Clouds speckled the sky and rain fell in buckets as the football team (3-7, 2-5 Ivy League) took on Dartmouth (8-2, 5-2 Ivy) in their final matchup of the year. Mirroring the dismal weather, the Bears’ 56-28 loss marked a gloomy end to the season.
“Although we are disappointed with our end stretch, I am very proud of how hard our team played,” Head Coach James Perry ’00 said in an interview via Brown Athletics. “The competitive nature of these kids is remarkable, and I appreciate everything they have done for us.”
For Dartmouth, the victory capped a dominant 2024 campaign, and for the second year in a row, they finished on top of the Ivy League. With five conference wins under their belt, the Big Green claimed a share of the Ivy League Title, which was split three ways alongside Harvard and Columbia this year.
Crossing 73 yards in less than three minutes, Dartmouth was first to score in Saturday’s 84-point slugout. From 13 yards out, Dartmouth’s quarterback Jackson Proctor challenged the Ivy League’s second-best red zone defense — and, connecting with receiver Grayson O’Bara in the corner of the end zone, the Big Green won the matchup, claiming an early 7-0 lead.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Dartmouth struck again. Capitalizing on a fumble by James Murphy ’27, which was recovered by the Big Green defense. Painter Richards-Baker reeled in a 35-yard reception for a touchdown.
Now down by 14 points but momentarily aided by providence, the Bears rallied. With seven minutes left in the half, Owen Clarke ’26 sacked Proctor for a nine-yard loss on third down, setting up a Dartmouth punt. When the subsequent snap flew over the punter’s head, it rolled down to the opposite nine-yard line. Now in a first-and-goal situation, Jake Willcox ’24.5 took a quarterback draw into the end zone, scoring the first points of the day for Brown.
“We never give up, we never lay down, we keep fighting,” cornerback Elias Archie ’26 said in an interview via Brown Athletics. “If they make a big play, we still finish and come away with those stops to help the offense.”
Getting the ball back with just over two minutes left in the half, Willcox staged another drive to equalize the game. Standing at the 31-yard line, he unleashed deep down the left sideline and connected with a lunging Ben Moseley ’25 one yard shy of the end zone. From there, Ty Holtz ’26 took over, stepping in for the injured Qwentin Brown ’26 — who totaled nine touchdowns on the season — and blasting past the goal line to tie the game at 14-14.
Unfortunately, the Bears were unable to close out the half. With three seconds left, Proctor found receiver Chris Corbo on an out-and-go to answer Brown’s 14 unanswered points and head into the locker room up 21-14.
Coming out of halftime, things took a turn for the worse. Within one minute, the Big Green reached the end zone once more, after O’Bara took a crossing route 72 yards to the house. And on the Bears’ next offensive possession, Willcox threw an interception which was returned 54 yards into the end zone by Jordan Washington. In less than five minutes, Dartmouth scored 21 points to pull away 35-14.
“They are a terrific team,” Perry said. “They won the Ivy League Championship for a reason. Jackson played exceptionally well. He can run and he can pass, and he showed it.”
For the rest of the game, the teams traded scores. Catches by Najih Rahman ’27, Moseley and Michael Nesbit ’27 propelled the Bears 63 yards to the two-yard line. Ty Pezza ’26 then punched it in to bring the score to 35-21.
Striking back for the Big Green was Proctor, who took a quarterback keeper 75 yards to the end zone. Over the course of the game, he continued to gash the defense, finishing the day with 180 rushing yards on 13 attempts.
Before the third quarter concluded, the Bears reached the end zone once more. Staging a 75-yard drive, Murphy led the offense down the field before delivering a 24-yard strike to Levi Linowes ’27 to bring the score to a more manageable 42-28. This was the last time the Bears scored.
Before the game ended, Dartmouth scored twice more. Two minutes into the fourth quarter, Proctor collected his second rushing touchdown of the day, taking the ball nine yards into the end zone to push the lead to 49-28. Six minutes after that, Proctor scored a third time. With 56 points, the Big Green played their second highest scoring game in series history, only behind a 62-point performance in 1903.
An annual tradition, the Bears capped their season with a senior banquet.
“One of the reasons we do the banquet is so we can celebrate the guys and the senior class,” Perry concluded. “The other reason is so that we can move on to 2025. We will be a very hungry group, I can promise you that.”
“I can’t even put into words what the senior class has meant to this team,” Murphy added about the departing class. “They are tough, strong, and really exemplify what Brown football is supposed to be.”
Lydell Dyer is a Senior Staff Writer for the sports section. A sophomore hailing from Bonn, Germany, Lydell is studying nonfiction English and political science, and if he's not off "making words sound pretty," you can find him lifting heavy circles at the Nelson.
