On a weekend during which we turned the clock back, the Dartmouth football team desperately attempted to turn it back exactly five years, to November 2, 2019. At Harvard Stadium on that benighted Saturday, the Big Green successfully employed a Hail Mary pass to pull out a 9-6 victory over the Crimson. Last Saturday in Hanover, New Hampshire, at Buddy Teevens Field at Memorial Stadium, Dartmouth attempted the same last-ditch tactic. This time the pass by quarterback Jackson Proctor was batted down by defensive back Jack Donahoe and fell harmlessly to the grass, thus preserving a come-from-behind, 31-27 victory for the Crimson.
The outcome left both teams with identical records: 6-1 overall, 3-1 in Ivy play, tied for first place with Columbia, whom Harvard meets this coming Saturday at the Stadium (see below, COMING UP). The triumph was Harvard’s fifth in a row, The Big Green had entered the game No. 22 in the NCAA’s Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) rankings, while the Crimson was unranked.
“I learned a lot about this team in that game,” said Andrew Aurich, who’s in his first season as Stephenson Family head coach for Harvard football. “We’ve had close games, but the amount of mental toughness it takes to do what they did and focus that hard—we haven’t been challenged that way yet. We touched a stove and found out it was hot, and still ended up winning the game.”
This was a typical back-and-forth thriller between the ancient rivals, with each surrendering a 10-point lead, a margin Dartmouth achieved twice. Harvard scored the winning touchdown with 27 seconds left, then had to stave off that final Big Green drive.
There were many heroes for the Crimson on this pretty Granite State afternoon. Junior quarterback Jaden Craig coolly directed the fourth-quarter comeback. Senior backup quarterback/running back Charles DePrima, whose real position is Swiss Army knife, scored three touchdowns. “When Charles gets touches good things happen,” noted Aurich. Junior defensive back Ty Bartrum had a career-high 16 tackles. The two star wideouts, junior Cooper Barkate and senior Kaedyn Odermann, made clutch receptions to keep drives moving. And then there was Donahoe, with that last-play pass breakup.
As has frequently happened this season, Harvard got off to a flying start. Taking the opening kickoff off the bounce at the Crimson 12, sophomore running back Xavier Bascon headed right, accelerated, and wasn’t hauled down until he had reached the Dartmouth 42. On the ensuing drive Bascon added 15 yards on the ground. Eventually, on third-and-five from the Dartmouth eight, Aurich inserted DePrima, who took a direct snap from center and swept around right end into the end zone. Freshman Kieran Corr kicked the extra point. With three minutes gone, it was Harvard 7, Dartmouth 0.
| courtesy of Harvard Athletic Communications
Later in the period the Crimson used another kick return to set itself up with a short field. Fielding a punt at his own 36, senior Scott Woods II niftily took it to the Big Green 46. Craig connected twice with Barkate to reach the 15, but from there the offense sputtered. Corr was called upon to attempt a 32-yard field goal, which he knocked through the uprights. Harvard 10, Dartmouth 0.
The second quarter, however, was all Big Green. Dartmouth outgained Harvard 119 yards to 62, and held the ball for almost 11 of the 15 minutes. For openers, an 11-play, 56-yard drive culminated in a 37-yard field goal by Dartmouth’s superb kicker, Owen Zalc. Harvard 10, Dartmouth 3.
When Harvard got the ball, Craig connected with Woods, who made a 20-yard run but fumbled when tackled. The ball was recovered by Dartmouth’s Micah Green. (Was there ever a Dartmouth player more aptly named?)
Harvard is the least-penalized team in the FCS. (Columbia, next week’s foe, is second.) But on this day, the discipline broke down. After the Crimson defense had forced a punt, Harvard was called for roughing the kicker. Dartmouth retained the ball and though the D again did its job, Zalc trotted back on and this time blasted a magisterial 54-yard field goal. Harvard 10, Dartmouth 6.
At this point the Crimson offense was sputtering. The Big Green cannily had chosen to defend the flanks, thus limiting tosses to the speedy Woods. After a 38-yard punt by senior Sebastien Tasko, Dartmouth took over at its 30. In 10 plays it was in the end zone when backup quarterback Grayson Saunier flipped a one-yard pass to Sean Jean. Zalc kicked the point. At the half it was Dartmouth 13, Harvard 10.
In the third quarter more penalties plagued the Crimson. A personal foul set Harvard back after a big gain; then, a horse-collar tackle negated a sack. Given a first down, the Big Green resumed a drive that culminated in an 11-yard touchdown pass from Proctor to Chris Corbo. Zalc again kicked. Dartmouth 20, Harvard 10.
“My ultimate job is being in charge of how disciplined we are,” Aurich said. “We were not disciplined enough today. The reality is, that game did not need to be that close.”
The Crimson bounced back. Moving quickly to the line of scrimmage, Harvard was in the end zone in four plays. The big ones were a 25-yard rush up the middle by senior back Malik Frederick and the capper, a 29-yard touchdown pass from Craig to sophomore tight end Seamus Gilmartin. Corr kicked the point. Dartmouth 20, Harvard 17.
