Box Score I
Box Score (PDF)
HANOVER, N.H. -- Cornell turned the ball over five times and Dartmouth's Nick Schwieger, Dartmouth's all-time leading rusher, had a career day as the Big Green topped the Big Red 33-24 on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. The loss dropped Cornell to 3-5 (1-4 Ivy). while Dartmouth improved to 3-5 (2-3 Ivy).
Schwieger ran for a school single-game record 257 yards and a touchdown as Dartmouth amassed 540 yards of offense to lift the home team to the victory. Conner Kempe threw for 167 yards and two touchdowns as the Big Green offense turned it over just once. In all, the Big Green rushed for 379 yards as Dartmouth held the ball for 35:05.
Sophomore Jeff Mathews completed 25-of-38 passes for 267 yards and a touchdown, but was also intercepted three times. Two came on passes deflected off a receiver's hands. Cornell also lost a pair of fumbles. Freshman Lucas Shapiro caught a career high six passes for 69 yards and his first career touchdown before suffering an injury late in the contest. Ryan Houska also scored a touchdown on the ground. Cornell's other scores came on a Brad Greenway 42-yard field goal and Zack Imhoff's 10-yard interception return for a score. Imhoff also blocked an extra point in the loss. Senior Nick Booker-Tandy had his third interception of the season and second in two weeks, while Rashad Campbell had a game-high 14 tackles.
Cornell took the ball to open the contest and right away was on the move. The Big Red marched 70 yards on six plays to the Dartmouth 8, including a 20 yard pass from Mathews to Shane Savage and a 33-yard completion on the next play to Shapiro. On first and goal, Mathews' pass was off target and was picked off by Joey Casey in the end zone and returned to the 12.
Cornell's defense came out and immediately forced a Big Green punt with a three-and-out, setting up Cornell at its own 44 for its second drive. A 10-yard pass from Mathews to Shapiro and an 11-yard run by Gellatly helped march the Big Red right back to the Big Green 33, but Mathews' pass on first-and-10 bounced off a receiver, was kicked up by a defender and landed in the hands of Casey again, this time with the strong safety laying flat on his back at the 26 for Cornell's second turnover. After two drives, Cornell had amassed 93 yards on 10 plays without denting the scoreboard.
The Big Green capitalized on the change of possession, capping a seven-play, 74-yard drive with a touchdown. Kempe found a wide open Garrett Babb on a breakdown for a 47-yard touchdown. Foley Schmidt's PAT kick made it 7-0 with exactly six minutes left on the first quarter clock.
The two teams traded six-play drives that ended in punts, giving Cornell the ball back at its own 21. Mathews' first play went to Savage, who was drilled from behind and coughed up the football. Dartmouth recovered at the 19, but couldn't do anything with it offensively. An incomplete pass and two runs for no gain brought Schmidt on for a 37-yard field goal that split the uprights to make it 10-0 with one second left in the quarter.
Cornell opened the second quarter by driving again, marching 52 yards on six plays to the Dartmouth 23. Again in scoring range, Mathews was sacked and lost the football with Royce Egeolu pouncing on the football to give it back to the home team.
Each team punted away the football on its next two possessions until some late fireworks. The Big Red's defense, in one play, seemed as though it had changed momentum.
Junior Emmitt Terrell's rush into the backfield flushed out Kempe with under two minutes to play. Trying to get rid of it, Kempe's off-balanced throw was snatched out of the air at the 10 by Imhoff and returned for a score to get Cornell's sideline moving again. Greenway's extra point made it 10-7 with 1:36 left before the half.
But Dartmouth wasted little time taking that momentum back.
With most people expecting the Big Green to run out the clock and head to halftime with a field goal lead, Dartmouth took one shot down the field. Kempe threw a perfectly placed 43-yard bomb to Bo Patterson, who beat near-perfect coverage all the way down to the Cornell 23. Three plays later, Kempe hit tight end John Gallagher on a crossing pattern for a 6-yard score. Imhoff again made a play, this time breaking through the line on the extra point to block it. Savage scooped up the football but was almost immediately tackled to prevent the defensive PAT score. Dartmouth went into the break leading 16-7.
While not totally bottling up Schwieger in the first half, the senior had just 48 yards on 12 carries, in no way indicating his second half break out.
Dartmouth took the ball to open the second half and the Big Red special teams nearly made the play they needed. Silverman's hit on All-Ivy returner Shawn Abuhoff separated him from the ball, but Dartmouth was able to recover. That started a 12-play drive that took another 5:12 off the clock. Before the drive bogged down at the Cornell 13, Schmidt came out to attempt a 31-yard field goal, but missed wide right.
Cornell went back to work with a 12-play drive of its own, going 80 yards for a momentum-bulding touchdown. A 15-yard run by Gellatly and a 16-yard pass from Mathews to Tasker highlighted the drive, with Houska going the final 12 yards to get the Big Red back within 16-14 with 5:36 left on the third quarter clock.
Nick Booker-Tandy stpped in front of a Kempe pass on the ensuing drive's next play, swinging all the momentum in Cornell's favor. Cornell's offense took over and went for 29 yards, good enough to get within field goal range for Greenway. The senior continued his rock-solid season by nailing a 42-yarder to give Cornell its first lead at 17-16 with 1:25 left in the third.
From there, Schwieger took over.
Using spin move after spin move, the senior tailback started wearing down the defense. He opened the ensuing drive with a 53-yard jaunt. Only a touchdown-saving tackle by Campbell kept him from going 74 yards for the score. Unfortunately, two plays later, Dominic Pierre went those 21 extra yards himself to help Dartmouth regain the lead just 1:12 after Cornell took it. The home team entered the fourth quarter up 23-17.
After a Big Red punt, Schwieger grounded out runs of 2 and 4 yards before breaking through a seam and outrunning the defense for 65 yards to put Cornell behind the eight ball. The extra point made it 30-17 with 12:08 to go.
Cornell's quick-strike offense came right back and made it a one-score game yet again, with Mathews starting thedrive by finding Tasker for a 38-yard gain to the Dartmouth 10 after his 41-yard kickoff return and an unsportsmanlike penalty on Dartmouth gave the Big Red a short field. Mathews hit Shapiro down to the 3, setting up first and goal. After three plays, Cornell still was sitting at the 2 and facing fourth down. The visitors decided to go for it, and Mathews rifled a pass over the middle to Shapiro that the freshman gobbled up for his first career touchdown. Greenway's PAT brought the lead back to 30-24 with 9:56 remaining.
Again, Dartmouth started a long march. Schwieger carried four times on an eight-play drive that ended in a field goal by Schmidt from 41 yards out with 5:34 remaining, making it a two score game.
Looking to make it a shootout with another quick score, Cornell's offense was on the move again. The drive started with Mathews hitting Savage for 14 yards and Shapiro for six more. On second-and-4 from the Cornell 47, Mathews went over the middle again for Shapiro. The freshman was drilled up high and the ball was jarred loose up into the air and brought down by Luke Hussey for the interception at the Dartmouth 22, giving the home team the ball with under five minutes remaining.
From there, the Big Green would run the clock out. A 40-yard dash by Schwieger gave him the school's single-game rushing record and Greg Patton, the previous record holder who set the mark two years prior in Hanover against Cornell, and Pierre ran out the final two minutes to seal the 33-24 victory.
The Big Red wrap up its 2011 home schedule and will honor its seniors prior to its contest next Saturday, Nov. 12, when it meets Columbia at 12:30 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.