Editor's Note: Each day while Team BGA is soaking up some warm weather this site will repost game stories that appeared on the BGA Premium site last fall. Typos have been fixed and minor editing has cleaned up what was deadline writing ;-)
PRINCETON, N.J. – As the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game wound down Dartmouth quarterback Dalyn Williams borrowed a cell phone from a recent graduate and watched streaming video of what was happening in the Harvard-Yale contest.
If the only drama left for Williams at that point was in Cambridge he had himself largely to blame.
Dartmouth’s junior quarterback completed 30-of-35 passes for 305 yards and four touchdowns without a hint of an interception to help the Big Green thoroughly overwhelm the preseason Ivy League favorite, 41-10, in a game that was more lopsided than the final score would suggest.
With the game well in hand, Williams was hardly the only one watching the Harvard-Yale score as everywhere you looked green-clad fans with cell phones were sharing the play-by-play with their neighbors. In the end it took a Crimson touchdown with 55 seconds remaining and an interception at the Harvard 15 with 10 seconds left to finally eliminate Dartmouth from the Ivy League championship hunt.
Dartmouth finishes the season alone in second place with an 8-2 overall record and a 6-1 Ivy League campaign marred only by a 23-12 loss to Harvard on Nov. 1. The Big Green reached the 40-point plateau in its final three games, the first time it has accomplished that hat trick since 1935.
“We had a great season,” said senior Bo Patterson, who caught three touchdown passes and topped the century mark for the first time with 129 receiving yards in his final college game. “Obviously, not exactly what we wanted, but at the end of the day we are 8-2 and we lost to two nationally ranked teams. You can’t be too upset about that.
“To come out and win in such a big way at Princeton for the seniors … everyone is ecstatic right now.”
And it didn’t take long for the happiness to kick in.
On Dartmouth’s fourth play of the game Williams hit a well-covered Patterson deep down the left sideline with a perfectly thrown ball that went for a 58-yard touchdown. After the Tigers (5-5, 4-3 Ivy) responded with a 46-yard field goal to make it 7-3, the Big Green took total control.
Dartmouth would reel off the next 34 points on the way to its best season since the 1997 team also finished 8-2 and 6-1. Only an undefeated Ivy League season stood between that Big Green team and a championship as well.
“From the beginning of the season we knew that we were championship contenders and that we were in every game,” said senior defensive end Evan Chrustic. “We only had two losses. The Harvard game, a few plays go the other way and it is our game. It’s definitely hard finishing 6-1, 8-2 and not getting a piece of the title. I don’t know how often that happens, but it seems since I’ve been here that 6-1 gives you a share every time.
“It’s definitely tough, but we played our best. I think we left everything out there.”
Chrustic, fellow defensive end Cody Fulleton, senior Jeff Winthrop and the rest of the Big Green front helped limit Princeton to a season-low 228 yards of total offense. The Tigers’ lone touchdown came with 9:34 remaining. Only Harvard, which beat Princeton, 49-7, held them to fewer points.
Princeton coach Bob Surace knew after film study that the Tigers were going to have their hands full against the Big Green’s physical front.
“I watched all nine games, 10 games counting our game last year,” he said. “And (I saw) the improvement they made on their defensive line. They have always been big and strong. We have had our trouble with them because they are big and strong.
“But (you could see) the athleticism that they showed in their pass rush, really the last few weeks. I said to someone they are the equal if not a little better than Harvard.”
After Princeton got the field goal on its first drive, the Tigers managed a total of just 55 yards of offense on their next seven possessions.
Dartmouth, meanwhile, was steadily adding to its lead. It went to 14-3 early in the second quarter when Williams hit Ryan McManus (10 catches for 96 yards) all alone under the goal post from four yards out.
Alex Gakenheimer’s 22-yard field goal with six seconds remaining in the second quarter made it 17-3 at the half.
Any chance that there would be drama in New Jersey to match what was happening in Massachusetts disappeared early in the third quarter.
Dartmouth forced a quick three-and-out to start the second half and then it was Williams and Patterson doing their thing. On the Big Green’s first play after forcing a three-and-out, Williams hit the receiver in stride on a post pattern for a 38-yard touchdown and a 24-3 lead.
After Gakenheimer booted a 29-yard field goal to close out the third-quarter scoring it was Williams and Patterson hooking up one final time. And again it didn’t take long.
With Kyle Bramble out with the knee injury he suffered last week, Brian Grove stepped in and on Dartmouth’s first play of the fourth quarter the speedy junior exploded for 61 yards down the left sideline. A minute later it was Patterson hauling in a back-shoulder throw from Williams to make it 34-3.
While the usually elusive Williams was held to minus-four yards rushing on 10 carries he made Princeton pay dearly by completing 85.7 percent of his passes.
“It’s one of those darned if you do, darned if you don’t,” Surace said about picking his defensive poison against the Dartmouth quarterback. “You want to stop him from running and he’s become such an accurate passer he beats you that way. You want to stop his running game, which for about 2½ quarters I thought we slowed down really well.
“I told Buddy, I don’t know how the player of the year will go, but he’s certainly one of the best players we’ve played against.”
The Big Green closed out its scoring just seconds after the final Patterson TD catch.
On Princeton’s second play after the TD Sawyer Whalen forced a fumble that Vernon Harris returned four yards to midfield and Williams promptly hit McManus for 42 yards. Freshman Ryder Stone gained two yards on first down and then slashed in from the 6 while the Dartmouth sideline went crazy.
“Everybody was all smiles,” said Chrustic of the fun afternoon. “It was just a great atmosphere to finish off this season, finish off the seniors’ careers. You can’t draw it up any better than that.”
The only plot change would have been Yale somehow pulling off a win in Cambridge to help Dartmouth win its 18th Ivy League title.
“We had our chance to control our own destiny and we didn’t come away with it when we played Harvard this year,” said Teevens. “They are all championship games and we had to play and depend on someone else. It didn’t happen, but it doesn’t detract from the way we finished our season.”
His standout quarterback, who was sneaking a peek at what was happening up in New England while Princeton was scoring a meaningless touchdown agreed. Even if he could almost feel the championship ring on his finger.
“It is extremely tough,” Williams said of the near miss. “But we know that the seniors got a ‘dub’ leaving, and my class has another year. But still it was a great year. We got eight wins. We sent the seniors out right. It’s the best season we've had in a long time.
“There are a lot of positives to take away from this and I think we’re just going to build on this and expect to do bigger things next year.”
