Howard, Cooney Garner Weekly Ivy Football Awards

HANOVER, N.H. — The Ivy League office announced their weekly award winners today for the games this past weekend with Dartmouth quarterback Nick Howard earning Offensive Player of the Week and punt returner Jamal Cooney being named the Special Teams Player of the Week. Both athletes provided big yardage for the Big Green in their home-opening, 41-3 victory over Sacred Heart on Saturday.

Howard, a 6-2, 230-pound junior from Green Bay, Wisconsin, averaged a whopping 17.1 yards on nine carries for 154 yards as well as two long touchdown runs. His numbers at the half were impressive enough with 63 yards on six rushes, but he exploded after the intermission to turn a comfortable 20-3 advantage into an insurmountable 34-3 lead with touchdown runs of 53 and 39 yards. The second romp to the end zone came on a 4th-and-2 play with 11 minutes remaining, essentially sealing the win. Howard, who saw action in only one game as a freshman in 2019 prior to this season, topped the 100-yard mark for the first time in just his third career game. His 11.0-yard average per carry on the season would rank second in the FCS, but he falls one rushing attempt shy of qualifying.

A week after some shaky special teams work, Dartmouth shored up that area, and Cooney was a big reason for the turnaround. The 5-9, 150-pound junior from Miami, Florida, showed why he is so dangerous, returning three punts for a combined 128 yards, the most by any FCS player in a game this year. And it would have been even more, but his first return that originally went for 62 yards to the end zone, was truncated to just 22 yards due to a penalty. The diminutive dynamo had two more chances to shine in the fourth quarter, and he did just that, taking one back to the Pioneer 9 for a 64-yard return and the other 42 yards to the Sacred Heart 28. Cooney currently leads the FCS in punt return average (42.7 yards per return) and received honorable mention from Stats Perform for its FCS Special Teams Player of the Week award.

Earning a spot on the league's honor roll was fifth-year senior linebacker Tanner Cross, who led a terrific defensive effort that held the Pioneers to 274 yards and a mere three points with a team-high 10 tackles while forcing a fumble early in the game inside the Big Green 10.

Two weeks into the season and Dartmouth has already had a player earn one of each of the four weekly awards from the league office. Last week, senior linebacker Jalen Mackie and sophomore wide receiver Paxton Scott were chosen as the Defensive Player of the Week and the Rookie of the Week, respectively.

Dartmouth (2-0) next travels to Penn (1-1) for the Ivy League opener on Friday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU with Eric Frede and Jack Ford on the call. Folks hoping to watch online can stream the contest through ESPN if they subscribe to ESPNU in their cable or satellite package. Big Green fans can also listen to an audio broadcast for free with Brett Franklin and Matt Corsetti calling the action through the official website of Dartmouth Athletics, DartmouthSports.com.

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