Dartmouth Head Coach Sammy McCorkle Uses Lines, Special Teams To Push Around Lehigh 34-17 In First Win as Big Green Head Coach
HANOVER, NH – The green Powerade covered Dartmouth head coach Sammy McCorkle after the Big Green pushed around Lehigh 34-17 Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
He earned his first victory as a head football coach only a week after legendary Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens passed away from complications from a horrible bicycle accident. McCorkle had been named the interim head coach when it became apparent Teevens would not be able to return to the Dartmouth sidelines.
“I’m just so proud of the players,” McCorkle said during the postgame press conference. “They did a phenomenal job. Everything we’ve asked them to do, they’ve done it. They are a fun group to coach, and I enjoy celebrating a win with our players and our coaches. Everyone has put in a lot of time and effort, and we know we have to continue to do that going forward.”
On a day that was all about celebrating the late Buddy Teevens’ life, the Big Green football team made their quiet tribute by overcoming several mistakes to power their way to a comfortable victory.
Down 7-0 after a 95 yard fumble return for touchdown by Lehigh DB Logan Jones, QB Dylan Cadwaller calmly guided the Big Green down the on a 13 play, 70 yard drive, ending with QB Nick Howard powering through a huge hole in the line, allowing the Big Green to tie it at 7.
They would add a field goal after a 10 play, 29 yard drive, and before the first half was over WR Paxton Scott would make a pretty over-the-shoulder catch from Cadwallader to make it 17-10 by halftime.
In the second half, Dartmouth’s defense shut down the Lehigh offense, holding them to 56 total yards and only one score, a gift-wrapped 5 yard TD pass to RB Jack DiPietro after a muffed punt set up Lehigh at the Dartmouth 5 yard line.
But after DB Donovan Lassiter’s second career interception to stop a Big Green drive, Lehigh’s offense sputtered to a 3 and out,and Dartmouth DB Sam Koscho would block the ensuing punt, setting up a 2 play, 32 yard drive and a 10 yard touchdown run by RB Q Jones.
Dartmouth outgained Lehigh 346-167. notching more yards rushing (216) than Lehigh had total offense. Jones ended up with 99 net yards and the one touchdown and Howard would add 70 extra yards on the ground and two scores.
Despite the late muffed punt, Dartmouth’s special teams had a strong day, with the blocked punt setting up the score and WR Sean Williams with more than 100 return yards on two punts and two kickoffs, giving the Big Green excellent field position.
Lehigh head coach Kevin Cahill minced no words talking to Steve Lomangino after the game.
“I don’t think we came out to compete in the second half,” he said. “We killed ourselves. You can’t turn the ball over and you can’t have a punt blocked. That’s a recipe for how to lose a football game, and it came true.”
He was unsparing.
“We’ve got to a better job tackling, as a program we’ve got to do better fundamentally, and we’ve got to take some steps forward. We’ve got some young kids that have to grow up a lot faster than they are. We’ve got to get back to business, clean it up and find out who really wants to battle.”
Dartmouth (1-1, 0-0 Ivy League) will travel to Penn next week in their first league game of the season, while Lehigh (1-3, 0-0 Patriot League heads to West Long Branch, New Jersey to take on Monmouth.
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lehigh | 7 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 17 |
| Dartmouth | 7 | 10 | 14 | 3 | 34 |
| Qtr | Time | Scoring Play | Leh | DAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 08:59 | Leh – Jones,Logan 92 yd fumble recovery (Garrido,Nick kick) | 7 | 0 |
| 1st | 03:30 | DAR – Howard,Nick 1 yd run (Zalc,Owen kick), 11 plays, 75 yards, TOP 05:29 | 7 | 7 |
| 2nd | 12:56 | DAR – Zalc,Owen 35 yd field goal 10 plays, 29 yards, TOP 04:47 | 7 | 10 |
| 2nd | 06:59 | Leh – Garrido,Nick 26 yd field goal 13 plays, 70 yards, TOP 05:51 | 10 | 10 |
| 2nd | 00:35 | DAR – Scott,Paxton 7 yd pass from Cadwallader,Dylan (Zalc,Owen kick) 11 plays, 67 yards, TOP 02:32 | 10 | 17 |
| 3rd | 02:58 | DAR – Howard,Nick 1 yd run (Zalc,Owen kick), 5 plays, 16 yards, TOP 02:18 | 10 | 24 |
| 3rd | 00:52 | DAR – Jones,Q 10 yd run (Zalc,Owen kick), 2 plays, 32 yards, TOP 00:41 | 10 | 31 |
| 4th | 06:55 | DAR – Zalc,Owen 26 yd field goal 13 plays, 27 yards, TOP 07:57 | 10 | 34 |
| 4th | 02:44 | Leh – DiPietro,Jack 2 yd run (Garrido,Nick kick), 4 plays, 5 yards, TOP 01:36 | 17 | 34 |
Chuck has been writing about Lehigh football since the dawn of the internet, or perhaps it only seems like it. He’s executive editor of the College Sports Journal and has also written a book, The Rivalry: How Two Schools Started the Most Played College Football Series.
Reach him at: this email or click below:
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