As the game-winning ball sailed toward a wide-open David Pantelis, it seemed inevitable that he would catch it. The Yale University receiver had torched the Dartmouth defense all game — hauling in three touchdowns — and Yale had just scored a touchdown in overtime to put them within a point of the Big Green.
Linebacker Braden Mullen ’25 was on the field when Yale decided to go for the two-point conversion to win the game.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re going for it,’” Mullen said. “‘I hope [Yale quarterback Grant Jordan] overthrows it’ — and then he did.”
As the game-winning ball went sailing over Pantelis’s head, the Dartmouth squad raised their arms in shock and jubilation: the comeback was complete.
In a game with massive implications for the Ivy League title, the Big Green overcame a 30-7 deficit in the third quarter to win 44-43 in overtime at the Yale Bowl. Dartmouth moved to 2-0 in Ivy League play and 4-0 overall, good for first in the Ivy League standings. Fellow defending champions Yale fell to 0-2 in Ivy League play and 2-2 overall, seemingly knocking them out of title contention.
The Big Green won off the back of a career game from third-string quarterback Grayson Saunier ’27, who diced up the Yale defense for 276 yards. Saunier threw three touchdowns on 20 completions and gained an additional 97 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Prior to Saturday, Saunier, who spent his freshman season as a member of the scout team, had never thrown a pass in a game for Dartmouth.
“[Saunier] went out there and did a very good job,” head coach Sammy McCorkle said. “He was very composed out there and made really good decisions and made some plays for us and got it to our guys. … We felt like, ‘Hey, we’re going to go with the guy that’s rolling right now.’”
While Saunier delivered the Big Green to overtime, running back Q Jones ’25 secured the go-ahead touchdown with 42 rushing yards, including a clutch 31-yard rush and the game-winning touchdown a few plays later.
“Toward the end, you [could] tell that [Yale’s] defense was exhausted,” Jones said. “Even though we got behind the sticks, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to score a touchdown, and I was going to do it for my guys because, again, the whole game my offensive line, they were pushing through, they were persevering and they were doing it for me.”
Adversity hit Dartmouth before the game even started. The Big Green’s starting quarterback, Jackson Proctor ’25, was left out of the gameday roster due to an injury, leaving Woods Ray ’27 as the starter. Ray struggled, with two completions on seven attempts, but mishaps were not limited to the offense. With three minutes to go in the first quarter, an errant snap flew over the head of punter Davis Golick ’25 to the back of the end zone for a safety. Worse, a few minutes later, Yale quarterback Jordan found Joey Felton for a 71-yard score to open the second quarter.
McCorkle replaced Ray with Saunier at the beginning of the second quarter. While Dartmouth did get within two points thanks to a Saunier touchdown pass to Chris Corbo ’26, all hopes of an Ivy League classic seemed to unravel as Dartmouth surrendered touchdowns on three of their next four drives to find themselves down 30-7 midway through the third quarter.
“We didn’t help ourselves at all in that first half,” McCorkle said. “Anything that possibly could have gone wrong — you know, self-inflicted stuff … we weren’t composed. We weren’t playing our game.”
However, in the second half, Dartmouth started to claw its way back. Halfway through the fourth quarter, down 37-23 after scoring a crucial touchdown on fourth and goal, Dartmouth needed something big. After several first-half special teams mishaps, Owen Zalc ’27 set things right by sending a perfectly placed onside kick over the throng of Yale defenders into the waiting arms of Corbo.
To McCorkle, the onside kick was a turning point.
“Once we got that onside kick, how our offense responded and how we were moving the ball down the field, you knew that we could hit some big plays if needed,” McCorkle said. “You sensed the energy and the confidence, and I think the defense fed off the offense.”
Less than a minute later, Saunier found Daniel Haughton ’26 on a crossing route to get Dartmouth back into the game.
“We were pushing and pushing, and we started picking up the tempo,” Saunier said. “…We started to feel that momentum. … We knew it was all on our side. We just had to keep on pushing. The defense came up huge, and then our O-line and our receivers and running backs and tight ends did a great job just pushing the ball down the field for us. It was awesome.”
Saunier continued to dice up the Bulldog defense, taking it up the gut all the way to the house to tie up the game. One missed Yale two-point conversion later, Dartmouth had pulled out the win.
Dartmouth added a hard-fought victory to its undefeated season and is now the sole leader of the Ivy League, with an opportunity to grab its first outright Ivy League title since 1996. With a tough slate of games on the horizon — including a Homecoming matchup against Harvard on Nov. 1 — Dartmouth must learn from its mistakes, stay resilient and battle to earn the title.
