New Hampshire Football Report

Dartmouth’s Estrada is extra-special

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth wide receiver and punt returner Drew Estrada earned his second Ivy League Player of the Week award this season, taking home the special teams honor for his performance in the Big Green’s 59-24 victory over Columbia on Friday night.

This is the fifth consecutive week a Dartmouth player has been named one of the Ivy League’s players of the week, including Estrada two weeks ago when he took home the award on offense.

A senior from Argyle, Texas, Estrada broke a school record that had stood for 52 years when he returned four punts for a total of 142 yards. The first of those returns went for 87 yards — three shy of the longest in program history — for a touchdown to give the Green at 7-3 lead in the first quarter. He added returns of 5, 40 and 10 yards to his ledger, which set up a total of 17 more Dartmouth points.

Estrada did his fair share on offense as well, rushing three times for 16 yards and a touchdown, catching two passes for 14 yards and even throwing a 34-yard completion on his first career passing attempt.

Listed on the league’s honor roll this week were cornerback Isiah Swann and wide receiver Hunter Hagdorn. Swann posted nine solo tackles and returned an interception 17 yards for a touchdown as the senior broke the Dartmouth career record for interceptions with 14. Hagdorn, meanwhile, had a season-high 89 receiving yards and a touchdown among his four catches, which boosted the senior to fourth all-time at Dartmouth with 139 receptions.

Other weekly winners for the Big Green this year have been sophomore place kicker Connor Davis (special teams, Sept. 30), and senior linebacker Jack Traynor (defense, Oct. 7 and 21).

No. 14/15 Dartmouth (6-0, 3-0 Ivy) has a big test this weekend when it travels to Harvard (4-2, 2-1 Ivy) for a game on Saturday at 1 p.m. Last year the Big Green snapped a personal 14-game skid against the Crimson and now is looking to win its first game in Cambridge since 2003.

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NOTES: Dartmouth has won 18 of its last 19 games and is on an eight-game winning streak, tied for the third longest in the FCS with James Madison and trailing only No. 1 North Dakota State (29 in a row) and fellow Ivy League member Princeton (16). … The Big Green and undefeated Princeton will square off at Yankee Stadium on Nov. 9 at 3:30 p.m. in a game that will be televised nationally on ESPNU.

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