Eagle Times Staff
PROVIDENCE, RI — Joy. Sadness. Pride. Relief.
These are just a sampling of the emotions that ran through the Dartmouth football team following the Big Green’s convincing 38-13 victory at Brown on Saturday, Nov. 18, to earn a share of the Ivy League title for the 21st time in program history. Dartmouth (6-4, 5-2 Ivy) had to wait a good 20 minutes to find out its final fate, however, needing a Yale victory over Harvard to finish tied atop the Ancient Eight standings with those two teams. The Big Green erupted with elation on Richard Gouse Field at Brown Stadium when the Bulldogs got a fourth-down stop in the final minute to secure a 23-18 victory.
In the wake of the tragic bicycle accident that left Dartmouth’s legendary coach Buddy Teevens fighting for his life in March before succumbing in September shortly after the season began, as well as the passing of teammate Josh Balara in March after a lengthy battle with cancer, Sammy McCorkle, the Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach, deftly guided the Big Green through it all to become the 10th coach in conference history to win a title in his first year at the helm and first since 2015.
“We challenged each other, held each other accountable all season and I can’t thank the staff, administration and players enough,” said McCorkle amidst the jubilant Big Green team. “It took everybody to do what we were able to accomplish. The seniors showed up every day on the practice field, the game field, in the weight room; everyone followed them. I’ve been on championship teams before, but there is something different about this group with what they had to face, what they had to endure and overcome. There are so many emotions right now, but I’ll tell you what. We’re going to enjoy this championship.”
It was the ground game and a stellar defensive effort that carried Dartmouth to victory. Running back Q Jones led the rushing attack with a season-high 124 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns while quarterback Jackson Proctor ran for 103 more, including a 78-yard sprint to the end zone as the Big Green averaged nearly 8 yards per rush while piling up 386 yards on the ground. Quarterback Nick Howard nearly made it a trio over the century mark as he ran 16 times for 96 yards.
By the time Jones had broken free for touchdown runs of 19 and 38 yards and Proctor had connected with tight end Chris Corbo on an 8-yard touchdown pass to give Dartmouth a 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter, Brown had managed to advance the ball a mere 51 yards. That third score was set up by an interception by cornerback Patrick Campbell, which he returned 22 yards to the Brown 37.
Although the Bears did finally reach the end zone on a 35-yard pass from Jake Willcox to Graham Walker, the Big Green quickly answered two plays later when Proctor faked a handoff, found daylight around the left side and outran the defense for his 78-yard touchdown — the longest run by a Dartmouth player in five years—for a 28-7 lead they took into the locker room.
Brown received the kickoff to start the second half, looking to get back into the game. But after driving down to the Dartmouth 33, the Big Green defense stuffed a 4th-and-2 run as linebacker Danny Cronin provided one of his dozen tackles on the afternoon. Later in the quarter, first-year place kicker Owen Zalc booted a 25-yard field goal, his program-record 17th of the season and 14th in Ivy League play, the latter breaking the conference mark.
The Dartmouth defense continued to assert itself as Charles Looes dropped Willcox for a sack on a third-down play, forcing a punt late in the third quarter. And on the next Bears possession when they drove down to the Big Green 2-yard line, linebacker Macklin Ayers forced a hurried throw for an incompletion on third down and Joe Onuwabhagbe smothered Willcox for a 10-yard sack to turn the ball over on downs.
With the game in hand, Brown sent reserve quarterback Nate Lussier into the game, and he surprised everyone by running 30 yards on a keeper for a touchdown. Again Dartmouth had an answer, this time in the form of a 39-yard burst up the middle across the goal line by running back D.J. Crowther.
The defense got one more opportunity to flex in the final minute after Brown had a touchdown overturned on review, leaving the Bears on the 1-yard line. Lussier attempted a little misdirection before throwing toward the left corner of the end zone, only to have safety Sean Williams there to intercept the pass. One kneel down later and Dartmouth had its victory.
Ayers joined Cronin with 12 tackles to lead the Big Green, and six different players contributed to sacking Willcox five times as Dartmouth held a Brown offense to 98 rushing yards and half its scoring average on the season. Willcox ended the game 20-of-37 passing the ball for 193 yards — more than 100 under his season average — with one touchdown and one interception.
Proctor wasn’t asked to throw very often but was effective, going 6-for-10 for 42 yards, a score and an interception to go with his 103 yards on five carries. Paxton Scott was his favorite target, hauling in four of the six completions for 21 yards.
“The running backs ran really hard today, the line kept everyone safe and the receivers blocked well. We couldn’t have done what we did today as a single person, it was a complete unit today,” said Proctor. “I knew we had a good team going into the year, but obviously with what happened to Coach T and J.B. in the spring, we had a chip on our shoulder. We wanted to play for them. I don’t even have the words right now, I’m just so proud of these guys.”
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