In a performance in football history rivaled only by Brett Favre, Yale quarterback Dante Reno threw for four touchdown passes in his team's 41-24 victory over Merrimack on Saturday, the day after his father, Tony, died.
Tony Reno was Yale's head coach from 2012 through Feb. 17 of this year, when he was forced to step down due the illness that ultimately took his life.
"I know [Tony], and I know my dad," Dante Reno said. "He would want nothing [more] than for me to go out there and play, not miss practice. Go out there, go to school, be around the guys. We have a culture here that not everybody has in the country."
Reno missed the club's game with Cornell last week, but returned triumphantly on Saturday. He completed 22-of-39 passes for 298 yards with four touchdowns and one interception, while also rushing five times for a career-high 39 yards.
Yale trailed 21-7 in the second quarter but scored 34 of the game's final 37 points. Reno threw touchdown passes to close the scoring in the first half and open it in the second, giving the Bulldogs a 24-21 lead. He put them on top for good, breaking a 24-24 tie, with a 20-yard toss to Garon Kemp with 12:59 remaining in the game, then led drives of 45 and 83 yards to stretch Yale's lead from seven points to 17.
"Today was a day where we had to get it done," sophomore running back Djeumeni Kemeni said. "I think that really brought us closer. Give that extra 5%, go the extra mile, push for the extra yard. It all mattered today."
"I feel like this team, this program is in good hands," added head coach Kevin Cahill said. "I know what it took to build this up. I was behind the scenes with Tony to build this up to what it could be and what it has been, and that is a tremendous program. And now it's time for me to take the reins and go with it."
Dante Reno started his college career at South Carolina after emerging at Cheshire Academy, then transferred back to Yale ahead of the 2025 season. He piloted his father's final season as Yale's head coach, throwing for 2,498 yards (fourth most in school history) and 21 touchdowns, which ranked second in the Ivy League. In the process, Yale went 9-3, won the Ivy League, and became the first Ivy team to win a game in the FCS playoffs, rallying from a 42-14 third quarter deficit to beat Youngstown State, 43-42, in regulation.
Dante is the oldest of Tony and Toni Reno's three children, joined by sister Angelina and brother Vince.