Football | Fake plays, real win

It should have been a routine play, a no-brainer. Down just a touchdown with more than 14 minutes left to play, Dartmouth faced 4th-and-10 from its own 38. What ensued should never have decided the game.

But punter Brian Scullin never put the ball to his foot, instead tossing a short pass to special teamer Matthew Dornak.

He was stopped shy of the first down, setting up a short field for the Quakers, an Andrew Samson field goal and a 23-10 victory for Penn in its 800th game at Franklin Field.

"It was a bad decision," Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens said of the fake punt, which came after Penn punter-slash-quarterback Kyle Olson completed one of his own in the third quarter. "It's my responsibility to put my guys in a position to have success, and I didn't do it."

Teevens' copycat strategy provided a crucial momentum swing for Penn, which had grinded to a stalemate with the Big Green during a first half that saw just 189 yards of offense and 12 punts.

While Penn's fake punt didn't lead to points - quarterback Robert Irvin threw an interception later in the drive - Olson's completion to special-teamer Tyson Maugle provided a spark in a game marked by lethargy.

"It was a big play for us even though we didn't end up scoring," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "It was just the way we draw it up."

Riding their lone first-half score, a 18-yard Irvin touchdown lob to running back Michael DiMaggio, the Red and Blue were unfazed when Dartmouth took a 10-7 lead after a Foley Schmidt field goal.

DiMaggio took over for halfback Bradford Blackmon, who was largely ineffective before suffering an ankle injury, netting just five yards on the ground and fumbling deep in Penn territory.

Behind DiMaggio's 129 rushing yards (123 in the second half), the Quakers were able to extinguish the Big Green's lead, string together 265 yards of offense and put up 16 unanswered points to end the game.

"We certainly were a frustrated group, but I think second half, we kind of got back to basics, trying to run the ball downhill," Bagnoli said.

DiMaggio's performance opened up field for Irvin, whose pass to Tyler Fisher provided the go-ahead score. By game's end, he had tossed two touchdowns and racked up 270 passing yards en route to eclipsing the 3,000-yard mark for his career.

Irvin became just the 10th quarterback in Penn history to reach that plateau when he connected with wide receiver Kyle Derham on a 43-yard bomb in the third quarter.

"I wasn't really thinking about it until I saw it in the program," Irvin said, "and it's great to be up there with some of the great quarterbacks in football."

Equallly impressive was Penn's defensive performance. Led by linebacker Jake Lewko, who had two sacks and a tackle for a loss, the Quakers held the Big Green to 191 offensive yards and flummoxed quarterback Alex Jenny all day long.

With pressure coming from all sides, Jenny frequently missed his targets, and he was provided little relief by his running game, which put up just five yards.

"We didn't move the ball down. . We just continually disrupted ourselves." Teevens said. "We didn't execute. They did."

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