In games yesterday featuring 2025 Dartmouth opponents . . .
New Hampshire 19, Holy Cross 16
The Wildcats (2-0) drove 58 yards in nine plays to set up a 40-yard field goal with no time left to squeeze past Holy Cross (0-2). Kicker Nick Reed also had field goals of 30, 33 and 50 yards. The winning kick before 6,509 in Durham came after Holy Cross missed a 34-yarder to break the tie with 1:40 remaining. New Hampshire posted five sacks among eight tackles for loss. Raleigh Collins III, a transfer from West Virginia, had an interception for the second game in a row for UNH.
Central Connecticut 34, American International 7
After stepping up in class and losing at FBS UConn in their opener, the Blue Devils (1-1) dropped down in class and posted a win over a Division II opponent before 3,122 in New Britain. Quarterback Brady Olson was 15-of-21 for 247 yards and two touchdowns through the air to lead Central Connecticut.
Monmouth 49, Fordham 28
Gunnar Smith passed for 382 yards and three touchdowns and added another on the ground but it wasn't nearly enough for the Rams, who trailed by just six points entering the fourth quarter against their top-25 opponent. Linebacker James Conway, who entered the season with the most career tackles of any active FCS player, recorded 20 tackles for the third time in his career. Attendance for the rain-soaked game at Joe Moglia Stadium was listed as . . . zero.
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Another positional review from Dartmouth athletic communications:
Quarterback coach/offensive coordinator Shane Montgomery
The quarterback group's done a great job. They've done a good job of retaining the information that we had in the spring. They were here all summer, so they did a great job of getting the team together, especially the offense together, doing skill and doing individual work all summer. … We've thrown a lot of information at them. They've done a good job of continuing to lead the offense. And I'm looking forward to those guys progressing.
Quarterback Grayson Saunier
We have some experienced guys. Me, Woods (Ray), and Noah (Trigueros). We've gotten a lot of time, especially with the new playbook. All the guys feel comfortable with each other. We're all rooting for each other. The two young guys (are) stepping up, doing a great job. Everybody's coming along great. We have a good team morale, good group morale. Everybody's pushing each other to get better. It's all about competing. Competing against each other, competing with each other, and just keeping the offense going along, being good leaders every day.
Montgomery
Grayson’s a lot more comfortable with the offense than he was in the spring. Even though he did get a decent amount of playing time last year, he's in a situation where he's a first-year starter, really, starting the season. So there's still a lot that he's got to learn, but he's done a good job of of leading the offense. I think the players feel really comfortable with him because of his experience. Woods is another guy that's been around for a couple of years, and even though he did not go through the spring, I think he did a good job of learning the offense even without taking reps. And it's been good to get him back out here. He's feeling healthy. It's been a while since he's been out here, but he's done a good job. I've mixed him in with the ones, twos, and threes.
(With) the young guys, you start with Noah Trigueros, who's going into his second year, and you got Charlie Peters and Jaden Cummings as freshmen. They're all very talented. Noah has been around for a year, so he kind of knows the lay of the land. But again, learning a new offense was something different for him. He's done a tremendous job. He throws the ball really well, and he's very athletic, so he's kind of a dual-threat guy. And then Charlie and Jaden, they're very talented kids. When you come as a freshman quarterback, there's a lot to learn. Not only our playbook, but what the defense is doing, because we're seeing a lot of things from our defense. They've done a good job, even though they're not getting many reps, and they've got a promising future.
Saunier
When you're playing quarterback, it's about confidence. Having confidence in yourself, your team having confidence in you. Last year was great, it was a great confidence boost for all of us. We got used to what it feels like to really be out there and command, and be a field general out there. And I think it's all about just capitalizing. Just keep going, not taking any step backs, and just getting better day by day.
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EXTRA POINT
I’ve written in this space before about the recurring nightmare in which I realize I forgot until the final exam that I was enrolled in a class. I woke early this morning and in a rarity, fell back asleep only to have a different unpleasant dream.
This time I was back at the newspaper designing the final page of my section, and I not only missed the deadline, but was holding up the entire printing process. Everyone was waiting on me, and I couldn’t figure out how to finish putting the page together. It never happened that way, but it was always a concern when I was designing pages on deadline.
The good news is I eventually found my way out of the mess.
I woke up.
