Penn (2-1, 1-0 Ivy) snapped Dartmouth's (1-2, 0-1 Ivy) seven-game road winning streak by beating Dartmouth for the sixth straight year. Of the series, five games have been decided by just one score. Penn has now won 15 of its last 16 matchups with Dartmouth.
"It just kept going and it doesn't quite feel like it's over yet," linebacker Michael Runger '14. "It feels like we should be going out for a fifth period."
Dartmouth had two opportunities to seal the win, but Penn blocked Riley Lyons '15's field-goal attempt at the end of regulation and Lyons missed another kick wide left in the first overtime after Dartmouth's defense prevented Penn from scoring.
Three overtime periods later, Penn took advantage of its opportunity to win when Lyons' 42-yard attempt sailed wide left. Penn ran two short plays before Wilcox took the handoff up the middle before bouncing outside, getting around the corner and outrunning the defense for the walk-off touchdown.
Lyons sent the game into fourth overtime when his 40-yard field goal split the uprights, tying the game at 31.
Penn started with the ball at the beginning of overtime, but Dartmouth's defense stuffed Wilcox on a 4th-and-1 at the five-yard line. Lyons lined up to kick a 34-yard field but his kick veered left, pushing the game into second overtime.
In the second overtime, Dartmouth reached the end zone with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Dalyn Williams '16 to Kirby Schoenthaler '15, forcing Penn to score a touchdown to continue the game. Penn started on a bad note when a false start penalty put them into a 3rd-and-12 from the 27. Senior Billy Raggone scrambled out of the pocket and found open field, scoring a touchdown which with Loftus' extra point tied the game.
On Dartmouth's first drive, a pass interference penalty wiped out a 67-yard pass from Williams to Bo Patterson '15.
Dartmouth started the scoring with a 74-yard drive culminating in Dominick Pierre '14's one-yard touchdown run after Troy Donahue '15 intercepted Ragone's pass on 3rd-and-six.
On the ensuing drive, Ragone attoned for his previous mistake with a four-yard scoring toss. A 52-yard throw from Ragone put Penn deep into the red zone.
Penn broke the 7-7 tie with an 84-yard fumble recovery by senior David Park for a touchdown. Dalyn Williams completed a pass to Victor Williams '16 for 48 yards, placing Dartmouth just shy of the red zone. A personal foul on Penn wiped out Lyons' missed field goal. Dalyn Williams was then sacked on two straight plays, resulting in the fumble and score.
Neither offense could make any headway as the first half ended, and Penn entered halftime leading 14-7.
Dartmouth tied the game at 14 early in the third quarter with Dalyn Williams' 11-yard touchdown throw to Dean Bakes '14 after Runger picked off an errant Ragone pass for his first career interception.
Penn responded with a 14-play drive that spanned almost eight minutes, ending when sophomore Mike Elespuru burst into the end zone from three-yards out. Ragone completed all five of his passes on the drive.
Trailing 21-14 early in the fourth quarter, Pierre burst through the line on 3rd-and-1 and bolted for 58 yards to the Penn's two, setting up Dalyn Williams' two-yard bootleg for the score, tying the game at 21 with ten minutes to play. Penn managed to advance into Dartmouth territory, but elected to punt on 4th-and-two at the 35.
Two plays later, Dalyn Williams found Victor Williams streaking downfield and connected for 48 yards. Dalyn Williams led Dartmouth down to the 22 before being picked off by junior Brion Wood, ending his streak of pass attempts without an interception to start his career at 216, a Dartmouth record.
Wilcox quickly piled up 30 yards on three rushes, but Dartmouth's defense stiffened, forcing the Quakers to attempt a 52-yard field goal that fell well short.
With no timeouts and 1:21 left, Dalyn Williams worked the sidelines with three swing passes to Pierre and a completion to Schoenthaler on the first four plays, pushing Dartmouth to the Penn 34. Dalyn Williams completed another pass to Patterson for 10 yards before scrambling 16 yards to the four-yard line.
With the clock winding down, Dalyn Williams spiked the ball, stopping the clock with four seconds left. After a Penn timeout, Lyons lined up for the 21-yard attempt only to have Park prevent Dartmouth's victory by getting his hand on the ball, forcing it to fall short of the uprights.
"We've got a capable kicker and a capable operation and when we need a play, we've got to get a play," head coach Buddy Teevens said. "Nobody feels worse than Riley, but it's a team sport and you'd like to think you don't get yourself in a position where it comes down to one player."
Dartmouth wracked up 534 yards on offense, the second highest in the past decade, and the most on the road in the past 40 years, in another high-flying game as Penn and Dartmouth combined for just under 1,000 yards.
Dalyn Williams finished his worst game of the year, completing 26 of 41 for 292 yards, two touchdowns, an interception and a fumble. Williams' fourth quarter interception was Dartmouth's first in 25 quarters since last year's game against Harvard University. Penn's pass rush harassed Williams with regularity, notching four sacks and breaking up another four passes.
Pierre led Dartmouth's ground, running the ball 21 times for 151 yards and a score with a long of 58 while running for his sixth career 100-yard game. Pierre also caught five passes for another 43 yards, finishing with 194 yards from scrimmage.
Schoenthaler provided Dalyn Williams a nice short-field option, with eight catches for 65 yards and a touchdown, while Victor Williams provided the deep threat with five catches for 113 yards.
Ragone was much less effective than Williams but still earned the win, completing 17 of 28 for 213 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions to go with 13 carries and 62 yards and a score.
Wilcox's 20-yard run put him over the century mark on the day, finishing with 102 yards on 18 carries.
Mitchell also hit the century mark, catching six passes for 100 yards.
"This game had as many highs and lows as any game I can remember," Penn head coach Al Bagnoli said. "When the smoke clears, we'll probably say this was one of the defining games of 2013."
On Saturday, Dartmouth begins a three-game home stand with its Homecoming game against Yale University, starting at 1:30 p.m. and broadcast on Fox College Sports.
