Dartmouth had just scored on a miracle catch and needed an onside kick recovery to have a chance to finish its miracle comeback.
The kick came in like a routine grounder to shortstop, and the sure-handed Chris Mizell went down to the ground and smothered it perfectly.
It was one perfect play in a far-from-perfect 17-10 win over Dartmouth Saturday. The Quakers defeated the Big Green (0-3, 0-1 Ivy) for the ninth straight time.
Penn gave its home crowd of 9,420 some nervous moments en route to a 2-1 start overall.
After coming out of the locker room with a 7-3 lead, Penn's Brian Raike reached up to grab a short kickoff. He ran straight into the coverage and fumbled the ball, giving Dartmouth a chance deep in Penn territory.
But the Quakers (2-1, 1-0) held their ground, despite a 1st-and-goal from the 2, and Andrew Kempler missed a 22-yard field goal to squander the opportunity. Five minutes, 10 plays and 80 yards later, sophomore Robert Irvin hit senior Billy May from 12 yards out for his second touchdown pass of the game, and the Quakers turned potential disaster into a 14-3 lead.
"When they came down the field and scored, that was a big emotional swing," Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens said.
The Big Green put a lot of pressure on the Penn offense, holding running back Joe Sandberg, who came in averaging 6.7 yards per carry, to just 65 yards on 22 carries.
In the past, Dartmouth has "done a really good job of always having an extra defender in the box," coach Al Bagnoli said, making it important to have a solid passing game.
When Saturday turned out no different, Irvin had to step up, and that he did. The sophomore spread the ball around, hitting senior Matt Carre seven times, Mizell four times and junior Braden Lepisto three times in addition to May's touchdown. Irvin finished the game with 227 yards through the air, the highest total in his three-game career.
Putting points on the board was difficult for the Quakers, as two drives that stalled deep in Dartmouth territory ended with missed field goals by junior Derek Zoch, who was 1-for-3 on the day.
"It wasn't an aesthetically pretty game," Bagnoli said. "Sometimes you have to fight, and we showed a little bit of fight today."
The Big Green, which outgained Penn by 10 yards on the day, nearly capitalized on the Quakers' sloppiness, but suffered some miscues of its own.
Dartmouth quarterback Mike Fritz threw three interceptions, including two in the fourth quarter when the teams traded picks for three straight series. Sophomore corner Tyson Maugle made two picks, while Patrick Kimener hauled in the last one on an overthrown pass.
Still, Dartmouth had a last gasp, trailing 17-3 with the ball at Penn's 6-yard line in the closing minutes. But two straight penalties led to a 4th-and-goal from the 26, and the ball went over on downs. Penn couldn't run out the clock, and Anthony Melillo was smothered before he could get a punt off.
Dartmouth scored on the drive's first play as Philip Galligan made an acrobatic catch over a defender in the corner of the end zone. But with just 37 seconds to play, the onside kick rolled right into Mizell's hands.
No matter how many things went wrong, when Mizell held on to that ball for dear life, the Quakers were 1-0 in the league.
"We're still a work in progress," Bagnoli said. "We still have young kids, and they're going to have to grow up, and hopefully this is another step toward that."
NOTES: Backup quarterback Bryan Walker, a more mobile option than Irvin, played most of a series late in the third quarter to give the Big Green defense a different look. Walker completed one of his four passes, but outran several Dartmouth defenders for a 25-yard gain. . Starting nose guard Naheem Harris left the field under his own power in the fourth quarter with a hip injury, the extent of which was not known after the game.
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