BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In 1997, Lehigh rolled into Hanover and handed Dartmouth a loss that snapped the longest unbeaten streak in the nation. Twenty-nine years later, the Big Green was on the cusp of returning the favor and ending the nation’s longest regular-season winning streak on the Mountain Hawks’ home field.
Taking over at his own 20 with 1:38 left in regulation and his team down four points, Dartmouth’s Grayson Saunier surgically picked apart the Lehigh defense, completing four of five throws while driving the Big Green to the Lehigh 26. There were only 19 seconds remaining, but the way Saunier was running the two-minute drill, it felt like it would take a Herculean play for the Mountain Hawks to hold on.
That’s exactly what they got.
On second down from the right hash, Saunier dropped back and lofted a pass down the left sideline toward Ky’Dric Fisher at the six. The big play Dartmouth junior might have had a step on corner DJ Brown, but the Lehigh senior cut in front of him, went high, and pulled the pass down with his right hand. He palmed it like Michael Jordan with a basketball and got his feet down before tumbling out of bounds with the only turnover of the game.
One kneel down later, Lehigh had a 24-20 thriller that ran its regular-season winning streak to 21 in front of a sun-splashed and stunned crowd of 8,902.
Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle was pleased with much of what he saw in the near miss against 4-0 Lehigh, but the disappointment in his voice was obvious as he talked about the finish and the message he had for his equally disappointed players.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of those guys and how hard they played,” he said. “We were in position to win that game, and I wanted them to understand that.
“As I told them in the locker room, we will never, ever, ever settle for a loss. We always come to win the game. I don’t care who we’re playing. It does not matter.”
They were in position to pull off the win when they took a 20-17 lead on a two-yard Myles Craddock touchdown run on the final play of the third quarter.
But Lehigh answered right back with an 11-play, 75-yard drive triggered by a five-yard run and then a 29-yard burst from All-America tailback Luke Yoder (27 carries for 150 yards and two touchdowns). The turning point in the drive came when Dartmouth was flagged for pass interference on a third-and-goal incompletion from the 15. That gave the Mountain Hawks a first down at the 2, and one play later Yoder powered in for what would prove to be the winning points with 8:41 remaining.
Dartmouth would have two final chances to salvage the win.
Taking over at its own 25 after the kickoff, the Big Green marched to the Lehigh nine before a batted pass on third-and-nine left McCorkle with a decision on fourth down.
Kicker Owen Zalc already had 49- and 50-yard field goals to his credit, and if he hit a chip shot from 26 yards, Dartmouth could take the lead with another field goal at the end.
But Lehigh has a high-powered ground attack behind Yoder, and with starting quarterback Hayden Johnson not playing because of injury, there was no guarantee the Mountain Hawks wouldn’t just keep feeding Yoder the ball and run out the clock. So McCorkle made the call to try to win the game on fourth down.
“I didn’t bat an eye on that one,” he said.
Lehigh responded by dialing up a blitz, forcing Saunier to get rid of the ball before he could set up, and the pass fell incomplete.
That left it to the Dartmouth defense and, aided by a holding call that nullified a 34-yard Yoder run and two Big Green timeouts, the Mountain Hawks ran just 49 seconds off the clock while going three-and-out.
A short punt or a long return and Dartmouth would have great field position for its final series. It got neither as Lehigh punter Cameron Poole’s second punt of the day was a season-long, 56-yard thing-of-beauty that Ian Scott fair caught at the Big Green 20.
That set up the ill-fated Dartmouth two-minute drill that came up one highlight-reel play short of the end zone. Saunier tried to take responsibility for the interception, but McCorkle wasn’t having it, saying his quarterback was the reason why the Big Green was even in that situation.
Saunier finished his afternoon 17-of-30 for 262 yards with a 33-yard touchdown pass to Ky’Dric Fisher and 21 yards rushing on eight carries.
Nick Lemon led the receivers with five catches for 102 yards, while Fisher had four receptions for 88 yards.
While the rebuilt Dartmouth offensive line allowed just one sack for a loss of four yards, the Big Green struggled on the ground with just 62 yards on 29 carries, a 2.1-yard average.
“They did a good job protection-wise, giving Grayson time back there,” McCorkle said, before adding in a bit, “We’ve got to do a better job opening some holes for the run. We’ve got to run the ball better.”
Linebacker Steve Simpkins Jr. led Dartmouth with 10 tackles, while nickel Cameron Best-Alston and defensive lineman Joshua Johnson each had six stops, the same as safety and co-captain Harrison Keith, who liked what he saw of the retooled defense.
“I was super to see how the young guys that hadn’t really played before stepped up,” Keith said. “We really bowed up and were able to get the ball back to our offense at the end. I think that showed a lot.
“It’s good for the young guys to have their first game under their belt. Now that they’ve got their feet wet, they are ready to come out and attack week two with everything we’ve got.”
Saunier, like his fellow co-captain, is looking forward instead of back.
“This one is going to sting for the rest of the night (and) the rest of the week, but we’ve just got to move on and prepare for Monmouth because they’re also a good team.
“We’ve got to wipe it but keep building on what we did today.”
Which is exactly what their head coach wants from them.
“It’s not the result we wanted,” McCorkle said, “but I tell you what, I thought our guys played hard. We talked about it all week. It’s about physicality and effort. I thought across the board, every one on offense, defense (and) special teams, they checked that box on every snap. We knew it was going to be a 60-minute game and that’s what it was.
“Hats off to Lehigh, a very good football team. They played hard. But I thought our players came ready to play. We just didn’t make all the plays we need to finish that game off and we’ll learn from it. … We’ll clean it up and we’ll watch it tomorrow. The 24-hour rule and move on to the next opponent.”
Dartmouth opens its home season Saturday against Monmouth, which evened improved to 2-2 with a win at Albany.