With the game winding down, and the score tied at 28, Dartmouth needed a big play to overcome Central Connecticut State University. The spark came from an unlikely source.
With just 24 seconds left, quarterback Grayson Saunier ’27 snapped the football. Near the right sideline, wide receiver Ky’dric Fisher ’28 started his route.
Fisher had not seen much action — so it was likely that as he sprinted, Saunier wouldn’t look his way.
Fisher stopped. The defender bit and he was gone, blowing right past into open space.
Turned out Saunier was looking at him the entire time. As soon as Fisher made his move, Saunier floated a pass right into Fisher’s outstretched arms. Fisher ran into the endzone and gave the Big Green the lead with 16 seconds left on the clock.
“We’ve actually never ran that play before,” Fisher said. “My position coach looked at me and was like, ‘Do you know this?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’”
CCSU was unable to answer with just seconds left, and the game ended. Fisher’s go-ahead touchdown concluded a thrilling, back and forth 35-28 victory over CCSU that cemented Dartmouth’s position as one of the hottest teams in the Ivy League.
“[Fisher] had a great catch,” Saunier said. “And everything worked out. It was pretty sweet.”
The win now moves Dartmouth to 2-0 on the year after barely escaping its home opener against New Hampshire last week.
Self-inflicted wounds hurt Dartmouth in the first half. Saunier, with Dartmouth in scoring position on its first drive, threw one right into the hands of CCSU’s Stylz Mitchell, whose interception helped set up a CCSU touchdown to open the scoring.
The Big Green tied the game up just two minutes later — a 71-yard pass to Grayson O’Bara ’26 got the Big Green inside the one-yard line to set up a D.J. Crowther ’26 rushing touchdown — but again found themselves behind at the end of the first quarter. Down seven, Saunier found Ian Scott ’27, who ran all the way to the CCSU 14-yard line before losing the football.
“We gotta take care of the ball,” McCorkle said. “Especially when we’re in traffic. That’s fundamental stuff.”
O’Bara was a huge momentum builder for the Big Green, reeling in five catches for 116 receiving yards in the first half. O’Bara, fellow receiver Daniel Haughton ’26 and tight end Chris Corbo ’26 continued to cause headaches for opposing secondaries.
Later in the first half, Dartmouth’s defense found its footing, forcing a three and out that the offense took advantage of to tie the game up once again on a 12-yard Crowther touchdown.
The consistent Crowther’s two touchdowns on the day give him five scores in just two games, good for second among Ivy League players.
“[Crowther] never got frustrated. He never got bothered,” McCorkle said. “He just kept going and kept going. When those opportunities were there, he took advantage of it. He had good patience the entire time.”
On the next drive in the second quarter, the outstretched arm of Taylor Faalele ’28 knocked the ball out of CCSU senior Elijah Howard’s possession, forcing a fumble that Faalele pounced on for the turnover.
Faalele and the rest of the defensive line were dominant throughout the game, sacking the quarterback four times and holding Howard and the Blue Devils to just 66 total rushing yards.
“They’re hungry,” linebacker Zyion Freer-Brown ’26 said. “Causing the quarterback to not be able to go through his projections … gives the second-level guys the chance to go up and make a play.”
With six minutes left in the first half, a 36-yard field goal from Owen Zalc ’27 gave Dartmouth their first lead of the game, and he hit another one from 27 yards out as time expired in the first half to give Dartmouth a 20-14 lead. However, Zalc went cold for the rest of the game, missing one left from 50 yards and another right from 29 yards near the end of the fourth quarter.
“Sometimes that happens,” McCorkle said. “He knows right when he comes off the field what he does wrong … He’s a good kicker, and we all have faith in him.”
Those misses gave the Blue Devils enough momentum to get back into the game. An 80 yard drive gave CCSU a one-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter.
With less than 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Dartmouth scored to take the lead and successfully converted a two-point attempt. However, just five minutes later, CCSU tied it up and left Dartmouth with just 58 seconds to try to win the game in regulation.
The Big Green only needed 42 as Fisher ran into the endzone for the game-winning score.
Fisher’s heroic grab was his only reception of the game and came after limited action in the previous game against UNH. The pass capped an incredible day for Saunier, who threw for 407 yards and two touchdowns on 44 attempts.
“Coach [Shane] Montgomery is putting a lot of trust in me,” Saunier said. “He believes in me and my coaching staff believes in me. They’re just putting us in situations to be successful … 400 yards plus is great, but all that matters is that we got that W at the end of the day.”
Dartmouth moves to 2-0 on the year and will head to Philadelphia to face the University of Pennsylvania on Oct. 4.
