Penn Football Can’t Close Out Road Date With Dartmouth

The University of Pennsylvania football team took a 10-7 lead midway through the fourth quarter of their Saturday, Oct. 3 duel with the Dartmouth Big Green when Sean Williams Jr. capped an eight-minute drive with a one-yard touchdown run. Penn (1-2, 0-1 Ivy League) couldn’t hang on, however, going on to lose 14-10 in Hanover, N.H.

On a day that saw four missed field goal attempts — three of them from Dartmouth — the Big Green’s offense woke up in the waning minutes, quarterback Grayson Saunier connecting on chunk gains of 34 and 23 yards as he led the game-winning drive, capped with a two-yard touchdown trot from Myles Craddock. The Quakers drove to Dartmouth’s 16-yard line in response, but freshman quarterback Myles Teodecki’s toss to 6-foot-3 Dante Barone got broken up by sophomore defensive back Colter Vela on fourth down.

Still nursing two timeouts, Penn got the ball back with nine seconds left but couldn’t pull a Houdini act. The Quakers put together a clean if underwhelming performance on offense. Teodecki kept the ball clean and took just one sack, but he picked up just 214 yards on 39 pass attempts. He augmented his passing with ten carries for 59 yards, leading the Quakers in rushing on an anemic afternoon.

Penn’s bend-but-don’t-break defense benefitted from Dartmouth’s trio of missed kicks, but their inability to disrupt passing lanes — Saunier completed 13 of 15 passes for 173 yards, making the plays the Big Green needed when it mattered most — helped spell their doom on the eventual game winning drive.

Up next, Penn will return home to host Howard at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10.