Home Opener Brings Sacred Heart to Hanover

Saturday, September 25

Hanover, N.H.

1:30 PM

Dartmouth College

Sacred Heart

The Dartmouth defense is formidable once again.

Photo by: Jon Hendricks

9/23/2021 10:00:00 AM | Football

Saturday, Sept. 25 Memorial Field ESPN+ Broadcast Audio Broadcast Live Stats Interview with Coach Teevens @DartFootball Dartmouth Notes Sacred Heart Notes

The football team will get a tough test with the Pioneers defense

By: Rick Bender

Dartmouth (1-0) vs. Sacred Heart (2-1)
Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021 | 1:30 PM | ESPN+
Memorial Field | Hanover, N.H.

Shaking Off the Rust
Following a 28-18 victory at Valparaiso last week, Dartmouth looks to shore up some areas of operation on the field with a much tougher test for the home opener with one of the NEC favorites, Sacred Heart, coming to town.

The Big Green would like nothing more than to extend their success against non-conference opponents to 18 consecutive games with a win over the Pioneers, a streak that began seven years ago. In order to do so, however, Dartmouth will have to minimize the miscues that plagued them at Valpo.

First, the good news, aside from a 10-point victory. Quarterback Derek Kyler demonstrated the calm and efficiency that have been hallmarks of his career, completing 15-of-22 passes (matching his career percentage of 68.2) for 177 yards and three touchdowns. Sophomore Paxton Scott emerged from the receiving corps as the top target, catching eight balls for 87 yards and a score in his collegiate debut, earning him Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors.

The ground game featured the other half of the quarterbacking equation, junior Nick Howard, early on as he galloped for 55 yards on 10 carries while getting into the passing game effectively, completing all three of his passes for 31 yards. The fourth quarter belonged to senior RB Zack Bair as he returned from an injury to run for 72 yards over the final 15 minutes, ending the day with 92 on just 14 attempts (6.6 yards per carry) and scoring two touchdowns — one on the ground and one through the air.

The defense held the host Beacons to 236 total yards and only two drives that covered even as many as 30 yards, the longest going 58 on Valpo's second possession of the game. Linebacker Jalen Mackie proved his worth, registering a dozen stops, including two key tackles for a loss as well as a fourth-quarter interception that he returned 28 yards to set up the game's final score. The senior deservedly was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts.

An entirely new defensive line did well in applying pressure on the Valparaiso quarterback as well, holding the Beacons to 106 passing yards. Marques White registered his first career solo sack (he assisted on a pair as a freshman in 2019), while Shane Cokes and Tobi Adedara each had four tackles up front.

Cameron Baller did a nice job of filling in for injured place kicker Connor Davis, converting all four of his PATs and averaging 59 yards on his kickoffs, including one touchback.

As for the missteps, Dartmouth surrendered a pair of safeties, one on a snap over a punter's head and out of the end zone. Chalk that up to a new long snapper in his first game action in three years, but certainly something the team will work on during the week. Another punt was partially blocked, but it could have been worse if not for a Big Green bounce that the sent the ball forward 22 yards. And securing the ball will be another focus after fumbling the ball five times, three of which were lost to the Beacons.

Oddly enough, the Big Green have won their last three games when losing three fumbles, the most recent dating back to the 2015 season finale that clinched the Ivy League title.

Yet Dartmouth still managed to win its 11th straight season opener, its longest such streak since winning 13 in a row over the 1960-72 campaigns. The Big Green also remained undefeated against PFL teams, improving to 6-0 all-time.

Scouting the Pioneers
One of the favorites in the Northeast Conference this season, Sacred Heart has gotten off to a 2-1 start with victories over Bucknell and Morgan State. But the Pioneers fell in their first conference contest two weeks ago at Bryant, 17-6, and have to chase the league leaders to defend their title from this past spring.

The offense was expected to lean heavily on preseason All-America running back Julius Chestnut who led the FCS last spring with an average of 171 yards on the ground and 205.2 all-purpose yards. But an injury has sidelined the bruising 6-1, 215-pound back since rushing for 170 yards in week one, and his status for today is uncertain. In his place, Malik Grant has stepped up to run for 210 yards in the two games Chestnut has missed.

Quarterback Marquez McCray has been solid behind center, throwing for 155.7 yards per game with two touchdowns and three interceptions while completing 57.1 percent of his passes. In his most recent outing, he hit on 17-of-26 passes for 193 yards and one score. But the Pioneers look to control the tempo with their strong running game.

Naseim Brantley and another preseason All-American, wide receiver Rob DiNota, are the top targets with 22 catches for 242 yards between them, while tight end Ed Cuddahy has seven grabs for 58 yards.

The defense has been quite stingy, yielding a mere eight points a game (second in the FCS), including a shutout of Bucknell in the season opener. Opponents have managed barely 250 yards per game, only 100.7 of which have come through the air, the toughest passing defense in the country. Linebacker DeAndre Byrd has a team-high 17 tackles, two going for a loss, outside linebacker Chris Outterbridge has 16 stops and safety Salaam Horne 14 along with the team's lone interception.

