HAMILTON – Zack Pelland broke through the Dartmouth line and got a hand on a 29-yard field goal attempt in the first overtime to preserve a 27-24 win over Dartmouth in front of a large Homecoming Weekend crowd at Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium.
"Great way for us to cap off Homecoming Weekend," said Fred '50 and Marilyn Dunlap Head Coach Stan Dakosty. "You could feel the energy in the stadium and to hear that crowd behind you for that blocked kick at the end, that's a special thing. It was great to see all of the alumni back in town – a lot of great former football players here today.
"On the final play, we had a timeout to use so there were a few options on the table. A lot of noise and raucous before the snap. Honestly, if you look at that play, that's the standard it takes to block a kick. I can't wait to put it on film and showcase that this is the effort it takes to win a football game. Our defensive line fought all day, so they got a good push. Great moment for Colgate Football and a huge win."
Colgate had taken the lead on a 20-yard
Jacob Jaworski field goal on the first overtime possession. A 17-yard run by
Chris Gee on the first play of overtime moved Colgate to the Dartmouth 8 yard line, but the Raiders were unable to punch the ball in.
Dartmouth twice rallied from 14-point deficits in the second half. Trailing 17-3 at halftime and 24-10 later in the third. Dartmouth drove the length of the field on the final possession of the first half, only to be stopped on the final play of the half on the Colgate 1 with a touchdown-saving tackle by
Asauni Allen.
After the Big Green took the second-half kickoff back 57 yards, it took the visitors just five plays to go 55 yards to pull within 17-10. Colgate answered immediately with a nine-play, 78-yard drive leading to a 24-10 third quarter lead following a
Zach Osborne to
Max Hurleman 19-yard completion with 3:06 left in the stanza.
The Big Green scored on successive fourth-quarter possessions, first on a 9-yard run with 11:56 left in regulation, then after a short pooch punt on 4th-and-8 by the Raiders, Dartmouth took nine plays to go 72 yards to paydirt and tie the score with 4:32 left.
A 38-yard kickoff return by
Jaedon Henry put Colgate in business at midfield, but the Raiders followed with their only three-and-out series of the game, and punted to the Dartmouth 19. On the first play from scrimmage, Dartmouth completed a 65-yard pass and run that took the ball to the Colgate 16 with under two minutes remaining. On the ensuing play
Andrew Taddeo stripped the ball from Dartmouth quarterback Jackson Proctor and
Mike Slivka dove on the loose ball to stop the threat.
"There were some ups and downs throughout the game," Dakosty continued. "Dartmouth deserves a lot of credit; they're very well-coached. We knew they'd come out in the second half and give us their best shot. We had a great first half, then started slow in the second half, but we bounced back. In overtime, obviously blocking the field goal was a great way to finish it off."
Colgate scored on its first possession of the game on a 23-yard strike from Osborne to
Brady Hutchison. The score culminated a seven-play, 68-yard drive. Osborne completed 4-of-5 passes on the drive, with his only incompletion negated by a roughing the passer penalty on the Big Green.
Dartmouth narrowed the gap to 7-3 following an 11-play drive that resulted in a 32-yard field goal just two seconds into the second quarter. The drive started after a tipped ball caused an interception that gave Dartmouth the ball on its own 42.
Colgate matched the three-pointer on its next possession driving 62 yards in 10 plays. Jaworski drilled a kick from 29 yards with 11:09 left. The big play of the drive was a
Marco Maldonado 15-yard run on 1st-and-10 from the Dartmouth 46 followed by a 15-yard personal foul mark off against the Big Green.
The Raiders upped the lead to 17-3 on their next drive eating up nearly half of the second quarter. Osborne scored on the ground from seven yards out capping a 15-play 83-yard effort.
Osborne had a big day in the first start of his Colgate career completing 27 of 38 passes for 264 yards and the two touchdowns. He completed passes to eight different receivers. Leading the way was
Treyvhon Saunders who snagged 8 receptions for 118 yards.
"Zach Osborne did a great job and our receivers were great today," Dakosty said. "There were some contested catches, and then there were some runs after the catch that were impressive. We had a lot of second-and-manageables and that starts up front. Our offensive line did a great job. It was great to see Zach come out here with a win in his first career start."
Defensively
Owen Goss led the Raiders with 11 total tackles and made 10 solo stops.
Drew Frankel,
Christian Sweeney and
Cole Kozlowski were each in on seven tackles.
The overtime game is the first for Colgate since a 2011 loss at Lafayette. The win over Dartmouth gives the Raiders a 2-1 record against Ivy League teams in 2023.
"This was a great day for Colgate Football," Dakosty said. "We wanted to leave this day 1-0. We accomplished that, so now it's the same mindset moving forward."
UP NEXT
Colgate will travel to Washington, DC, Saturday, Oct. 21, to face Patriot League foe Georgetown. Kickoff is slated for 3 p.m.
