Harvard Knocks Dartmouth From Undefeated Ranks

A crowd of 7,711 turned out at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field.

(BGA Nov. 3) – The sun came up Sunday morning. An hour earlier, even, than the day before.

You’ll have to excuse the Dartmouth faithful if it didn’t feel like it.

The Big Green used a 20-point run to put more points on Harvard than it had in more than two decades only to see the Crimson roar back from a 10-point deficit over the final six minutes Saturday and grab a dramatic 31-27 victory in the closing seconds.

When Jackson Proctor’s Hail Mary on the final play of the game was knocked down it took with it Dartmouth’s dreams of an undefeated season and left the Big Green in a three-way tie for the Ivy League lead with the resurgent Crimson and surprising Columbia.

Dartmouth, which had come into the game alone atop the conference standings, will now bring a 6-1 overall record and a 3-1 Ivy League mark into Friday night’s nationally televised game at Princeton.

Harvard (6-1, 3-1), which dropped its Ivy opener at Brown on a fluke play in the final minute, now has won its last five games and three in a row over Dartmouth.

“You don’t like to lose, but we’ve got to learn from this,” said Big Green coach Sammy McCorkle, after seeing a nine-game winning streak dating back to last year snapped in front of a Homecoming crowd of 7,711. “We’ve got to wash it. We have a short week to get ourselves ready for Princeton.”

Clinging to a three-point lead after a Harvard touchdown with 1:18 left in the third quarter, the Big Green answered quickly and seemed to be in control when junior Daniel Haughton caught a pass from Jackson Proctor just shy of midfield and outraced two Harvard defenders for a 72-yard touchdown and a 27-17 lead.

After Dartmouth forced a three-and-out on the Crimson’s ensuing possession the Big Green took over at its own 33 and after a first-down pass, a six-yard loss and a couple of completions faced a fourth-and-one at the Harvard 48.

If Dartmouth went for it and scored, it would have a 17-point, fourth-quarter lead. If it gambled and didn’t make it, the Crimson would take over near midfield.

On a day when Harvard had been doing a good job bottling up top running back Q Jones, McCorkle opted to punt and the decision looked good when Davis Golick’s 42-yard boot pinned Harvard back at its own six.

Even after Crimson quarterback Jaden Craig completed third-and-six and third-and-seven passes to Cooper Barkate, the Big Green looked to be in good shape with the visitors facing a fourth-and-14 at their own 42 with 7:59 remaining.

But Craig, under pressure and with the Harvard hopes hanging on his legs and strong right arm, scrambled to the right and found Kaedyn Odermann for 15 yards and a first down.

Three plays later it was Craig hitting tight end Seamus Gilmartin for 15 yards on a third-and-six play to set the Crimson up at the Dartmouth six.

At that point first-year Harvard coach Andrew Aurich traded the quarterback who brought the Crimson down the field for the quarterback who started most of last season before losing the job. 

Charles Deprima was just a 50-percent passer last year but won games with his running ability and he already had an eight-yard TD run on this day that gave Harvard a 7-0 lead on the first series of the game. On that opening touchdown run of the game time he went right.

This time he went left and scored virtually untouched to pull the Crimson within 27-24 on Kieran Corr’s PAT. Harvard had driven 94 yards in 14 plays to make it a one-score game. There were 5 minutes, 59 seconds left.

A Dartmouth team that had shown the ability to string together time-consuming drives desperately needed one to stem the Harvard momentum after taking over at its own 25. But after Proctor ran for six yards and Jones for two, a reverse was stopped for no gain and the Big Green was forced to punt on fourth-and-two from its own 33.

Golick’s 40-yarder saw Harvard take possession at its own 27 with 3:59 on the clock and get back to work.

Craig hit back-to-back passes of 10 yards to Odermann and 24 yards to Barkate as the Crimson marched to the Dartmouth 39. Three plays and the two-minute timeout later the game was on the line yet again as the Crimson faced a fourth-and-three at the Dartmouth 32.

And again it was Craig hitting the 6-foot-4 Odermann for a first down, this time for eight yards to the Big Green 24. Then it was running back Xaviah Bascon coming free on the right side and Craig finding him for 15 yards to the nine before Dartmouth called timeout. There were 49 seconds on the clock.

A completion for no gain saw the Crimson receiver get out of bounds to stop the clock and DePrima trot in from the sidelines one more time. 

And for the third time in the game and the second time in as many possessions, the backup QB took the direct snap and showed why he might be the fastest player in the league. The 6-2 senior started left, turned upfield and went airborne at the pylon.

After a moment’s hesitation the officials raised their arms to signal touchdown, a ruling confirmed by video review. With the PAT, the Crimson had a four-point lead – critical on a day when Owen Zalc had booted a school-record 54-yard field goal – with 27 seconds remaining.

But the excitement wasn’t over.

After the Harvard kickoff went out of bounds Proctor, seeing his first action since being hurt late in the Penn game four weeks earlier, completed passes of 16 yards to Chris Corbo, 10 yards to Haughton and 12 yards to Jackson Namian to advance the ball to the Harvard 32 with three seconds and one play left.

Harvard followers could be excused for having PTSD when Proctor took the final snap and under pressure scrambled right, somehow evaded a diving tackle, and against the sideline launched the ball toward the end zone.

Five years ago to the day Derek Kyler escaped a hard rush and hit Masaki Aerts with a 43-yard Hail Mary that gave Dartmouth a 9-6 win that saved the Big Green’s 2019 Ivy League championship season.

This time the pass made it three yards into the end zone right in front of the 6-4 Corbo. But 6-3 Harvard safety Jack Donahoe had the tight end boxed out and batted the ball back harmlessly into the playing field to save the day for the Crimson.

While McCorkle was disappointed with the way the game ended, he was proud of the fight his team showed.

"There were situations when we had opportunities to get them off the field there offensively," he said. "We've got to be able to do that. And then offensively, we had a chance there, that one drive, to keep the drive going. But it's a combination of things; it's everything.

“We put ourselves in a situation to try and win the game at the end. That's all you can ask for, and we just came up short."

NOTES

In addition to his 54-yarder, Zack had a 37-yard field goal, also in the second quarter. … Tight end Sean Ward’s one-yard TD reception from Grayson Saunier with 1:47 remaining in the first half sent Dartmouth to the locker room with a 13-10 lead. That was the only appearance by Saunier, who guided Dartmouth to wins against Yale, Central Connecticut and Columbia in Proctor’s absence. 

Proctor finished 18-for-26 for 235 yards with two touchdowns. Namian led Dartmouth receivers with five catches for 39 yards. .. Leading receiver Paxton Scott missed the game with a boot on his left foot. ... The Crimson defense limited Jones to 34 yards on 15 carries. DJ Crowther led Dartmouth with 45 yards on six rushes, one for 31.

Harvard listed leading rusher Shane McLaughlin as the starter on its pregame two-deep but he did not play. Craig finished 28-for-41 for 311 yards and one TD for the Crimson. Bascon led the ground game with 14 carries for 50 yards while DePrima had eight for 34 and the three TDs. Barkate was a huge thorn in Dartmouth’s side with seven catches for 124 yards.

Harvard's remaining schedule: Columbia in Cambridge this week, at Penn in Week Nine and The Game against Yale at Harvard Stadium. ... Columbia's (5-2, 3-1) remaining schedule: at Harvard, at Brown, home against Cornell.

Editor's Note: Given that this might be the most viewed BGA Overtime story of the year, this is a good time to thank you for all of your support this fall. Still three games to go so keep on reading and I'll keep on writing. ;-)