Big Green Triumph Over Fordham in Season Opener, 45-13

Saturday, September 21

Hanover, N.H.

1:00 PM

Dartmouth College

1-0 , 0-0

Fordham

0-4 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Fordham

Dartmouth

Photo by: Cade Bettinger

Big Green Triumph Over Fordham in Season Opener, 45-13

9/21/2024 8:12:00 PM | Football

Box Score Postgame Press Conference ESPN+ Highlights

Dartmouth score its most points in a season opener since 1965

By: Justin Lafleur

HANOVER, N.H. — The Dartmouth football team scored the game's first 31 points and wouldn't look back, as the Big Green opened their season in style with a 45-13 win over Fordham on Saturday at Memorial Field. Dartmouth set the tone early, scoring just four plays into the contest, as the Big Green used a balanced attack for their largest margin of victory in a season opener since 2018.

"Super excited," said Sammy McCorkle, the Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach. "Excited the way the guys prepared all preseason and prepared this week. Really thought our energy was great… it really was. There are some things we've got to clean up, a couple mistakes here and there. We can't take our foot off the gas, but I think the guys responded well, they played fast, they played hard and were pretty much assignment sound the entire time."

Q Jones scored Dartmouth's first two touchdowns of the season, the first a 40-yard run and the second a 19-yard reception, both coming in the first quarter. He finished the day with 86 yards on 16 carries. D.J. Crowther added 79 yards on nine carries, including a 46-yard touchdown. As a team, Dartmouth scampered for 233 yards.

"A lot of holes," said Jones when asked about the key to success. "My job is to hit those. My tight ends and O linemen handled their business up front and to repay them, I try to get touchdowns, I try to get first downs because it's a testament of all their hard work."

The Big Green's passing attack was strong as well, led by Jackson Proctor, who was 14-of-18 for 185 yards and two touchdowns. Six of those completions for 121 yards were to Paxton Scott, who moved from a tie for 10th to sixth place in program history for catches (137). He also upped his career receiving yards total to 1,647, which moved him up two spots to ninth in Dartmouth history.

"You can't do it without everybody else," said Proctor. "The offensive line played great. The receivers caught the ball. Q had a really good game. Obviously prepping up throughout this game, throughout the week, I think we did a really good job. That's a testament to the team we have."

Defensively, the Big Green were strong in shutting out Fordham until late in the third quarter. Zach Farris picked up his first-career interception while Cameron Lee had two of Dartmouth's four sacks, with Josiah Green and Danny Cronin recording the others. Cameron Best-Alston posted a team-high five tackles.

"We wanted to make sure we broke them down as much as possible," said Green. "Coach Lark talks about pursuit all day every day. Angles beats speed any day of the week."

Defensive back Jordan Washington's biggest play came on special teams, as his early third-quarter field goal block and ensuing return for touchdown gave Dartmouth the 31-0 advantage, pretty much erasing any doubt.

On the third play of the game, Proctor found Proctor for 44 yards. One play later, Jones found the end zone with a 40-yard run to give Dartmouth a 7-0 lead just 1:52 into the contest.

Q Jones wastes no time! The Big Green are up 7-0 early in the first quarter.

Watch here: https://t.co/cOVywAy4YQ #GoBigGreen | #TheWoods pic.twitter.com/1iXkG0lgF3
— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) September 21, 2024

The Big Green doubled their advantage later in the quarter with a long 10-play, 86-yard drive, ending with Proctor finding Jones for 19 yards, a touchdown and 14-0 Big Green lead after one quarter of play.

Dartmouth tacked on 10 more points in the second. Early in the stanza, it looked like Chris Corbo was just out of bounds in the back of the end zone, but upon review, it was determined he had dragged his left toe before his right foot was down. That 12-yard grab gave the Big Green a 21-0 lead.

The throw and the catch pic.twitter.com/eiBzpxCm2h
— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) September 21, 2024

With two minutes left in the second quarter, Owen Zalc knocked through a 40-yard field goal to give Dartmouth a 24-0 halftime advantage.

On Fordham's first drive of the third, the Rams lined up for a 39-yard field goal, but Washington came around the edge for the highlight-reel block. He corralled the loose ball and went 50 yards into the end zone with an ease to make the score 31-0.

What. A. Play.

The block and the return give the Big Green a 31-0 lead! pic.twitter.com/aFci4LHSvB
— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) September 21, 2024

Later in the third, a 10-play Fordham drive pulled the Rams within 31-7, but that's as close as they would come. Crowther had a 46-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, Fordham responded with a touchdown, but making his collegiate debut, Grayson Saunier's 31-yard rushing touchdown with 1:51 remaining gave Dartmouth a 45-13 lead — which proved to be the final.

"I was impressed with the fact the guys we wanted to step up, they stepped up, and they put us in a really good situation early in the game," said McCorkle. "They put to where Fordham had to play catchup."

As a team, Dartmouth held a 418 to 293 edge in total yards.

The Big Green will now hit the road for the first time when they travel to Merrimack next Saturday to face the Warriors at 1 p.m. Dartmouth returns home in two weeks, hosting Penn as part of the Buddy Teevens Stadium Dedication weekend. Tickets can be purchased HERE.

Questions can be directed to the Athletics Sales Office at athletics.sales@dartmouth.edu or by calling (603) 646-2466.

NOTES: Dartmouth's 32-point margin of victory marked its largest in a season opener since a 41-0 victory over Georgetown on Sept. 15, 2018 … The Big Green's 45 points were their most in a season opener since a 56-6 win over New Hampshire on Sept. 25, 1965 … It was also Dartmouth's most points in any game since a 52-31 win at Brown in the 2021 season finale (Nov. 20) … The 45 points were the Big Green's most against a nonleague opponent since a 49-7 victory at Marist on Oct. 19, 2019 and most points at home since a 59-24 win over Columbia a week later … Paxton Scott began the day with 131 career receptions; with his six, he passed Ryan Fuslier (2004-06) who had 131, Dave Shula (1978-80) who had 133, Tim McManus (2007-11) who had 134, Jack Daly (1981-83) who had 135 and Victor Williams (2012-15) who had 135 … In yards, Scott passed both Williams who had 1,632 and Tim McManus (2007-11) who finished with 1,633.