Football: Close Victory Over Yale

Dartmouth narrowly wins.

Coming into the game on October 11, both teams were riding on a great deal of momentum. The Dartmouth Big Green had successfully handled business in their Ivy League opener against Penn, winning 31-13. Yale up to this point had been undefeated, beating fellow Ivy Cornell and the Army.

The game didn’t necessarily start well for the Big Green as Yale stuffed the run game. Kyle Bramble, who had ran for 104 yards against Penn, was held to 27 yards on six carries and no touchdowns. In fact, Dartmouth finished the game with only 46 rushing yards compared to Yale’s 178. However, when they couldn’t run, the Big Green decided to throw with big-armed quarterback Dalyn Williams. Despite being down 24-14 at halftime, Dartmouth never gave up and ignited a comeback. The defense stepped up, forcing three interceptions, and held Yale to only seven points in the second half while Williams proceeded to throw three touchdowns and ran for the game winner with two minutes left. Dartmouth outscored Yale 24-7 in the second half and went on to win 38-31. Williams finished the day 32-47 with 388 yards for three touchdowns. He also ran nineteen times for thirteen yards and the winning score. Ryan McManus ’15 is emerging as the go-to receiver as he hauled in twelve catches for 188 and a score.

Dartmouth is now 2-0 in Ivy play and should handle Holy Cross (2-5, 0-2) pretty well. This next game should give the Big Green a chance to improve on their pass defense, as it gave up 300+ yards passing in the past two games. It should also provide them with a chance to build on a more balanced offensive attack. Though they do run a spread offense where passing is key, having a run game to allow more play action plays will certainly help down the stretch.

All in all, this year’s Dartmouth team appears to be a contender in the Ivy League and is looking forward to having another great showing on Homecoming weekend.