Fourth Quarter Comeback Ends in Overtime Defeat

Saturday, October 14

Hamilton, N.Y. / Andy Kerr Stadium

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

2-3 , 1-1

Colgate

2-4 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Dartmouth

Colgate

Senior Paxton Scott's 185 receiving yards are the 11th-most all-time in Dartmouth history.

Photo by: Maria Golick

Fourth Quarter Comeback Ends in Overtime Defeat

10/14/2023 5:18:00 PM | Football

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Dartmouth rallied from 14 points down in the final quarter

By: Rick Bender

HAMILTON, N.Y. — After rallying from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit, Dartmouth could not match a Colgate field goal in overtime when a 29-yard attempt was blocked, allowing the Raiders (2-4) to send their homecoming crowd of 2,732 home happy with a 27-24 triumph. Colgate won its second straight game following four losses to start the season, while the Big Green fell to 2-3 despite a career-high 185 receiving yards for Paxton Scott.

Dartmouth won the coin toss in overtime and elected to play defense first, only to have Raider running back Chris Gee rip off a 17-yard run down to the 8-yard line. But the Big Green stiffened up, keeping Colgate out of the end zone, forcing it to settle for a 20-yard field goal for the three-point lead.

A false start did not help Dartmouth's prospects on its possession, but on 3rd-and-16 at the 31, Scott caught a short pass for his 10th grab of the day (matching a season and career high), then twisted and fought his way to the marker for a first down. When the Green could only muster two more yards on three plays, freshman Owen Zalc — who had ended an overtime victory at Penn just two weeks ago with a 37-yard field goal — was summoned to attempt to tie the game with a 29-yarder and send it into a second overtime. Those plans went out the window, however, when his kick was batted away by Zack Pelland, ending the wild affair.

The Big Green had the ball in Colgate territory when the fourth quarter began, trailing 24-10, and finished off a 12-play, 71-yard drive barely three minutes in on a 9-yard run across the goal line by Tevita Moimoi, his first touchdown of the season. The defense did its job and forced a punt, giving the ball back to Dartmouth on its own 28.

Tevita Moimoi
(courtesy Maria Golick)

Quarterback Jackson Proctor guided the Green through the Raider defense, expertly mixing five completions with a trio of runs before Nick Howard took over behind center at the 4-yard line. The fifth-year senior powered his way into the end zone for his second score of the day, and Zalc provided the extra point to tie the game with 4:32 still to play, plenty of time for the big emotional swings to come.

Again Dartmouth stymied Colgate on a three-and-out, leaving the Big Green 2:24 to navigate into field goal range from their own 19. It didn't take long to do so as Proctor hit Proctor about 15 yards downfield over the middle on the very first play, and the receiver sprinted another 50 down to the Raider 16. But it was not to be when Proctor had the ball jarred loose while scrambling to avoid the oncoming rush, and Michael Slivka covered it up for Colgate.

A 32-yard pass on the Raiders' first play suddenly advanced them to midfield, but a big second-down sack by Charles Looes was the key to forcing another punt. Dartmouth had 51 seconds to move the ball from its own 11, but after one first down, it had to punt, and Colgate took a knee to send the game into the fateful overtime.

"Our guys battled back," said interim head coach Sammy McCorkle. "We told them to chip away at it, put yourself back in position to win it. And we had some opportunities there to win it, we just couldn't close it out. We didn't do a good job tackling in the open field and we had some penalties, particularly in the first half, that really cost us."

Those penalties played a big role in helping the Raiders build a 17-3 lead by the intermission. Colgate opened the game by marching right down the field, helped in part when Dartmouth was whistled for roughing the passer near midfield. Two plays later, Osborne (27-of-38 for 264 yards) connected with Brady Hutchison on a 23-yard throw for his first of two touchdown tosses on the day and a 7-0 lead.

The Big Green responded by moving the ball effectively until a holding penalty negated a first-down run in Raider territory. On the next Dartmouth possession (courtesy of an interception by linebacker Macklin Ayers), another holding penalty — this time in the red zone — denied the Green a first down at the 6-yard line, and the team ended up settling for a Zalc 32-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter.

Colgate answered with a 29-yard field goal with a little help from a facemask penalty that put the ball on the Big Green 16. And after the next Dartmouth drive stalled out just shy of midfield, the Raiders covered 83 yards spanning more than seven minutes, capped by an Osborne 7-yard keeper into the end zone for the 17-3 advantage.

Some thoughts on today's game from interim head coach Sammy McCorkle.#GoBigGreen | #TheWoods🌲 pic.twitter.com/bqPezzjrqC
— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) October 14, 2023

Even without any timeouts and only 1:07 left in the half, Dartmouth was able to maneuver downfield as Proctor (21-of-25 for 278 yards) completed six passes, the last to Scott at the Colgate 3, where Proctor spiked the ball to stop the clock with six seconds showing. After one pass into the end zone was broken up, Proctor went back to Scott, but his effort left him a foot shy of the goal line as time expired.

The momentum from that final drive of the half carried over into the second half, starting with the kickoff return by Sean Williams to the Big Green 45. Dartmouth then kept the ball on the ground, starting with a 32-yard run by Howard and a 19-yard pickup by Q Jones down to the Raider 2 before Howard was powered across the goal line on a "tush push" from the 1.

The defense stepped up in turn as nickelback Tyson McCloud broke up a 4th-and-3 pass at the Big Green 35. Dartmouth looked as if it would continue that momentum on a 31-yard toss from Proctor to Scott, but Colgate returned the favor by stopping Howard short of the marker on a 4th-and-2 run. Osborne then led the Raiders 78 yards over nine plays, ending with a 19-yard strike to Max Hurleman, boosting their lead back to 14.

"The one good thing I can say about this tough loss is just how we fought back," Scott said. "We didn't have a great first half, Colgate came out and kind of hit us in the mouth. But coming out for the second half, we had that long drive and we really started to play off each other's energy. When we clean up those little mistakes, we are a really good football team."

Dartmouth finished the game with a season-high 509 yards of offense, 372 provided by Proctor and Howard through the air. Howard led the team on the ground with 62 yards on 16 carries while linebackers Danny Cronin and Ayers had 12 and 11 tackles, respectively, to lead the defense.

Colgate amassed 418 yards (the most against the Big Green defense this year), 154 on the ground though no one player had more than Gee with 40 on six carries. Receiver Treyvhon Saunders posted eight catches for 118 yards, and Owen Goss led the Raider defense with 11 stops.

Dartmouth returns to Hanover next Saturday for its homecoming game against Columbia (2-3, 0-2 Ivy). The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ at 1:30 p.m. with Matt Corsetti and Steve Goldberg calling the action, and a free audio broadcast featuring Brett Franklin and Wayne Young '72 will be available through the official site of Dartmouth Athletics, DartmouthSports.com. To purchase tickets, visit the Dartmouth Ticket Office website or call at 603-646-2466.

Notes: With his two touchdowns today, Howard now has 31 rushing scores in his career, into second place all-time at Dartmouth ahead of Dominick Pierre '14 and just two behind the all-time leader Myles Lane '28 who had 33 nearly 100 years ago … the Big Green have topped 500 yards of offense 34 times over the last 54 seasons, winning 28 and losing only six, though this is their second straight defeat in such games (the last was another overtime loss at Sacred Heart last year) … Scott's 185 receiving yards are the 11th-most in a game in Dartmouth history … the Big Green fell to 7-19-1 in the all-time series against Colgate.