How Did It Go?

A 2,400-word BGA Overtime look at the Dartmouth's final scrimmage of the preseason went up last night. It opens with rough statistics from the scrimmage followed by drive-by-drive highlights and key plays, comments from head coach Sammy McCorkle and final thoughts and analysis. Check it out HERE.

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One of my great regrets with Dartmouth's decision to stop printing game programs was the fact that I greatly enjoyed freelancing stories for the series over the years. From a piece I did on former quarterback Brian Mann '02 that led years later to us becoming good friends, to a Week in the Life with defensive coordinator Don Dobes, to 1,500-word stories on players like Tony Pastoors, '10 now vice president, football and business administration for the Rams, to a piece on the only two grad students ever to play at Dartmouth, the programs were a wonderful opportunity to share great stories. I'd write five to seven program stories a year and they were some of the most enjoyable sportswriting I ever did.

When Jace Henry came to Dartmouth from Fairbanks, Alaska I could hardly wait until his senior year came around to profile him. Konstantin Spörk is another I held off writing about, and from the first time I saw him in spring ball I knew I'd be doing a piece on Paxton Scott before his final season. Sadly, the end of the program series meant none of those stories would get written.

I was reminded of my disappointment at not getting to freelance those stories when I watched a video and read the accompanying posting produced by Nevada SportsNet about grad transfer Jace Henry '24, now the starting tight end for the Nevada Wolf Pack. From the story:

"The Alaskan Assassin," (Nevada coach Jeff) Choate chuckled. "I did a home visit when I was at Montana State, the winter of 2019-2020. I remember telling our tight end coach at the time, 'If I go to Fairbanks, Alaska and we don’t get this kid, you’re going to be looking for another job.' And he's, like, 'No, he wants engineering.' I go in the house and within 30 seconds the mom is raving about Ivy League education, and I'm, like, 'We’re not getting this kid. He's going to Dartmouth.'"

Read the story I never got to write – in which Henry is very complimentary of the advantages provided by Dartmouth – HERE.

And be sure to watch the video:

 

For the record, Henry has six catches for 41 yards and two touchdowns in three games so far this fall. Find his Dartmouth bio HERE.

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Former wide receiver Bo Patterson '15 probably didn't make as much of a mark as an outfielder on Red Rolfe Field as he would have liked, but long after his two-sport career at Dartmouth came to a close he made his mark on another baseball diamond. This is a fun one:

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Did you stay up to the end of the dramatic Oregon-Boise State football game? Even if you started collecting zzzz's in the first half, you were probably impressed by Ashton Jeanty. From a story in The Athletic that tells of his beginnings playing football on a military base in Italy (LINK):

Through the first two weeks of the 2024 season, Jeanty leads the nation in yards rushing (459), rushing touchdowns (nine) and forced missed tackles (22). A week after his head-turning 267-yard, six-touchdown performance at Georgia Southern, Jeanty followed it up by punishing an Oregon defense many considered among the best in the country for 192 yards and three touchdowns in a 37-34 near upset that came down to a last-second made field goal by Oregon.

So why post that here? Glad you asked. This is from the story (italics are mine):

Boise State offered him in May 2021. Prior to that featured offers from the likes of Navy, Dartmouth, Cal, New Mexico and Penn. The only in-state schools to offer Jeanty were Texas State, Sam Houston State and North Texas. 

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EXTRA POINT
Mrs. BGA and I are heading out in a few minutes on dog duty. Serious dog duty.

Friends whose daughter is getting married this weekend need to be on site tonight so we are dog-sitting for them before heading to the venue tomorrow. That means we are going to their lake house to pick up an absolutely enormous Newfoundland belonging to the bride-to-be, and her intended's smaller dog (which needs to be blindfolded in the car because of anxiety issues).

Griff the Wonder Dog will be the third hound in the car with us as we cart the menagerie an hour south to our friends' house, where they will meet up a dog owned by the groom's sister. We'll sit with the four pooches tonight at our friends' house and most of the day tomorrow. When we head to the wedding venue early tomorrow evening we'll hand the duties off to That Certain Nittany Lion '16, who will hold down the fort until our friends return. It is fair to say it should be interesting.