Takeaways from Merrimack's 16-14 loss to Dartmouth

NORTH ANDOVER — Mike Gennetti was clear in his message postgame: there are no moral victories.

And, let's be honest. Merrimack has a reason to be frustrated after allowing leads to turn into losses twice in the last two weeks. Against Maine last week, the Warriors led at halftime before the Black Bears shut them out in the second half. This week, Dartmouth didn't take its first lead until three seconds left on the clock, handing the Warriors a 16-14 loss.

But perspective is also important. Dartmouth is now 2-0 and is coming off a season in which it shared the Ivy League championship. Maine is 3-2, with one of those losses against No. 3 Montana State.

The Warriors were in position to win both of those games despite injuries to its top two quarterbacks, best receiver, starting fullback, and more.

Due mainly to injuries, Merrimack's offense is one-dimensional at the moment. There were some strides toward changing that today, but much of the Warriors' ability to move the ball rests on the shoulders of Jermaine Corbett.

Luckily, he’s been tremendous.

Here are five takeaways as the Warriors dropped to 1-4 with a loss to Dartmouth on Saturday.

Defending Gennetti's decision to go for it on fourth down

From an in-game decision standpoint, this was probably Gennetti's biggest decision since he was elevated to head coach.

Let's break down the situation.

13+ minutes left on the clock. Merrimack leads 14-10 with the ball on the Dartmouth 32-yard line, and it's fourth-and-6.

Here are the options:

1) Punt?

No. The Warriors could pin Dartmouth deep in their own territory, but if there's one miscue and the ball goes into the end zone, it's a net 12 yards. For me, anyway, punting was off the table immediately. You either go for it in that situation or try the field goal. There was no logic in punting.

2) Try the field goal?

I relied on the score here. It's 14-0, and it's not a chipshot by any means — it's a 49-yard kick.

If Merrimack makes the kick, it's 17-10 — still a one-possession game.

If the Warriors were going to make it a two-possession game with a field goal, then the kick would have been the better choice. But this wasn't even going to force a two-point conversion on a touchdown. Kicking would still keep it a one-possession game where an extra point would have tied the score.

Moreover, the Warriors missed a 47-yard kick earlier in the game. That didn’t play a huge role for me — Lliam Davis has 2 for 2 on kicks from 40+ yards this year before missing the 47-yard attempt — I was looking at it purely from the standpoint of the score, and the benefit of the three points versus trying to get seven.

3) Go for it.

Everyone — myself included — thought the Warriors would try to get the ball into Corbett's hands on the fourth-down play. Dartmouth also felt that, and the Warriors had a good play called out of a timeout, taking a shot at the end zone instead of trying to move the chains.

The Warriors should have had a touchdown on the play. Austin Palmer had a step on his defender, and there was definite pass interference that went uncalled. Jordan Washington grabbed Palmer's wrist before the ball arrived, and Palmer was still being held onto as he tried to get his right arm up to make the catch. The referees missed that one.

It wasn't a banner day for the officials in general. In the first half, they missed an offensive pass interference call on the Big Green. Instead of calling offensive pass interference on Painter Richards-Baker (the right call), they called defensive pass interference on Jabari Nichols (the wrong call).

Not all of the penalties were on the officials, though. The Warriors also shot themselves in the foot with flags in the second quarter. Merrimack was called for running into the kicker and unsportsmanlike conduct on back-to-back plays, which wiped out a Dartmouth punt and resulted in the Big Green putting up three points on a field goal. Those points were ultimately the difference in the game.

Merrimack's front seven shows up against Dartmouth's run game

The Big Green gashed Fordham last week for 233 rushing yards on 39 carries (6.0 yards per carry) and three touchdowns.

Merrimack's defensive line and linebackers held the Big Green to 119 yards on 33 carries (3.3 yards per carry) and kept them out of the end zone on the ground.

Much of the credit goes to DJ Frazier (6 tackles), Brandon Roberts (4 tackles), Rajahn Cooper (4 tackles), Nicholas Lenon (3 tackles, 1 TFL), Jason Compoh (3 tackles, 1 TFL), Kendal Sims (3 tackles), and Jay Thompson (3 tackles).

Jermaine Corbett proves he's one of the best in FCS

Corbett rushed for 137 yards on 21 carries and two touchdowns. He also had Merrimack's longest reception of the day (33 yards).

He entered Saturday ranked No. 11 in FCS in yards and yards per carry. He's now rushed for 100 yards in three out of five games.

Corbett deserves a shot to play pro ball somewhere. I don't know where or what level, and his size at 5-foot-8 might make some NFL teams wary, but he deserves to play beyond college next season. How many times in these first five weeks has it looked like a play is dead in the backfield, only for Corbett to make one cut, hit a hole, and gain seven yards?

That happens a dozen times per game.

Corbett did his damage today without Ty Yocum, who suffered an injury against Bucknell. Yocum is a key player in Merrimack's blocking scheme.

Pereira coming around

Merrimack put Ayden Pereira in a position to be successful in this game.

Especially with Donovan Wadley out of the lineup, the Warriors aren't built to take big shots downfield. That's just not where they are as an offense right now.

Pereira wasn't asked to do too much. Most of his passes were on short routes, and he got the ball out quickly, often throwing to his first read. The few shots he took downfield, like the pass to Palmer in the end zone, were in good spots. He didn't make any risky decisions.

Pereira looked his best on the first drive of the fourth quarter (the one that resulted in the fourth-and-6 pass to the end zone). Leading up to that play, Merrimack went with an empty backfield on first down, and Pereira hit Seth Sweitzer for a 7-yard pass over the middle. That completion was called back on a holding penalty. Pereira then completed two short passes in a row to set up the fourth-and-6.

Deon Houston brings the thunder

Deon Houston was one of the stars on defense for Merrimack in this game.

On the second offensive play for Dartmouth, Houston blew up Nick Lemon with a thunderous hit in the backfield for a 4-yard loss. Grayson O'Bara caught a bubble screen early in the second quarter, and Houston leveled him with a 3-yard loss.

That's right. The first two times Dartmouth threw to Houston's side of the field, the Big Green lost seven yards.

The Warriors held Dartmouth to 16 points, but there were still some plays they probably wanted back. The big one came in the first quarter when Dartmouth quarterback Jackson Proctor looked like he was going to tuck the ball and run it, but instead, he pulled back and found Richards-Baker over the top of the defense for a 75-yard score.

Why was that such a big play? Well, it was a touchdown. But it was also similar to a play Maine ran against the Warriors last week and had success.