Dartmouth Spoils Columbia Homecoming with 27-7 Victory

Saturday, October 25

New York, N.Y.

1:30 PM

Dartmouth College

Columbia

Dartmouth Spoils Columbia Homecoming with 27-7 Victory

10/25/2014 4:56:00 PM | Football

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Senior Alex Park threw for 268 yards and a pair of touchdowns in his first start in nearly two years, and junior Kyle Bramble ran for a career-high 126 yards and the other Dartmouth score as the visiting Big Green spoiled homecoming for Columbia by defeating the Lions, 27-7, in front of 11,202 fans at Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Dartmouth maintained its spotless Ivy League record at 3-0 while winning its fourth straight to improve to 5-1 overall. The Lions suffered their 17th straight defeat in falling to 0-6 overall and 0-3 in the league.

Starting in place of junior Dalyn Williams (held out for precautionary reasons), Park completed 29-of-42 passes for those 268 yards. Both scoring strikes went to junior wide receiver Victor Williams, his first two career touchdowns. Senior Ryan McManus led all players with seven catches for 76 yards. Bramble, meanwhile, gave the Big Green an early 7-0 lead with a 33-yard sprint down the right sideline just 3:19 into the game, and also had a 22-yard jaunt during the second half to allow him to top 100 yards for the third time this season and fourth in his career.

Trevor McDonagh was the offensive star for Columbia as the quarterback completed 28-of-50 passes for 282 yards and the lone Lion score of the afternoon. But like Park, he was intercepted twice, including once near the goal line in the fourth quarter. But Columbia struggled to gain anything on the ground, amassing just 44 rushing yards on 17 carries. Running back Cameron Molina led Columbia in both receiving and rushing, catching six passes for 102 yards — including a 48-yard grab — and had 29 yards on 10 rushes.

Dartmouth 27, Columbia 7
Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014
Kraft Field at Wien Stadium • New York, N.Y.
Attendance: 11,202 • Weather: 63, sunny

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Dartmouth	10	14	3	0	27
Columbia	0	7	0	0	7

Scoring Summary
1st/11:41	D	Bramble 33 run (Gakenheimer kick)	7-0
1st/2:45	D	Gakenheimer 29 FG	10-0
2nd/10:21	D	V. Williams 11 pass from Park (Gakenheimer kick)	17-0
2nd/3:44	C	Dobitsch 9 pass from McDonagh (Zgrablich kick)	17-7
2nd/0:47	D	V. Williams 13 pass from Park (Gakenheimer kick)	24-7
3rd/2:10	D	Gakenheimer 24 FG	27-7

PASSING		C/A/I	Yards	TD
D	Park	29-42-2	268	2
C	McDonagh	28-50-2	282	1
LEADING RUSHERS		#/Yds	Avg	TD
D	Bramble	23-126	5.5	1
D	Grove	10-27	2.7	0
C	Molina	10-29	2.9	0
LEADING RECEIVERS		#-Yds	Avg	TD
D	R. McManus	7-76	10.9	0
D	V. Williams	6-68	11.3	2
C	Molina	6-102	17.0	0
C	Flannery	6-72	12.0	0

Statistical Comparison	D	C
1st Downs	28	16
Rushing Yards (Net)	164	44
Passing Yards (Net)	268	282
Total Offense	432	326
Penalties/Yards	3-15	10-68
Turnovers	3	2
3rd Down Conversion	11/18	2/13
Time of Possession	33:14	26:46

Dartmouth wasted little time in taking a 7-0 lead as Park guided the Green 75 yards on 10 plays on the opening drive of the game. He completed five passes in six attempts for 36 yards, but it was Bramble who crossed the goal line when he took a handoff and sprinted 33 yards down the right sideline for the score just 3:19 into the contest.

An interception by Lion cornerback Trevor Bell on the next Big Green possession turned into a mere hiccup as the Dartmouth defense held the Lions without a first down. Starting over at its own 33 following a shanked 10-yard punt, Dartmouth proceeded to drive down to the Columbia 13 before sophomore Alex Gakenheimer booted a 29-yard field goal for a 10-0 advantage with 2:45 left in the first quarter.

Dartmouth extended its lead to 17 during a drive that lasted nearly six minutes as Park connected on all six of his passes to account for 54 of the 61 yards. Williams caught the final toss, an 11-yard reception, for his first career touchdown.

Another Bell interception allowed the Lions to put their only points of the day on the board as he returned his second pick 32 yards to the Big Green 23. Penalties nearly derailed the scoring opportunity, but McDonagh was able to convert a 4th-and-14 play by hitting Molina for a 20-yard gain. Then on 3rd-and-goal at the nine, McDonagh zipped a pass to Andrew Dobitsch while scrambling to his left for the touchdown. Noah Zgrablich provided the PAT to bring the Lions within 10 at 17-7.

The response from Dartmouth came quickly, beginning with a 56-yard kickoff return by senior Kirby Schoenthaler. Twice Park had to convert third downs, the first coming on a six-yard keeper and the second a 13-yard touchdown toss to Williams in the end zone with 47 ticks left in the half.

Neither team mustered much offense in the third quarter, and the Big Green survived their third turnover of the game on a muffed punt. Three plays later, junior cornerback Vernon Harris intercepted a McDonagh pass, returning it 29 yards to the Lion 24. Dartmouth eventually settled for a 24-yard Gakenheimer field goal — his seventh in seven tries this season — to boost its lead to 20 points at 27-7.

Dartmouth junior linebacker Will McNamara thwarted a Lion scoring opportunity early in the fourth quarter after Molina had his 48-yard reception to the Big Green 14, picking off a pass at the four for his third interception against Columbia the last two years.

The Big Green knocked on the door, advancing to the Lion one-yard line before coming up short on fourth down. Columbia faced the same fate after pushing forward 88 yards, then failing to convert a 4th-and-4 at the Dartmouth 11. The clock ran out on the Green after they reached the Lion two.

McNamara, the Ivy's leading tackler, led the Dartmouth defense with 11 stops, one for a loss, and his interception. Junior free safety David Caldwell contributed eight tackles in his first career start, and Harris brought down four Lions and forced a fumble to go along with his pick.

Leading the Lion charge on defense was Bell with his two interceptions and team-best nine solo stops. Roy Schwartz had the lone sack of the day for either team.

Next Saturday Dartmouth hosts nationally ranked Harvard (6-0, 3-0 Ivy) in a showdown of the two remaining undefeated teams in the conference standings. The Crimson routed Princeton this afternoon, 49-7, to set up the biggest game at Memorial Field since these two were both 3-0 back in 1997. The battle will be televised regionally by NBC Sports Network and simulcast on the Ivy League Digital Network with kickoff slated for 3:30 p.m. Columbia will attempt to snap its 17-game skid against Yale (5-1, 3-1 Ivy) next Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Notes: Entering this game, Dartmouth had fewer yards and fewer first downs than its opponent in each of its last seven games, yet had gone 6-1 in that time. The Big Green had 432 yards today to just 326 for Columbia … senior Bo Patterson passed 1,000 yards in his career with his four catches for 58 yards. He finished the game at 1,046, making him the 19th player in Dartmouth history to reach the milestone … Bramble has scored at least one touchdown in each of the six Dartmouth games this year … Williams first career TD catch came on his 53rd career reception, then had another on his next reception … the Big Green have won four straight games in one season for the first time since 2003 … Dalyn Williams had started the previous 18 games behind center … Harvard has won the last 10 meetings on the gridiron between the two schools.