ITHACA, N.Y. -- Dartmouth piled up 583 yards of offense and quieted a spirited Big Red start in a 42-7 win over Cornell on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Green improved to 6-2 (4-1 Ivy), while Cornell slipped to 0-8 (0-5 Ivy) with the loss.
Junior
Luke Hagy had his second career 100-yard rushing game with 18 carries for 110 yards and an electric 48-yard touchdown that put the Big Red up early. He also caught four passes for 28 yards and completed a pass for 19 yards. Sophomore
Collin Shaw hauled in seven passes for 70 yards, while classmate
Robert Somborn completed 20-of-33 passes for 182 yards. Junior
Jonathan Ford made a game-high seven tackles and blocked a kick, while classmate
Del Barnes made four stops and broke up two passes. Both
Michael Turner and
Jeremiah Shaw recorded interceptions. On special teams,
Chris Fraser was again a highlight, averaging 43.5 yards on six punts with three pinned inside the Dartmouth 20.
Dalyn Williams, a candidate for the Bushnell Cup as Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, continued to build on his season by completing 24-of-34 passes for 381 yards and four touchdowns, while also running for 62 yards on six carries with a score. In all, Dartmouth registered 388 yards passing and ran for 195 more. His favorite target in the passing game was Victor Williams, who caught seven passes for 101 yards and a touchdown for his first 100-yard game. Kyle Bramble scored two touchdowns, one on the ground and one in the air, and Ryan McManus and Abraham McQuarters also caught scoring passes. The defense sacked Cornell quarterbacks six times and turned the Big Red over twice.
The Big Red got off to a flying start, winning the coin toss and electing to receive. Six plays into the game, Cornell was on the scoreboard.
Five consecutive positive plays, including consecutive first downs, set Hagy up for his second rushing touchdown of the season. The junior took the handoff, sidestepped a defender and outraced the defense 48 yards for a career-long run.
Joe Pierik's PAT kick made it 7-0 just 2:38 into the game.
Four plays later, Cornell was back in business. Dartmouth picked up a third-and-1 for a new set of downs, but Dalyn Williams had the ball slip out of his hands on the ensuing first down and the errant pass was picked off by
Michael Turner, who was in the perfect position to dive and grab the ball. Consecutive first downs for the Big Red, including an 18-yard run by freshman
Jordan Young, pushed the ball to the Dartmouth 15, but a run for no gain, a sack and an incompletion forced a 39-yard field goal that fell short.
Dartmouth capitalized on the stop to tie the game with a nine-play, 78-yard drive that culminated in Dalyn Williams finding running back Kyle Bramble for a 24-yard score to make it 7-7 with 3:55 left in the first quarter.
It was the first of three consecutive possessions in which the Big Green would score, as Dalyn Williams rushed for a 9-yard touchdown and threw a 32-yard scoring pass on a screen to Victor Williams to make it 21-7. Dartmouth looked to make it a three touchdown lead right before the half, but was stopped on fourth-and-inches when Big Red freshman
Nick Gesualdi strung out the Dartmouth ball carrier for a 2-yard loss to end the drive.
Dartmouth revved back up in the third, embarking on three scoring drives, while a fourth ended in a field goal attempt that
Jonathan Ford was able to get his hands on, forcing the first miss of the year by Big Green kicker Alex Gakenheimer. Williams completed touchdown passes of 30 yards to McManus and 60 yards to McQuarters, sandwiched around a 39-yard touchdown run by Bramble.
The Big Red will hit the road for the final time in 2014 hwne it visits Columbia on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 12:30 p.m. in a game that will be played for the Empire Bowl. The contest, live from Wien Stadium, will be televised by Fox College Sports.