Big Green Succumb to Yale's Big Plays

Saturday, October 7

Hanover, N.H.

1:30 PM

Dartmouth College

2-2 , 1-1

Yale

2-2 , 1-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Yale

Dartmouth

Nick Howard helps the referees call his touchdown in the first quarter.

Photo by: Chloe Broeker

10/7/2023 4:52:00 PM | Football

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Three interceptions and a late 69-yard touchdown proved too much to overcome

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Although Dartmouth amassed nearly 100 more yards and held the ball for close to 11 more minutes than visiting Yale, the Bulldogs were able to overcome the disadvantage with several big plays, earning a 31-24 victory on an overcast and humid Saturday afternoon at Memorial Field. The winning score came with 5:52 remaining in the game when Nolan Grooms connected with Ryan Lindley for a 69-yard touchdown, breaking a 24-24 deadlock and lifting Yale (2-2, 1-1 Ivy) to its first conference win of the season.

Nick Howard ran for 87 of the Big Green's 221 yards on the ground, including a pair of touchdowns for Dartmouth (2-2, 1-1 Ivy) and Paxton Scott had a touchdown grab among his five receptions — giving him 100 for his career — but three interceptions and a tough-luck turnover on a punt proved to be the difference in the game.

The two teams entered the fourth quarter knotted at 17 with Yale knocking on the door inside the Big Green 10. Grooms, who completed 15-of-22 passes for 239 yards, teamed up with Mason Tipton for his first scoring strike of the day from four yards out and a 24-17 lead.

The Dartmouth offense responded with a methodical, 14-play, 75-yard drive that took up nearly half the quarter to get back to even. Quarterback Jackson Proctor completed 4-of-5 throws to start the drive to move the Green into Bulldog territory before they pounded the ball on the ground with eight consecutive runs (the longest a Howard 11-yard jaunt) down to the Yale 6. Facing 3rd-and-goal, Proctor zipped a throw to the back of the end zone to Scott for his first touchdown toss of the year.

That's @braden_mullen5 with his second sack of the game!

Watch on @ESPNPlus: 🔗 https://t.co/n0YbusIMQD #GoBigGreen | #TheWoods 🌲 pic.twitter.com/Y1sXisZBRq
— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) October 7, 2023

It took Yale three plays to regain the lead as Grooms found Ryan Lindley down the middle just past midfield. The Big Green safety slipped on the turf as the catch was made, leaving Lindley (who led all players with seven catches and 128 yards) free to sprint to the end zone for the 69-yard, go-ahead score.

On Dartmouth's next possession, Scott snared his 100th career catch, which was followed by a pass interference call that pushed the Big Green across midfield. But a 9-yard sack by Dylan Yang — just the second allowed by Dartmouth this season — left the Green up against 2nd-and-19. On third down, Proctor's pass was intercepted by Hamilton Moore.

But that pick did not seal the deal for Yale. The Bulldogs could not pick up a first down (they had just 11 on the afternoon) as Dartmouth burned its timeouts to preserve the clock, and the Big Green took over at their own 11 after a 35-yard punt. Proctor threw for a 17-yard gain to start the drive, but two plays later, cornerback Sean Guyton — who put Yale on the board in the opening quarter with a 70-yard pick-six — dove for another pickoff, and the Bulldogs were able to run out the clock from there.

"It's very frustrating and disappointing that we couldn't come away from this game with a win," said interim head coach Sammy McCorkle. "Our guys battled the entire game, and we were better than they were in a lot of the stats, but those turnovers really hurt us, put us in tough situations. We had our own chances to get some interceptions but just couldn't quite finish off those plays. Our guys will bounce back, however; they are a tough and resilient group."

That's TD No. 28 in the career for @nchoward17!

Watch on @ESPNPlus: 🔗 https://t.co/n0YbusIMQD #GoBigGreen | #TheWoods 🌲 pic.twitter.com/65UEX3ckeM
— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) October 7, 2023

The day began well for the Big Green, shutting Yale down on the game's opening drive before taking a 7-0 lead. Tevita Moimoi, who ran for a career-high 82 yards on just nine carries, burst through the middle of the line for a 41-yard pickup to the Yale 5. That set up Howard's first touchdown run from 5 yards out. But Guyton tied the game with his pick six late in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs took the lead on a 43-yard Jack Bosman field goal in the second quarter, and the two sides traded touchdown runs (Howard from 2 yards out and Joshua Pitsenberger from 4), leaving the Bulldogs with a 17-14 lead at the intermission.

Dartmouth opened the second half with a 7-minute drive, but a fumbled snap on 3rd-and-goal from the 1-yard line forced the team to settle for a 32-yard field goal by freshman Owen Zalc, tying the game at 17. And when the Big Green forced Yale to punt from its own 14, momentum seemed to be on their side until the punt backed up and clipped a Dartmouth blocker in the shoulder. The Bulldogs recovered the ball at their own 41, spoiling a golden scoring opportunity for Dartmouth. The score remained 17-all until the fateful fourth quarter.

Proctor finished the game 17-of-23 throwing the ball for 120 yards and the touchdown to Scott, but also suffered the two late interceptions. Scott led the Big Green receivers with 60 yards on his five catches.

Tevita Moimoi ran for a career-high 82 yards against Yale, Oct. 7, 2023

Tevita Moimoi ran for a career-high 82 yards on just nine carries.

Three players had six tackles to lead the Dartmouth defense that allowed Yale to run just 49 plays for 275 yards (the Big Green had 72 for 368), including a mere 36 rushing yards. Linebacker Braden Mullen contributed two of the team's three sacks with nose guard Josian Green recording the other for a 15-yard loss.

Joseph Vaughn led all players with 15 stops for the Bulldogs.

Dartmouth will wrap up its non-conference schedule next Saturday when it travels to Colgate (1-4) with kickoff set for 1 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ while a free audio broadcast featuring Brett Franklin and Matt Corsetti will be available through the official site of Dartmouth Athletics, DartmouthSports.com.

Notes: Scott is the 15th player in Big Green history with 100 receptions … Howard has 12 multi-touchdown games in his career, two shy of the Dartmouth record held by legendary Myles Lane from the Class of 1928 … Dartmouth had not turned the ball over four times in a game since coughing it up five times in a 24-21 loss against Brown in 2016 … Yale has won the last two games in the series after dropping eight of nine.