Dartmouth Dominates Penn in Football

Dartmouth wins 31-13

The Dartmouth Big Green won big in their Ivy League opener at home on Saturday, handily defeating conference rival Penn 31-13, and restoring momentum to a program with big expectations for this year. Predicted to finish third in the Ivy League this year behind Harvard and Princeton, Dartmouth started out slow but finished strong against Central Connecticut State, before losing on the road to UNH.

In a cold and wet climate at Memorial Field on Saturday, Dartmouth dominated both sides of the ball for much of the game against Penn, providing a good start for league play. Junior quarterback Dalyn Williams ran for 3 touchdowns to fuel Dartmouth’s offensive onslaught, and the strong ground game was supplemented by running back Kyle Bramble, who turned 22 handoffs into 104 yards and a touchdown. Dartmouth’s strong offensive performance helped to negate a 300+ yard passing game by Penn, and the Big Green defense clamped down on the opponent’s running game to offset the mental errors in the secondary.

After Penn struck first in the opening quarter, Dartmouth scored 4 unanswered touchdowns, aided by an interception by safety Troy Donahue and a fumble recovered by Frankie Hernandez, and cruised out to a 28-7 lead. Although Penn added a couple of field goals, turnovers forced by a stingy Big Green defense and several penalties kept them out of striking distance. All in all, the Ivy League opener was a promising start to conference play for a highly touted Dartmouth team, revealing the depth of both the run game and the offense, as well as discipline on both sides of the ball. Dartmouth travels to Yale next week to face the Bulldogs in what should be a great matchup between two skilled teams.