Mark Nofri (Keene State '93) just coached his 100th game as the Pioneers' head coach last weekend and sports a 56-44 record. Three times he has guided Sacred Heart to the FCS playoffs, most recently this past spring after tying for the Northeast Conference title. That accomplishment garnered him the league's Coach of the Year award for the fourth time in his career.

Win Streaks Remain Intact
Dartmouth managed to extend its win streak against non-conference opponents to 17 with its 28-18 victory at Valparaiso on Sept. 18. It is the longest such win streak for the Big Green during the Ivy League era that began in 1956. You would have to go back to the 1922-28 seasons to find a longer win streak against teams that did not eventually form the Ivy league (26).
On top of that, Dartmouth also won its 11th straight season opener (longest since 13 in a row from 1960-72). The victory was also its seventh straight on the road, matching the streaks from 2011-13 and again from 2014-15 as the longest since a program-record 14-game road win streak during the 1995-97 campaigns.

Ivy Players of the Week
Dartmouth got some impressive individual performances in the 28-18 victory at Valparaiso on Sept. 18. Senior LB Jalen Mackie posted a dozen tackles — two more than he had in his career entering the game — with two key stops for losses on 3rd-and-short situations that forced the Beacons to punt both times. He also intercepted a fourth-quarter pass to set up the game's final score, giving the Big Green some breathing room in the final minutes. All of that added up to being named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week.

Sophomore WR Paxton Scott managed to earn the Ivy's Rookie of the Week honor from the other side of the ball. Making his collegiate debut, he led Dartmouth with eight catches for 87 yards, including a 6-yard touchdown in the second quarter. He is the Big Green's first league rookie of the week in three years (Connor Davis).

Indiana State of Mind
Pretty sure that's Billy Joel's first draft for his song. Dartmouth now has a winning record in the state of Indiana after knocking off Valparaiso on its home field, 28-18, on Sept. 25. The Big Green are now 2-1 within the borders of the Crossroads of America, having defeated Butler back in 2013. The lone loss came during World War II at Notre Dame, where the team stopped off en route to Valparaiso to get an up-close look at the field. Their tour was also filmed and featured during the Notre Dame-Purdue broadcast on NBC.

Kyler Rising the Ranks
Quarterback Derek Kyler matched his career completion percentage in the season opener, hitting on 15-of-22 passes (.682) at Valparaiso for 177 yards and three touchdowns. He now has 2,614 passing yards for his career, 14th all-time at Dartmouth. With just 100 more yards this week, he would move into 12th and needs just 386 more to become the 10th player in program history with 3,000. In addition, those three TD tosses moved him into a tie for fourth with Jack Heneghan '17 with 28 in his ledger. His ratio of 28 touchdowns to just five interceptions is the best of any Big Green player, besting even Dalyn Williams (56-13). Finally, his career passing efficiency of 167.21 would lead all active FCS players, but he remains 20 attempts shy of qualifying.

Safety School
That term is not generally used in association with Dartmouth, but after surrendering a pair of safeties to Valparaiso, don't be surprised to hear it from opposing fans. It was the first time in 85 years that a team danced with the daffodils and scored two safeties in a Big Green game. At least in the last instance, it was Dartmouth scoring the two safeties, victimizing Yale back in 1936. Unlike this time around, those two two-pointers made the difference in an 11-7 Big Green victory.

End Zone Air Raid
With the three touchdowns throws at Valparaiso, Dartmouth has had at least one score through the air in 50 of its last 54 contests. The Big Green had one or more in every game in 2017, while missing out only once in the other four campaigns since 2015.

Dazzling Debut
Sophomore Paxton Scott wasted no time in making a name for himself after having his freshman season wiped out by the pandemic. The wide receiver caught eight passes for 87 yards with a touchdown in his collegiate debut at Valparaiso to lead all players. His receptions and yardage are the most by any Big Green player in his college debut in this millennium.

Quick Hitters
• The passing numbers for Derek Kyler at Valparaiso were eerily similar to the 2018 season opener (his first college game) when he threw for the same number of yards on 15-of-21 (not 22) throws in a 41-0 blanking of Georgetown.
• Over the last three seasons, Dartmouth has lost just four games, none by more than five points. And eight of the Green's last nine losses have been by eight points or fewer.
• The Big Green earned their first road win over Harvard in 16 years last year in a thrilling 9-6 victory made possible only on a 43-yard Hail Mary pass as time expired from Kyler to Masaki Aerts, now known as "The Miracle in Cambridge."
• Dartmouth clinched a share of the 2019 crown at Brown, rallying from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter and only securing the win when two-time All-American Isiah Swann picked off a pass in the end zone in the final minute.
• Kyler finished the 2019 season with a passing efficiency rating of 183.87, the highest in Ivy League history (minimum 10 att. per game). Second on that list is Jared Gerbino '20 from the 2019 season as well (171.24).
• Last year, Buddy Teevens was named the Ivy League and New England Coach of the Year, the latter for the second time by the New England Football Writers Association (first time in 2015).
• Two Big Green alums made their NFL debuts in the 2020 season — DE Niko Lalos '20 with the New York Giants and OL Matt Kaskey '19 with the Carolina Panthers. Lalos made quite a name for himself by picking off a pass in his first game and recovering a Russell Wilson fumble in his next contest. Kaskey saw action on the line in the Panther's final game.