HANOVER, N.H. -- The Big Red defense did yeoman's work against a high-powered Dartmouth offense, but the 24th-ranked Big Green defense met the challenge and then some in a 21-3 victory over Cornell on Friday night at Memorial Field. The Big Green improved to 7-1 (4-1 Ivy), while Cornell fell to 0-8 (0-5 Ivy) in a game broadcast nationally on NBC Sports Network.

Cornell forced a pair of turnovers, held the Big Green to 3-of-5 scoring in the red zone and gave up just 419 yards of offense despite being on the field for 83 plays, but Dartmouth surrendered just 194 yards of offense, including 33 yards after halftime. After allowing a go-ahead field goal on Cornell's second drive of the contest, Dartmouth held the Big Red to 74 yards in the final three quarters of play.

Senior JJ Fives had nine tackles, including two sacks, and sophomore Nick Gesualdi posted four tackles with a forced fumble that he recovered. Sophomore Sean Scullen made seven stops, recovered a fumble and broke up a pass and freshman Mason Banbury had a tackle for loss and a forced fumble. Junior Jackson Weber had a game-high 12 tackles and sophomore Seth Hope chipped in with a career-high 10.

Senior Luke Hagy ran for 65 yards on 17 carries, including 34 yards on the game's first drive before Cornell turned the ball over on downs. He also caught three passes for 34 yards, becomign the first player in Ivy League history to surpass 2,000 rushing and 1,500 receiving yards in a career. On special teams, Chris Fraser averaged a healthy 42.6 yards on five punts. Freshman Zach Mays had the team's lone points with a 30-yard field goal in the first quarter, the first make of his career.

Dartmouth's Ivy League Player of the Year candidate Dalyn Williams completed 20-of-32 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for a score. Three different Big Green players tallied at least 50 yards on the ground, with Ryder Stone scoring once. Ryan McManus caught his first touchdown of the season in the second quarter. Defensively, Danny McManus and Colin Boit each had interceptions and all-league linebacker Will McNamara had five stops, including a tackle for loss, and broke up a pass.

Much like a week ago against Princeton, Cornell was the aggressor in the first quarter. The Big Red took the ball to open the game, marched to the Dartmouth 19, then turned it over on downs. The defense allowed one first down before forcing a punt, and Cornell drove 48 yards on 12 plays to get on the scoreboard first, with Mays connecting on a 30-yard field goal to make it 3-0 with 1:50 left in the first quarter.

From there it was Dartmouth with its foot on the gas, though the Big Red defense kept the Big Green from running away with the game.

The home team scored early in the second quarter to take the lead, as Stone Ryder scored from 2 yards out on fourth-and-goal after being stopped on third-and-goal from the 1. Cornell looked like it might take a lead after a 44-yard pass from Robert Somborn to James Hubbard put the ball on the 2, but a penalty for a chop block called the play back and sent the Big Red back 15 yards. Two plays later, Dartmouth got the ball back on a tipped ball that ended in the hands of Colin Boit at the Dartmouth 38.

A roughing the passer penalty extended Dartmouth's ensuing drive that resulted in an 8-yard pass from Williams to McManus with just 19 seconds left in the half, making it 14-3 Big Green.

That score would hold after the two defenses forced punts, but Dartmouth would push the advantage to three scores after embarking on a 12-play, 78-yard scoring drive that made it 21-3 with 3:21 left in the third.

Cornell never threatened to get back in the game and didn't pass midfield in the second half, though the defense continued to make big plays. The Big Red foiled a fake field goal, then forced a fumble and recovered it inside the red zone to keep Dartmouth off the board late.

Notes to Know
• With his 12-yard catch in the first quarter, Luke Hagy became the first Ivy League player to reach 2,000 rushing yards and 1,500 receiving yards in a career.
• He was already one of two players to reach 2,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving, joining Princeton great Keith Elias.
• With his 65 rushing yards, Hagy passed Cornell Hall of Famer Gary Wood for sixth place on the all-time list and ended the night with 2,194.
• Hagy also climbedto ninth on the career receiving yards list and now has 1,523 yards.
• Cornell took a 3-0 lead over Dartmouth and held the lead for 6:55, the longest the Big Green has trailed in any game. It took a 3-0 lead earlier this season against nationally-ranked Harvard, the first time the Crimson had trailed all year.
• With 83 yards passing, Robert Somborn moved to 11th on the school's career list with 2,674 yards.
• The Cornell-Dartmouth series joins Cornell-Penn as the second-longest uninterrupted active series in college football, as the teams have met every season since 1919, a span of 96 years. They trail only the Lafayette-Lehigh series, which has been played every year since 1897.
• The Big Red's top three tacklers in the game, Jackson Weber (12), Seth Hope (10) and JJ Fives (nine) either set or matched career highs in tackles.
• Cornell was credited with 103 tackles in the contest (47 solo, 56 assists).
• Fives posted his first career game with multiple sacks and the first multi-sack effort by a Cornell player since Miles Norris had two at Colgate in 2014.
• The teams combined for 26 penalties for 224 yards, including 15 penalties for 118 yards by Dartmouth.

Friday Night Lights, By the Numbers
• Cornell played its second Friday night game of the season after playing just three Friday night games in the program's first 127 seasons.
• The last time Cornell won a game on a Friday was nearly 123 years ago, 10 days after Grover Cleveland won election for the second of his non-consecutive terms as President of the United States and three weeks after Thomas Edison received a patent for the telegraph — a 16-0 victory over Manhattan Athletics Club on Nov. 18, 1892.
• Cornell's last Friday night road contest came against Princeton on Oct. 26, 2007 - a 34-31 loss in a game that was televised by ESPNU.

Long Weekend
• The Big Red's trip to Dartmouth for an 8 p.m. Friday game made for an unusual travel situation.
• Cornell left campus at 7 p.m. Thursday after all classes had commenced and stayed in Albany, N.Y. for the rest of the night.
• After breakfast and meetings on Friday morning, the team drove another 330 to Hanover, N.H., checked into their second hotel for the weekend and readied for the contest with pregame meal.
• After the game, which didn't end until well after 11 p.m., Cornell returned to the hotel in New Hampshire and were to get some sleep before a 9 am departure back to Ithaca.
• By the time Cornell arrives back in Ithaca, all of Saturday's Ivy League games should have gone final.

Meanwhile, 75 Years Ago In Hanover
• The 2015 meeting between the Big Red and Big Green was also the 75th anniversary of the famed Fifth-Down Game.
• Played on Nov. 16, 1940 in Hanover, N.H. (10 days shy of 75 years), top-ranked Cornell improved to 6-0 with a 7-3 victory over Dartmouth, scoring on the game's final play.
• After reviewing game film on Monday, Coach Carl Snavely and acting athletic director Robert J. Kane wired Dartmouth officials to tell them Cornell scored on an inadvertent fifth down.
• Though there were no rules compelling the outcome to be changed, in an unprecedented act of sportsmanship, the Big Red relinquished claims to the win. The Big Green accepted the forfeit, winning the contest 3-0.
• It remains the only time a collegiate sporting contest has been decided off the field after the completion of a game.

Next Up
• Cornell will return home for its final game of the season on Schoellkopf Field when it meets Columbia on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 12:30 p.m.
• The Big Red will honor its 21 seniors prior to the game.
• For the sixth time, the winner of the game will take home the Empire State Bowl. Cornell leads the Empire State Bowl series 3-2 after last year's exciting 30-27 victory in New York City.
• This will be the 103rd meeting on the gridiron between the programs, with Cornell leading 63-36-3.