HANOVER, N.H., Sept. 29 - In what was a thoroughly confusing roller coaster of a football game on Saturday, it is fitting that the deciding play in the final moments would leave the Quakers with far more questions than answers.
On 4th-and-4 from Dartmouth's six-yard line, senior quarterback Bryan Walker dropped back and fired a pass to senior wide receiver Dan Coleman, who was running a slant toward the left half of the end zone. What actually happened on the play remains unclear - it depends on who you ask.
With Coleman still lying down in the end zone, the crowd grew silent as the officials huddled together to discuss the play. Before making a decision, an official from the other side of the field ran in to join the conference.
Ultimately, the referee ruled the pass was incomplete, drawing a livid coach Al Bagnoli from the Quakers bench all the way out toward the end zone to argue his case, resulting in an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty. But by that time, the Quakers' fate had already been sealed.
"To me, the thing that bothers you is where the guy is making the call," Bagnoli said. "You have three guys with a vantage point that's right on top of it that haven't signaled anything, and then you have the same guy running from the other sideline.
"If it was the guy that was on top of it calling it, I would have felt a lot better. You just can't be overruling people coming from 50 yards away."
Coleman told Bagnoli that he had bobbled the ball and ultimately gained possession of it in between his legs - without letting it touch the ground beforehand.
But Dartmouth's senior linebacker Joe Battaglia - who was on the field for the play - had a different perspective: "I was running; I saw the ball go down and I saw it hit the ground," he said. "He was sitting on it; I was just waiting for the call."
Big Green coach Buddy Teevens concurred.
"It was very clear from our side," he said. "I could see how people would be distracted, but there's no question in my mind."
He was about the only one with any certainty.
Game notes: Bryan Walker managed to spread the football around to a plethora of receivers this week, with nine different players catching passes. Sophomore wide receiver Kyle Derham had a career-high six catches for 55 yards, and sophomore defensive back Tyler Fisher caught five balls for 44 yards. . Sophomore Marcus Lawrence was called on to return punts for the Quakers after senior and sophomore, respectively, defensive backs Greg Ambrogi and Chris Wynn struggled in the first two weeks of the season. He had a return for three yards . When senior running back Joe Sandberg went down in the fourth quarter, he was replaced by freshman Mike DiMaggio. Junior backup Kelms Amoo-Achampong, who got the start at Villanova when Sandberg was out, did not see any action.
