Dartmouth dominating Penn football at halfitme, 28-10

When the Red and Blue made the trek to Hanover, N.H. to take on the Big Green, they knew it was their first game of the year that actually mattered.

However, they didn’t necessarily play the first half like it, as they went into the locker room facing a 28-10 deficit.

Early on, the Quakers were out and running.

Midway through the first quarter, the Quakers got the scoring started, burning the Big Green with a sneaky play-action pass down the middle of the field for a 54-yard touchdown to full back Matt Schwartz. The Quakers went for 76 yards in only six plays and 1:56.

However, the Big Green answered back with a methodical drive of their own, finishing a run-heavy sequence of plays with a two-yard touchdown by running back Kyle Bramble to tie it up.

Dartmouth then proceeded to pick off Penn sophomore quarterback as conditions significantly worsened. Dartmouth quarterback Dalyn Williams capitalized, using his next level athleticism to rush for a nine-yard score.

Entering the second quarter, Penn seemed to lose some of its offensive energy, as the Big Green defense overwhelmed the Quakers in the trenches. Meanwhile, Dartmouth was having its way running the ball.

After a few uneventful offensive drives, the issue of turnovers reared its ugly head once again. A Penn fumble off a botched snap gave Dartmouth possession in Penn’s half of the field.

The Big Green capitalized once again. Williams gashed the Red and Blue for another touchdown run – this time a 24-yard scamper – to take control of the game, 21-7. With 14 points off of turnovers, the Big Green were dominating. Penn simply could not contain Dartmouth’s star quarterback, who went over 1,000 rushing yards for his career on the scoring play.

By this point, the flood gates had opened, and it had gotten ugly for Penn. After a three-and-out, Dartmouth marched down the field for rushing score from Williams with 3:33 left in the half.

Penn’s tackling was suspect throughout the half, and its offense was, quite frankly, too sloppy to get the job done against a potential Ivy contender.

With time winding down in the half, the Penn offense showed some signs of life. However, after finding themselves only two yards away from pay dirt, the Quakers were turned away twice and forced to settle for a short Jimmy Gammill field goal with three seconds left. You could hardly call it a momentum-changer, as the Quakers will need to make up 18 points after halftime.

Over the first half, Penn was outgained by 122 yards on the ground. Despite having over a 100-yard passing edge, Torgersen was clearly outplayed by Williams, who scored three touchdowns and gained 77 yards on the ground through two quarters.

Follow the second half on our liveblog. 

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