On another slow Sunday all I've got for you is the BGA Premium game story from yesterday's Woods Watch Party stream of the 2017 Dartmouth-Brown football game from Fenway Park.
Sometimes I read these old game stories and think, "That's pretty good." This one? Meh.
It was wicked cold as they say in these parts, it was a non-competitive game, it was late and we had a long, dark drive ahead of us. Yup, this is one of those rare times I just wanted to get the story done as fast as possible and it shows.
Dartmouth Jumps Brown And Doesn’t Let Up
BGA Premium, Nov. 10, 2017
BOSTON – With apologies for channeling Yogi Berra, a late game at Fenway Park was over early.
Dartmouth used three first-half touchdowns and a field goal with no time remaining to build a 20-point lead at the break before cruising to a 33-10 win over a woeful Brown team at frigid Fenway Park Friday night.
With the win the Big Green improves to 7-2 overall but more importantly is now 4-2 in the Ivy League. Regardless of what happens elsewhere in the conference Saturday, Dartmouth guaranteed it will be alive in the Ivy race heading into next week’s finale against Princeton on Memorial Field.
Brown falls to 2-7 overall and 0-6 in the Ivies. The Bears have been outscored a combined 168-31 in their last four Ivy League games.
Jack Heneghan completed 21-of-31 passes for 263 yards and two touchdowns on a night when the temperature was in the 20s, the wind chill at kickoff was a brutal 12 degrees and just 12,297 braved the Arctic conditions. (Approximately 16,000 tickets were sold.)
“I thought we played tough defense tonight,” said Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens. “And then offensively we executed for four quarters. That’s the first time we’ve done it this year.”
Dartmouth opened the scoring with 4:56 remaining in the first quarter when Brown blew the coverage on a first-down play and Heneghan found Hunter Hagdorn for an easy touchdown from 27 yards out. After 44 consecutive successful point-after kicks David Smith’s PAT was blocked.
Undaunted, the Big Green made it 13-0 on its next possession with help from a 19-yard completion to Emory Thompson on third-and-four at his own 16. A Dartmouth team that has struggled at times on third down this fall converted another later in the drive as Heneghan and Drew Estrada hooked up for 21 yards on third-and-12, giving the Green a first down at the Brown 19. Dartmouth finished the game 8-of-16 on third down.
After a nine-yard Jared Gerbino run Ryder Stone took a handoff and danced 10 yards up the middle for Dartmouth’s second touchdown. With Smith’s PAT the Big Green lead was 13-0 early in the second quarter.
Dartmouth’s streak of five consecutive quarters without allowing a point came to an end when Brown’s Ben Rosenblatt booted a 27-yard field goal with 5:14 left in the first half and the Bears had a chance to further cut into the lead when Heneghan was picked off at the Big Green 38 on the ensuing possession. But with help from a crushing Jake Moen sack and a stop on fourth-and-15, Dartmouth held on downs and took possession at its 23.
This time the Big Green went 77 yards in seven plays, the last two a 38-yard pass to Hagdorn and a 16-yarder to the quick-footed and wide-open receiver for his second touchdown of the evening. With Smith’s kick it was 20-3 and the rout was on.
Just 56 seconds remained in the half but Dartmouth wasn’t done. Judicious use of timeouts and another strong showing by the Big Green defense forced Brown to punt with 29 seconds left.
Taking over at his 48, Heneghan promptly dumped a pass over the middle to Stone and then hit Dylan Mellor down the middle to get into field goal position. The Big Green hustled up the field and downed the ball just in time to send Smith on the field for a 28-yard field goal.
Before the majority of the Brown fans left at halftime they saw Heneghan complete 15-of-19 throws for 223 yards with Estrada grabbing four for 49 yards and Hagdorn three for 81. The Big Green piled up 294 yards of offense before heading into the locker room to warm up.
Teevens was understandably pleased that his team, which at times this year has struggled out of the gate, got off to such a strong start.
“It was critical to kind of set a tone,” he said. “We did execute well in the first half with a couple of scores. You feel better about yourself going into the half. The push was, OK, let’s do it for the second half as well, which we did.”
When the Dartmouth came up empty on its first possession of the third quarter it was the defense’s turn to step up. Corner Jarius Brown jumped a route in front of the Big Green sideline and had a 27-yard joy run to the end zone for a 30-3 lead just 4:24 into the third quarter. The pick six was Dartmouth’s third of the season.
The Big Green would go on to add a 26-yard Smith field goal to stretch its lead to 33-3 before Brown finally ended Dartmouth’s skein of seven quarters without allowing a touchdown when it got a 29-yard touchdown pass against a largely reserve Big Green defense with 6:58 remaining.
Dartmouth finished with a 23-13 advantage in first downs while outrushing the Bears, 141-28. Stone ran for 63 yards on 16 carries and Gerbino 36 on just five.
Estrada finished his night with six catches for 57 yards and Hagdorn had four for 91 while posting the first two-touchdown game of his career.
With the win in the books the Big Green head into the final Saturday of the season knowing another victory over Princeton combined with a Yale loss will mean nothing less than a share of the Ivy League title and should Yale lose at Princeton Saturday possibly the undisputed championship.
“It’s a fun team to coach,” Teevens said. “They like playing. Certainly, with something on the line there’s a little bit more to add, but they are going out and play regardless.
“I’m excited for them. Certainly (it’s great) in the last week of the season to be in a position of if, if. All we can control is what we can control. We need a great week of practice and a great game on Saturday.”
NOTES – The Fenway grounds crew spent a lot of time on their knees tamping down loose sod where the dirt infield had been covered over. One member of the grounds crew dressed in shorts was sprinkling water on the patched areas with a silver watering can during warmups. … Much to the chagrin of those who spent a large sum to buy a ticket online (with overnight delivery charges tacked on) “scalpers” were offering tickets on the street at less-than-face value … Among the veterans honored at midfield before the Veterans Day weekend game before the coin flip was head football equipment manager Steve Ward. … To better fit the field in the confines of the ballpark the bullpen fences were removed to make room for the end zone. … A hot chocolate at the game went for $9.25 and a beer for $11.25.
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EXTRA POINT
As you can tell by the rest of today's post, my news search has come up empty.
I don't know. Maybe it's spring fever. It's supposed to be 70 degrees today and all I want to do is get outside because winter is around the corner and this may be the last hurrah.
Catch you tomorrow.
