HANOVER - Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle got what he expected Saturday.
And more importantly, what he hoped for.
What he expected after being on the sidelines for so many games against Penn was yet another bare-knuckle fight to the finish.
What he hoped for was the Big Green finding a way to win even if it didn’t play its best game.
Check, and check again.
On a day when the Quakers had more yards (360-315), more first downs (22-16), more success on third down ( 7-of-14 to 3-of-9) and Dartmouth missed three field goals, Big Green still managed to pull out a 14- 10 win. Credit senior quarterback Grayson Saunier for directing an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that erased a Penn lead with 4:55 remaining, and then the Big Green defense for making the TD stand up.
Dartmouth’s Homecoming win in front of 5,956 on sun-splashed Memorial Field wasn’t a masterpiece, but it looked pretty good to McCorkle.
“We knew it was going to be a 60-minute game, and it was a 60-minute game,” he said. “Our guys just kept battling. It didn’t always go our way. It wasn’t always what we wanted. But we didn’t let it bother us. We forgot about the last play and moved on to the next play. (We're) happy with the outcome.”
With the win, Dartmouth improved to 1- 2 overall and 1- 0 in the Ivy League heading into next week’s showdown at Yale. Penn is also 1- 2 overall and 0- 1 in the Ivy League with a date against Howard on tap.
After both teams squandered chances over the first three quarters, the Quakers put together a 16-play, 80-yard drive capped by Sean Williams’ one-yard run to take a 10-7 lead with 8:47 left in the fourth.
Saunier, who would finish his day an über-efficient 13-of-15 for 173 yards and one touchdown, wasted no time responding. On the first play after the Penn TD he hit Nick Lemon for a 34-yard gain to the plus 41. After a one-yard run, it was Ky’Dric Fisher coming free on the left sideline and Saunier finding him for a 23-yard gain to the Penn 17.
Then it was five straight smash-mouth runs behind Keith Clark’s rebuilt offensive line, the last a two-yard burst up the middle by Myles Craddock (21 carries for 85 yards) that – thanks to a missed Penn field goal in the second quarter – would give Dartmouth what would be a critical four-point lead with the PAT.
James Elliott, who caught three passes for 40 yards on the afternoon, was confident that with the game hanging in the balance Saunier would bounce back from last week’s disappointment against Monmouth and rally the Big Green.
“I mean, he’s always making plays for us, keeping the run alive, keeping the pass alive,” the wide receiver said. “The O-line did a great job for him, obviously. He’s able to escape and make some plays, make some plays with his legs, so we always expect it.”
Dartmouth had the lead, but the game was far from over.
With freshman quarterback Miles Teodecki hitting four-of-five passes after the Big Green score, the Quakers marched right back down the field, earning a first down at the 23 with 1:55 remaining.
After a six-yard Teodecki run, Bruce Williams stopped Donte West for no gain and Johnny Stephens tackled receiver Simon Cofrancesco for a gain of just one on a short completion, setting up a fourth down that would be the biggest play of the afternoon.
But before the ball was snapped on that play, a chess game broke out.
With Penn needing three yards from the Dartmouth 16 and with 1:22 on the clock, the Big Green called time to set up its defense.
“We knew they were trying to get a look at us,” McCorkle said. “They weren’t going to call the timeout. That’s why I called the timeout (after) we let the (play) clock go to one second.”
When the teams returned to the field and the Quakers got a look at how the Big Green had set up, it was their turn to call time and decide how to attack the defensive set.
Dartmouth parried that move.
“When they called the timeout, we made a little bit of an adjustment,” McCorkle said. “It worked out for us.”
Needing three yards, Teodecki targeted tight end Dante Barone just over the yard to gain, but Dartmouth sophomore Colter Vela was there to make sure the low pass did not connect, turning the ball back to the Big Green on downs.
But still the game wasn’t over.
Three short runs, Penn’s final two timeouts, and a Dartmouth timeout later, the Big Green faced a fourth-and-eight at its own 18 with 23 seconds left.
With the end zone at his back, Dartmouth punter Luke Armistead, who had a 71-yarder earlier in the game, gathered a good snap and got off a clutch, 43-yard boot. Penn returner Jayden Drayton fielded it at his own 39, but between the towering punt and a seven-yard return to the 46, the play ran off all but the final nine seconds of the game.
The Quakers needed one completion down the sideline to have a realistic shot at throwing the ball to the end zone, but they didn’t get it. When Teodecki’s first-down pass fell incomplete, Penn's only hope was for a miracle and Uche Odimegwu made sure there wasn’t one.
The Dartmouth linebacker chased down the scrambling Teodecki for a sack before he could get a pass off, sealing the nailbiter for the Big Green.
For Dartmouth, which had taken a 7-0 lead on a 16-yard Saunier-to-Fisher completion on its first possession of the game and led 7-3 at the half, Penn was the third one-possession game in as many weeks. McCorkle came away impressed by the Quakers, just as he was with Lehigh and Monmouth in the first two games of the season. But also with his own side.
“All three (are) good teams,” he said. “We’re a good football team as well. Every game is going to be a battle. The biggest thing is the team that’s prepared and makes the least mistakes, the team that’s ready at the end of the game to not let the situation get too big – that’s the team that’s going to win.
“We happened to make more plays at the end of the game.”
Which is what he expected and hoped for.