Football Rallies to Beat Yale in Overtime, 24-17

Saturday, October 9

Hanover, N.H.

1:30 PM

Dartmouth College

Yale

Connor Davis came up clutch and set a Dartmouth record as well.

Photo by: Matt and John Risley (Risley Sports)

Football Rallies to Beat Yale in Overtime, 24-17

10/9/2021 5:00:00 PM | Football

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Connor Davis tied the game with 13 seconds left and Nick Howard scored the winning touchdown

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Senior Connor Davis converted a 32-yard field goal with 13 seconds remaining in regulation, allowing Dartmouth to fend off Yale in overtime, 24-17, in front of 10,079 homecoming fans at Memorial Field on Saturday afternoon. Junior Nick Howard barreled into the end zone from 7 yards out in the extra period, and the Bulldogs failed to convert on 4th-and-1, keeping the Big Green (4-0, 2-0 Ivy) perfect on the season while topping Yale (2-2, 1-1 Ivy) for the eighth time in the last nine meetings.

Dartmouth led for most of the game, but Yale took a 17-14 lead with 2:34 left when Griffin O'Connor connected with Mason Tipton on 4th-and-goal from five yards out, capping a 13-play, 43-yard drive that featured a trio of 4th-down conversions.

On the ensuing drive, the Big Green faced their own 4th-down situation at their own 26, needing just a yard. Though the pass fell incomplete, the hit that jarred the ball loose was flagged for targeting, giving Dartmouth new life. Quarterback Derek Kyler took advantage of the second chance, completing passes of 25 and 10 yards to sophomore Paxton Scott to get into field-goal range.

When faced with another 4th-and-1 at the 18, Buddy Teevens, the Dartmouth's Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach, had sent his field-goal unit onto the field before calling a timeout to mull over the decision further. He settled on his original call and Davis calmly split the uprights to knot the score.

In the overtime period, Yale won the toss but elected to let the Big Green run their offense first. Senior running back Zack Bair ran for 4 yards and caught a Kyler pass for a first down before Howard powered his way to a pair of 7-yard runs, the last one getting him across the goal line. Davis added the PAT, his 52nd consecutive make to break the school record, and Dartmouth enjoyed a 24-17 lead.

The Bulldogs picked up 7 yards on their first play, but an incompletion and a 2-yard run left them a yard shy of the marker. After a timeout, O'Connor was hurried by linebacker Jalen Mackie, and the throw fell short of his intended target, sending the raucous crowd into a frenzy with the Big Green victory secured.

"It was a frustrating game in that Yale's defense was very effective, and really defended our run game well," Teevens said during the postgame press conference. "But our guys kept believing and the offense rallied at the end of the game to tie it up. It was electric on the sideline, and Derek is unflappable. He was determined to make stuff happen, and he did what he had to do to get us to overtime."

Kyler, ranked second in the FCS in completion percentage and third in passing efficiency entering the game, finished the day 19-of-29 passing or 190 yards and one touchdown. The 190 yards boosted his career total to 3,070, making him the 10th Big Green quarterback to top 3,000 yards.

The beginning of the game started with Yale striking first, gobbling up the first six-plus minutes before settling for a 38-yard field goal by Jack Bosman and an early 3-0 lead.

Late in the first quarter, Dartmouth got on the board when Kyler found sophomore Isaac Boston open on the left sideline for a 32-yard touchdown toss. The Big Green wasted little time in adding to their lead, thanks in part to a 44-yard bomb from Kyler to junior Jamal Cooney on the first play of the second quarter. Four plays later, Howard capped the 8-play, 83-yard drive with a 3-yard run into the end zone for a 14-3 lead with 12:53 left until halftime.

But the Bulldogs answered back, matching the Big Green's first touchdown with a 32-yard score of their own. Melvin Rouse II beat the Dartmouth defense in almost exactly the same spot that Boston did on his touchdown catch, getting his foot down in time for six points. With the PAT, Yale cut its deficit to four at 14-10.

Yale had a chance to close the gap to one before the intermission, but a 41-yard field goal attempt fell short and wide to the left.

The second half was a defensive struggle with neither team making headway on the other until the Bulldogs took over at the Dartmouth 43 with 8:12 to play after a short punt, setting up their go-ahead score.

Dartmouth was limited to a season-low 277 yards of offense while Yale amassed 314. Bair led the ground game for the Green with 49 yards on 16 carries, while Howard posted 43 on 11 attempts and had two touchdown runs for the third straight game. The receiving corps was led by Scott with five catches for 47 yards, and Boston hauled in four throws for a team-high 55 yards and his first career touchdown grab.

O'Connor completed 28-of-42 passes for 194 yards and a touchdown, with the reserve Grooms going 2-for-2 for 37 yards with the other scoring strike. Rouse was Yale's leading receiver with 79 yards on seven catches.

Big Green cornerback Isaiah Johnson and nickelback John Pupel led the defense with eight stops, while Micah Awodiran led Yale with 10 tackles.

Dartmouth will play its final non-conference game of the year next weekend at in-state rival New Hampshire (1-1, 1-0 Ivy) in the Granite Bowl. The contest will be streamed live FloFootball, but Big Green fans can also listen to Brett Franklin and Matt Corsetti calling the action for free through the official website of Dartmouth Athletics, DartmouthSports.com.

Notes: The kicker whose record was broken by Davis was Nick Lowery '78, who still ranks among the top 20 scorers in NFL history over his 18 years in the league … this was the first overtime game between Dartmouth and Yale … the last time the Big Green went to overtime was four years ago in a 27-26 triumph over Holy Cross at Memorial Field … the only Ivy League teams Dartmouth has not squared off against in overtime are Columbia and Yale.