The Bulldogs roared back to life with a 47-7 victory over Stonehill last weekend at The Bowl. Yale improves to 3-2 (1-1 Ivy) on the season ahead of a pivotal matchup against Penn.
Dante Reno had the best performance of his career throwing for 267 yards and a touchdown without an interception. There were still 2-3 errant passes that could have been intercepted by a more talented defense, but overall, there was tremendous improvement from the Dartmouth contest to the Stonehill contest. Reno even looked more comfortable in the running game averaging 3.7 yards per carry and absorbing some hard hits. Pitsenberger and Daal were unstoppable on the ground averaging 5.3 yards per carry and 4.2 yards per carry respectively with a combined 3 touchdowns. Price and Djeumeni Kemeni combined for another 49 rushing yards and a touchdown on the afternoon. The offensive line manhandled Stonehill despite an injury to Charron early in the contest as they paved the way for 190 rushing yards, 4 rushing touchdowns and did not allow a sack. Santiago and Brown could not be contained by Stonehill’s secondary with Santiago posting a career day with 150 receiving yards and a touchdown, while Brown continued to make eye-popping catches. Stephens has become a clutch receiver over the past few weeks with 3 catches for 15 yards against Stonehill. Smith and Maltarich have also stepped up as viable receiving targets in the wake of the injury to Shipp. Clearly Stonehill was a vastly inferior opponent to Dartmouth, but the offensive staff and players deserve praise for a great week of preparation heading into the final non-conference game.
Yale’s defense was dominant as the unit allowed just 152 total offensive yards on the afternoon. Stonehill couldn’t move the ball on the ground with 22 attempts for just 35 rushing yards forcing them into uncomfortable passing situations. Solid coverage combined with an aggressive pass rush led to a completion percentage of just 46.7% for a paltry 117 passing yards. Schmidt earned significant playing time at safety and led the team with 7 tackles on the afternoon. There were a number of strong performances along the defensive front. Jackson-Bass had 3 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Larry and Ugokwe each notched a sack, while Johnson added another 1.5 tackles for loss. Linebacker play from Ayo-Durojaiye and Grant was solid and it was great to see some of the younger linebackers see playing time in the fourth quarter. There were a handful of coverage lapses that will need to be corrected in practice this week, but it was a tremendous showing from the defense on Saturday.
Piper was perfect on four field goal attempts and five PATs. Keeney didn’t see much action with the offense moving the ball at will punting just once for 29 yards.
4 replies on “Stonehill Notes”
I assume Noah Piper had a great week of practice. His could turn into a great redemption story.
He’s only a Freshman, but Noah is shaping up as our best PK since Sam “The Hebrew Hammer” Tuckerman. Noah is 7 of 7 on FGs. He’s been perfect on PATs save for the critical miss at Hanover.
I’d trade “perfect on every kick except one” for a win over Dartmouth any day.
On to the Penn Game, I didn’t realize that Penn’s RB Julian Stokes broke his leg at the Columbia game. OLine is dinged up too.
The Daily Pennsylvanian has a pick’em on the game 5 writers put their thoughts on paper. 4 out of the 5 picked Penn to win in a close game.