Big Green Grind out 21-3 Win Over Cornell

Friday, November 6

Hanover, N.H.

8:00 PM

Dartmouth College

7-1 , 4-1

Cornell

0-8 , 0-5

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Cornell

Dartmouth

11/6/2015 11:33:00 PM | Football

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H. — The 24th-ranked Dartmouth Big Green amassed over 200 yards both through the air and on the ground and rode their stifling defense to a 21-3 victory over Cornell on Friday night at Memorial Stadium. Quarterback Dalyn Williams completed 20-of-32 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown, plus ran for another score to lead Dartmouth (7-1, 4-1 Ivy) to its seventh straight victory over the Big Red (0-8, 0-5 Ivy), which remained winless in 2015.

Cornell managed just 194 yards of offense and a mere 83 via the pass as the Big Green, second in the FCS in scoring defense, held their opponent to 10 or fewer points for the sixth time in eight games this year. Luke Hagy led the Big Red in rushing (65 yards on 17 carries) and receiving (34 yards on three catches) as he became the first Ivy League player ever with 2,000 rushing yards and 1,500 receiving yards in a career.

Dartmouth did itself no favors by committing 15 penalties that cost the team 118 yards, but Cornell had its own problems with the whistles, committing 11 penalties for 106 yards.

Senior Brian Grove and freshman Vito Penza led the way with the Big Green ground game as each ran for 60 yards to help Dartmouth post a season-high 211 rushing yards. Among the receivers, senior Ryan McManus led all players with seven catches for 79 yards, including a touchdown from eight yards out.

The game began with Cornell in control of the first quarter as the Big Red had the ball on offense for nearly 11 minutes while picking up nearly half of their yardage (96) for the night. On the opening drive, Cornell advanced as far as the Dartmouth 19 before an incompletion on 4th-and-4 ended its early scoring opportunity.

The Big Red put points on the board the next time they got the ball, however, driving 48 yards to the Big Green 12 before calling up Zach Mays to boot a 30-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 1:50 left in the first quarter. Cornell would snap the ball in Dartmouth territory just twice more for the rest of the evening.

It took Dartmouth almost seven minutes to take the lead, which was more than twice as long as it had trailed in a game for the entire season. But Williams guided the Green on a 16-play, 86-yard drive culminating in a two-yard dive into the end zone on fourth down by sophomore Ryder Stone. The point after put Dartmouth up, 7-3, with 9:55 left in the half.

With about three minutes before the intermission, Cornell looked like it would get a terrific opportunity to reclaim the lead when Big Red quarterback Robert Somborn hit James Hubbard with a 44-yard bomb to the Dartmouth two-yard line. But the play was negated by a chop block penalty, and two plays later, Big Green safety Colin Boit picked off Somborn for the first interception of his career. But his 58-yard return down to the Big Red five was brought back due to an illegal blocking penalty, forcing Dartmouth to start the possession on its own 28.

Williams was not fazed by the setback and deftly marched the Green the 72 yards in 10 plays, the big play being a 26-yard completion to junior Houston Brown. With 19 ticks on the clock, Williams connected on an eight-yard toss with McManus for the receiver's first touchdown of the season. A holding penalty on the PAT forced junior Alex Gakenheimer to convert the kick from 30 yards out, which he did with a bank shot off the left upright for a 14-3 lead at the break.

In the second half, Dartmouth ratcheted up its defense as the Big Red converted just three first downs over the final 30 minutes — one of which came on a penalty — while gaining a paltry 53 yards.

The Big Green boosted their lead to 21-3 in the third quarter after another extended drive. McManus caught a pair of first-down passes, senior Kyle Bramble ran for two more (one a 15-yard burst) and Williams finished off the 12-play drive with a four-yard keeper.

In the fourth quarter, Dartmouth lined up for a 50-yard field goal attempt on 4th-and-15 only to run a fake as holder Ben Kepley passed to Gakenheimer, who picked up only five yards before being forced out of bounds. With less than four minutes top play, the Green moved down inside the Big Red five before a fumble kept them from adding to their lead.

Junior cornerback Danny McManus provided the final Dartmouth highlight of the night when he picked off a pass — the first of his career — and returned it 14 yards to the Cornell 31. Three Penza rushes later and the final horn sounded.

Dartmouth finished the game with 419 total yards to Cornell's 194 and ran 25 more plays. Both teams turned the ball over twice with the Big Green picking off two passes and the Big Red recovering two fumbles.

Seniors David Caldwell and Will McNamara led the Dartmouth defense with five tackles apiece while nine Big Green players had a hand in at least one of six tackles for a loss. One of those stops behind the line was a five-yard sack by senior Will Konstant.

Jackson Weber paced Cornell with 12 tackles and Seth Hope added 10 more. J.J. Fives had nine of his own, two of which were the team's two sacks of Williams.

Dartmouth will play its final road game of the season next Saturday at Brown, to be streamed live on the Ivy League Digital Network, with kickoff set for 12:30 p.m.