HANOVER, N.H., Sept. 29 - Penn football's season has officially taken a turn for the worst.
In a wild finish at Memorial Field in Hanover, N.H., Penn trailed Dartmouth 21-13 with less than 30 seconds to go in the game. On fourth down and four yards to go from Dartmouth's six yard-line, senior quarterback Bryan Walker found wideout Dan Coleman in the end zone for what appeared to be a potentially game-tying touchdown.
But the three officials in the vicinity of the play elected not to signal anything, waiting for the referees on the other side of the field to come over and discuss the call. In the end, the apparent catch was ruled an incomplete pass. The ruling effectively ended the game -- the Quakers had used all of their timeouts, allowing Dartmouth to kneel down for one play and run out the clock.
Coach Al Bagnoli and the players did not agree with the way in which the decision was made. Nonetheless, the mere fact that the Quakers had the opportunity to tie the game on their final drive came from an even more surprising twist.
Down 21-6 with 2 minutes and 37 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, Walker -- who made his first start of the season -- capitalized on the Quakers' excellent field position, ultimately hitting senior Braden Lepisto for a 9-yard touchdown catch.
Then freshman kicker Andrew Samson -- who had converted his first two field goals of the season, including one from 45 yards, earlier in the game -- bounced an onside kick off of a Dartmouth special-teamer, and senior Greg Ambrogi recovered.
But the Quakers struggled mightily in the red zone, as they had all day, and the failure to convert that crucial fourth down sealed the loss. Penn had 406 yards of total offense, yet it only managed to put 13 points on the board.
Senior tailback Joe Sandberg returned to the lineup to the tune of 80 rushing yards, but he left late in the game after a hard hit. Walker shattered the Penn record for pass attempts, 55, with a 30-for-60, 266-yard passing effort.
Dartmouth quarterback Tom Bennewitz had 265 passing yards -- on fewer than half as many attempts (26).
For the Big Green, the win snapped a nine-game losing streak against Penn.
Penn dropped to 0-3 for the first time in Bagnoli's tenure, which began in 1992.
