With 1:03 left in Saturday’s game against Dartmouth at Franklin Field, and the football team trailing 20-17, Penn’s field goal unit took the field on 4th-and-6 from the Dartmouth 34-yard line for the potentially game-tying kick. First-year Zach Darche handled the snap, second-year Liam O’Brien was in charge of the hold, and kicking duties fell to third-year Albert Jang.
The snap was pristine, the hold was steady, and the kick sailed 51 yards through the uprights, tying the game at 20-20. Jang’s kick, the first of his career, was the third-longest field goal in school history and only the 30th field goal of 51-plus yards in conference history. The Big Green eventually won the game 23-20, but Jang, for his feat, has been named Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week.
Primarily a punter (he also averaged 43.3 yards on three punts), Jang, from Duluth, Georgia, was called into action for the game-tying kick because his leg is slightly stronger than fourth-year placekicker Graham Gotlieb’s.
“I was just excited to be able to have that opportunity,” Jang said at a postgame press conference, about his game-tying kick. “After I kicked it, I just wanted to finish the job. But I’m just grateful to have the opportunity.”
Ray Priore, the George A. Munger Head Coach, credited Jang for stepping up when his number was called and his teammates needed him.
“He’s been our long-range kicker all through camp,” he said. “I’m confident with him over a certain distance.”
Penn is 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the Ivy League headed into Saturday’s contest against Georgetown at 1 p.m. at Franklin Field, the Quakers’ final non-conference game of the season.
