But following a quarterback draw play late in the first quarter, Hempel got up and held his shoulder gingerly, and Hosch took over under center for the rest of the half. Other than the field goal that came after a turnover deep in Dartmouth territory, the stalled Crimson offense did not score again before halftime.
Hempel began warming up after halftime, and after the Crimson’s opening second half drive ended in a Hosch interception, the senior returned to finish the game.
“I asked [Hempel], about three times, eyeball-to-eyeball, ‘Are you sure you’re okay? We’re not going to put you in if you’re hurting,’” Murphy said. “I’m not saying that Conner Hempel wouldn’t fib to me, but as long as the doctors said he was fine and he said he was okay that made the decision easy.”
Though the Crimson only managed to tack on another field goal with Hempel’s return, the three points proved key, as the drive made the game a two-possession contest with six minutes left. Hempel’s longest pass came on this drive, when the senior found classmate Ty Hamblin near the sideline for 21 yards.
“[Hempel] just does a great job with his feet,” Teevens said. “He went out for a little bit, [and] I wish he took a little bit more time off. He’s the type of guy that gels an offense.”
Dartmouth had similar struggles when Williams had to leave the game with an eye injury. Park came in at the start of the fourth quarter and closed the game for the Big Green.
A STANT-UP GUY
With the uncertainty at quarterback, Stanton became key in helping the Crimson extend drives. Averaging 7.5 yards per carry, the junior certainly did that.
Stanton tallied 180 yards on the day, a career high for him. His previous record came last year against Dartmouth with 145 yards. Behind a stout offensive line that provided Hempel with time in the pocket and with typical red zone back Andrew Casten out with injury, Stanton also powered into the end zone twice.
“[Stanton is] powerful, he’s explosive, he’ll kind of stand behind those big guys…and he’ll exploit a hole really quickly,” Teevens said. “He’s really powerful. You’ll see him in a pile, and the pile moves, and you’ve got big guys falling off of him.”
—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samantha.lin@thecrimson.com.