hunter Hagdorn, then he ran for a first down before completing a 19-yard throw to Hagdorn again. Then it was Drew Estrada's turn on a 22-yard haul, his 11th catch of the game, putting the Big Green on the Harvard 43 with eight seconds left.

Kyler hurried the offense to the line and spiked the ball with six seconds left, and Harvard called a timeout to set its defense. The Crimson applied pressure, but Kyler was able to elude four pass rushers to give his receivers time to get down field. Kyler said his throw was "not the prettiest thing, but it probably helped to get it tipped up in the air." Two defenders leaped to meet the wobbling ball but could only bat it up, and it landed right in Aerts's arms as he went to the turf to ensure he hung on to it for just his 12th career catch and first career touchdown, setting off a jubilant celebration from the Dartmouth team and thousands of Big Green fans on hand among the 20,112 in attendance.

"It took forever to come down," Buddy Teevens, the Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach, said of the touchdown toss. "Then it's 'Did that really happen or am I dreaming?' To see the joy in the eyes of the players and in the stands … I've never been involved with a game like that where you win on a final, desperation pass. We've thrown a bunch up but never caught one."

Teevens' disbelief is understandable as Harvard Stadium has been a house of horrors for him throughout his days as a player and head coach at Dartmouth having never won at the venue. The Big Green lost both games during his playing days, including the team's lone conference loss in his senior year (1978) when he was the Ivy League Player of the Year. And as the Dartmouth head coach, he had nine losses and a single tie — 31-31 in 1991 — on his ledger.

The Big Green had opportunities to put points on the board earlier in the game after Harvard took a 3-0 lead on a 41-yard Jake McIntyre field goal on the game's first possession. But Dartmouth could not quite connect on a few long passes by starter Jared Gerbino in the first half, one of which resulted in an interception by safety Max Jones. His last throw sailed high over a wide-open J.J. Jones III late in the first half, which would have resulted in a 29-yard score. On the very next play, Gerbino was caught from behind near the sideline, hobbled off the field and would not return.

Kyler entered the game and picked up nine yards, which proved to be just enough to allow Connor Davis to boot a 42-yard field goal that crept over the crossbar with 59 seconds remaining in the half.

Harvard had its own missed opportunities, missing a pair of field goals, one from 34 yards in the second quarter, the other a 25-yard attempt that was low and wide due to a low snap early in the middle of the fourth quarter. But McIntyre did deliver the go-ahead three-pointer early in the second half after the teams played to a 3-3 tie over the first 30 minutes.

Kyler finished the day 11-of-18 throwing the ball for 133 yards with the game-winning touchdown and one interception, while Gerbino was 11-of-15 for 88 yards and a pick in the first half. Estrada picked up 97 yards on his 11 grabs and Hagdorn hauled in seven for 58 yards, while the running game was bottled up to just 51 yards on 25 carries.

Harvard's Jake Smith was 17-of-28 for 170 yards, hitting B.J. Watson six times for 41 yards and Cody Chrest five times for 68. Darrington ran 25 times for 102 yards, ending Dartmouth's 26-game streak of not allowing a 100-yard rusher.

The defenses were the stars throughout the day, however, as linebacker Jack Traynor collected a season-high 13 tackles for the Big Green and lineman Jackson Perry eight more. Cameron Kline had 10 stops for the Crimson, and Brogan McPartland and Truman Jones each provided 1.5 sacks.

Dartmouth will not have a breather after this thriller as it hosts No. 12/12 Princeton (7-0, 4-0 Ivy) at Yankee Stadium next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in a celebration of 150 years of college football and the 250th anniversary of Dartmouth College. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU, and Big Green fans can also listen to Brett Franklin and Wayne Young '72 call the action online at DartmouthSports.com.

Notes: Dartmouth had not won a game when scoring fewer than 10 points in 23 years in a 6-3 victory. Over Harvard. In Cambridge. And the Big Green went on to finish that season 10-0, their last perfect record … Dartmouth had its Ivy League record-streak of scoring 21 or more points in the first half in six straight games come to an end, but the final play extended their streak of scoring at least one touchdown to 83 contests … the 52 yards rushing were the fewest for the Big Green since picking up just 46 at Yale in 2014, a game Dartmouth won, 38-31 … Estrada ran for 15 yards and even returned two kickoffs for 47 more, the first two kickoffs returned by the Big Green this season.