With just one game left in a desolate season, Dartmouth (0-9, 0-6 Ivy) is still winless. The Big Green faces Princeton in New Jersey next weekend in the final game of the season, its last chance to avoid Dartmouth's first winless season since 1883, when the team went 0-1.
With the win, Brown (6-3, 5-1 Ivy) is now tied atop the conference standings with Harvard (8-1, 5-1 Ivy). In the final weekend of play, the Bears will face off against seventh-place Columbia (2-7, 2-4 Ivy), while the Crimson will play its traditional season-ending battle against rival Yale (6-3, 4-2 Ivy).
Brown and Harvard are in the driver's seat in the race for the Ivy League title. Either team can secure a share of the league with a victory.
Brown quarterback Michael Dougherty led the Bears' offense, passing for 238 yards and two touchdowns, completing 16 of 22 attempts and adding 73 yards on the ground, including a 69-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Brown, a team known for its passing attack, broke down the Dartmouth rush defense, running for 272 yards during the game and averaging seven yards per attempt. Five Brown players ran for over 30 yards.
On the Dartmouth side, freshman quarterback Conner Kempe '12, starting in the second game of his career, threw for 275 yards and a touchdown on 27-for-42 passing. But he also threw two interceptions, bringing his two-game total for interceptions up to five.
Tim McManus '11 once again led the team on the receiving end, catching 10 passes from Kempe for 118 yards. McManus is fifth in the Ivy League in catches with 55, and seventh in receiving yards with 596.
Brown began the scoring early, constructing an eight-play, 75-yard drive that culminated in a 21-yard touchdown pass from Dougherty to Bobby Sewall. Dartmouth's response was brief and unsuccessful, as Kempe threw an interception on the Big Green's first play of the game.
Brown was able to score two more times in the first quarter, including a touchdown run by Sewall and a 35-yard field goal by Robert Ranney, to make the score 17-0, before Dartmouth responded in a big way.
Standout cornerback Shawn Abuhoff '12 returned a kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown, the Big Green's first kick return for a touchdown since 2001, to put the home team within 10 points. Abuhoff gained a Dartmouth-record 190 kickoff return yards on the day.
The excitement was short-lived, however, as Dougherty notched his second touchdown pass, a 25-yard completion to Trevan Samp, early in the second quarter to give Brown a 24-7 lead that it would not relinquish.
Just over a minute later, Brown scored again, as Kempe was intercepted for the second time. This time the interception was run back for a touchdown, making the score an insurmountable 31-7.
Undeterred, the Big Green continued to attack the solid Brown defense. Kicker Foley Schmidt '12 continued his outstanding play, connecting on a field goal to put Dartmouth in double digits. Schmidt is 8-for-12 on field goal attempts this year, including two that were blocked against Cornell, and 11-for-12 on point-after tries.
Despite the Big Green's best efforts, though, the Brown football machine could not be stopped, as it racked up another two touchdowns in the second half, including Dougherty's 69-yard run, to put the Bears up 45-10.
Dartmouth was able to score one more touchdown in the final play of the game, as Kempe connected with Philip Galligan '09 for a largely inconsequential six-yard touchdown as the clock ran out to set the final score at 45-16. The PAT was not attempted as it would have no effect on the outcome of the game.
Once again, the Big Green was hounded by a total lack of a running game -- the team was only able to gain seven yards on 17 attempts. The performance is not the first time this season that the team has failed to make double-digit gains on the ground.
On the defensive end, co-captain Andrew Dete '09 led the team with nine tackles, while team tackle leader Ian Wilson '08 had seven stops.
Dartmouth will face off against sixth-place Princeton (3-6, 2-4 Ivy) on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Princeton, N.J., where it will attempt to avoid adding to its already record-breaking losing streak.
