HANOVER, N.H. -- Having received Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week honors last week after his 12-catch performance against Lehigh, Penn junior Dan Castles again posted impressive numbers, including 157 receiving yards in Penn's win over Dartmouth Saturday.
Castles now has 26 catches for 350 yards on the season, good for second in the Ivies in both categories. Harvard's Brian Edwards leads the league with 404 yards and Dartmouth's Jay Barnard has 27 catches.
Castles has averaged 116.7 yards per game and is 19 yards shy of his total for last season with the Red and Blue.
The 6'3" receiver had no trouble getting over the heads of Dartmouth cornerbacks Chris Green and Mike Ribero, 6'0" and 5'10" respectively.
"See if they could run on stilts?" Dartmouth coach John Lyons suggested as a way to help his relatively diminutive cornerbacks.
"They were the best guys we had. [Penn] did a good job mixing it up and moving [Castles] around. He's a good player," he added.
The wet conditions at Dartmouth's Memorial Field did not stop the wide receiver from snaring 10 passes -- one for a five-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Senior wide receiver Joe Phillips added 73 yards, six yards shy of his career-high 79-yard performance two years ago against Harvard.
The Penn offense got off to a slow start, posting only a pair of field goals in the first quarter.
"We were up and down, ripping off chunks of yardage," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said.
One of those chunks came from a 30-yard Mike Mitchell throw Castles brought down at the Dartmouth 30-yard line in the first quarter. On the next snap, Castles picked up another first down on a 12-yard out. Penn would kick a field goal.
In the middle of the second quarter, Castles again got the momentum going for the Red and Blue, pulling down a 24-yard Mitchell pass on a touchdown drive.
With 1:49 to go in the half, Phillips caught an 11-yard touchdown pass from Mitchell to put the Quakers up 19-0.
After 100 yards in the first half for Castles and 73 for Phillips, the receiving pair had to help a new quarterback adjust as Mitchell was injured in the third quarter.
After Mike Recchiuti ran for 47 yards deep into Dartmouth territory, the stage was set for Penn to pad its 26-13 lead. The next two carries by Sam Mathews yielded only four yards, leaving the Quakers with third and goal at the Dartmouth five-yard line.
Backup quarterback Pat McDermott then lofted the ball into an end zone filled with Dartmouth defenders. With less than a foot of fair ground in the corner of the end zone, Castles jumped up to snag the pass.
He was inbounds by just inches, and the Quakers extended their lead to 33-13, putting the game out of reach.
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