So the Crimson was within a field goal…for all of 48 seconds. On the second play after the kickoff, Proctor spied receiver Daniel Haughton running all alone in a big hole in the middle of the Harvard defense. Proctor hit Haughton in stride and the receiver ran the remainder of the way to the end zone. Zalc booted the point. Dartmouth 27, Harvard 17.
Early in the fourth quarter came a moment that arguably could have meant finis for the Crimson. Facing fourth-and-one at the Harvard 48, the Big Green elected to punt. Harvard senior linebacker Mitchell Gonser appeared to jump offside. Had the infraction been called, Dartmouth would have been granted five yards and a new first down. But no flag was thrown.
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Instead, the Crimson took over at its own six. Craig went to work. He completed passes of 33 and 16 yards to Barkate. When he faced fourth-and-14 at the Dartmouth 42, he fired over to the right sideline to Odermann at the first-down marker. Odermann makes a specialty of staying inbounds; he is one of the best in Harvard history at this arcane art. The circus grab allowed Harvard to keep the ball for another set of downs. Five plays later Craig found Gilmartin at the Dartmouth six. On the next play DePrima took the snap and cruised left into the end zone. Corr kicked the point. Dartmouth 27, Harvard 24. Just under six minutes remained.
The Big Green’s effort to burn some clock was forestalled by Bartrum, who forced a three-and-out when he tackled Dartmouth runner Desmin Jackson in open space on third down. With 3:59 left, Harvard got the ball back at its 27. Craig was in command. On the march downfield he completed a pass to Odermann for 10 yards, and another for 24 yards to the ever-open Barkate. Eventually he faced fourth-and-three on the Dartmouth 32. Who you gonna call? Odermann, that’s who, for eight yards and another set of downs.
A field goal would tie the game, but Aurich insisted he wasn’t thinking that way: “I was playing to the win the game.” When Craig connected with Bascon for 15 yards, Harvard was in position to do so. On second-and-goal, with blockers scattering defenders like bowling pins, DePrima crashed left and just got into the end zone at the pylon. Corr booted. Harvard 31, Dartmouth 27.
Twenty-seven seconds remained. We had seen this movie before, most recently at Brown during the Crimson’s only defeat this season. Proctor shrewdly maneuvered the Big Green to the Harvard 32—into position for another miracle heave. With three seconds left he took the snap, dodged various Crimson rushers, and flung. As the ball descended, Crimson fans could be forgiven if they were experiencing acid flashbacks. But this time there was no nightmare. Donahoe, a sophomore from White Plains, New York, batted the ball to the turf and exultantly ran off the field.
Defending the Hail Mary is a disciplined art—or at least, it should be. “We were going back to our training,” said Bartrum. “We have [only] one jumper. If everyone does their job, [an incompletion] should happen ten times out of ten.”
Added Aurich, “This is the biggest-do-your-job play in all of football. People get in that situation and they are not mentally tough enough to do their job, and everybody jumps up and they want to make the play. We need one jumper—and everyone else [with] feet on ground. You do your job, and good things will happen.” As they clearly did: see photo at top.
Craig finished with 28 completions in 41 attempts for 311 yards and the touchdown toss to Gilmartin. Woods had eight receptions, Barkate seven (for 124 yards), and the redoubtable Odermann four. On defense, of Bertram’s 16 tackles, nine were solo.
A tip of the helmet goes to my classmate Brian Butler ’73, ever astute in matters of football, who foresaw the bursting of the Big Green bubble. Brian pointed out that Dartmouth’s previous five wins had come by a total of 13 points, and that they couldn’t live on the edge forever. No doubt Brian will give you his stock-market tips if you’re interested.
TIDBITS: Harvard now leads the series 74-48-5….The triumph was the third straight over the Big Green….Beginning in 1994, Harvard is 14-1 in games played in Hanover….The victory guarantees a winning season, and Andrew Aurich’s six wins are already the most for a first-year Harvard coach since Edward L. Casey, A.B. 1919, won seven in 1931….National notice: Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig is eighth in the FCS in passing yards per completion (14.28).
Weekly Roundup
Columbia 13, Yale 10
Cornell 49, Princeton 35
Penn 38, Brown 28
Coming up: Harvard returns to the Stadium to host upstart Ivy rival Columbia in a first-place showdown. Kickoff: Noon. TV: ESPN+ (subscription required). Radio: 92.9 FM WBOS, 1330 AM, 1450 AM. Under new coach (and former Crimson assistant) Jon Poppe, the Lions are 5-2 overall and 3-1 in league play. In a series that began in 1882, Harvard leads 64-16-1. The teams have split the last four meetings, with the Crimson winning 38-24 last year in New York. This contest has been designated the Military Appreciation Game.
THE SCORE BY QUARTERS
Harvard | 10 | 0 | 7 | 14 | — | 31 | ||
Dartmouth | 0 | 13 | 14 | 0 | — | 2 |
Attendance: 7,711
THE SEASON SO FAR: follow Dick Friedman’s dispatches.
Football: Harvard 45-Princeton 13
Football: Harvard 35-Holy Cross 34
Football: Harvard 38-Cornell 20
Football: Harvard 28-New Hampshire 23
Football: Harvard 35-Stetson 0
Pre-season:
