It took until the fourth quarter for the Columbia football team to get on the board on Saturday in its 28-6 loss to Dartmouth, but the Lions had plenty of previous chances. The Light Blue failed to score on three earlier trips into the red zone due to a variety of miscues. By the time Columbia succeeded, the outcome of the game had already been determined.
“We got in the spot to make some plays, and we didn’t make the plays that we needed to make,” head coach Norries Wilson said.
Dartmouth raced out of the gate and took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter. After some early struggles, the Lions’ offense came to life on its second possession of the quarter, marching down to the Big Green’s 15-yard line on six plays.
A miscommunication between quarterback Millicent Olawaleand wide receiver Taylor Joseph resulted in an incompletion on second down when—had the play been run correctly—it looked like Joseph was wide open for a touchdown. Olawale unleashed his pass expecting Joseph to run either a corner or a fade into the back right of the end zone, but instead Joseph cut in for a slant and the two were unable to connect.
“A couple times, we had a guy run a wrong route,” Wilson said. “He ran a slant when he was supposed to run a fade, and we thought that he’d be wide open, and he did something that he wasn’t supposed to do.”
On the next play, Olawale was sacked for a loss of four, prompting Wilson to bring out the constantly struggling field goal unit. Freshman kicker Greg Guttas’ 37-yard attempt went wide left, marking his fourth miss in five attempts.
That was the Lions’ only trip to the red zone in the first half, but in the second half, they came out strong and streaked across the field. A pass interference penalty put the Lions again on the Big Green’s 15-yard line, and this time they kept moving forward. On third-and-three, wide receiver Austin Knowlin caught a screen and was dropped for no gain, but tight end Andrew Kennedy was flagged for holding, and the Lions were moved back. After an incompletion, Guttas came out again, and his 35-yard attempt was tipped by Dartmouth defensive back Shawn Abuhoff and wobbled wide right.
“We had opportunities,” Wilson said. “We had a couple bad penalties—the hold going away from the scoreboard hurt us. That was a screen that actually we thought was going to work out for us.”
That failed drive helped keep the momentum on Dartmouth’s side and set the tone for the rest of the second half.
“You play a decent half, and then you come out and somebody rolls down the field and they score, it really takes something out of you,” Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens said. “To have the guys bow up and make some plays was tremendous.”
After the Lions defense forced a pair of three-and-outs to start the third quarter, the offense broke into the red zone again. On first-and-10 from the 20-yard line, the Lions ran a screen, but the Big Green had it covered. Seeing the coverage, Olawale turned and looked upfield and saw wide receiver Mike Stephens running toward the end zone, so he fired a pass in his direction. Senior safety Peter Pidermann was ready for it, and he picked it off to again foil Columbia’s attempt to cut into the Big Green’s lead.
In the fourth quarter, the Light Blue finally converted on a trip to the red zone—Olawale scored on a quarterback sneak from the one-yard line. But the extra point was botched, and the Lions trailed 21-6 with just under eight minutes to go. The touchdown was too little, too late, especially when Dartmouth running back Nick Schwieger put the nail in the coffin with a 66-yard touchdown run on the next drive. The Lions had their chances, and they squandered them.
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