The Dartmouth football team (4-2, 1-2 Ivy) won its first Ivy League game of the season on Saturday, defeating Columbia University (3-3, 1-2 Ivy) in its Homecoming game, 24-21, despite fumbling three times in the fourth quarter. It is the first time the Big Green has won a conference game on the road in its last 14 tries.
"There were a lot of [Columbia fans]," running back Nick Schwieger '12 said. "It was a hostile environment. People were saying a lot of stuff to us. We needed to feed off that energy, and I think we did a good job with that."
The Lions led 21-17 midway through the fourth quarter, but Dartmouth sealed the victory with a game-winning 14-play touchdown drive in which the Big Green converted two third downs and one fourth down to stay alive and eventually force the ball into the endzone on a one-yard dive by Schwieger, giving Dartmouth the lead for good.
Schwieger finished the game with a career-high 32 carries for 124 yards and two touchdowns.
Dartmouth was in control going into the fourth quarter, holding a 17-7 lead and driving down the field, but Columbia senior Josh Smith hit quarterback Conner Kempe '12 as he was attempting to pitch the ball to Dominick Pierre '14, forcing a fumble and giving the Lions possession. Columbia scored a touchdown shortly after.
Dartmouth's case of the fumbles struck again on the ensuing kickoff, when T.J. Cameron '11 took a hard hit on the return and coughed the ball up. A few plays later, tri-captain defensive end Charles Bay '11 forced a Columbia fumble to return possession to the Dartmouth offense. Schwieger, however, gave it back to Columbia on the very next play a mistake the Lions converted into another touchdown to gain the lead, 21-17.
Kempe said that despite the mistakes, the team never lost its confidence.
"[The fumbles] were huge for them," he said. "We had to work hard, but on that last drive we knew we could score."
Even with the late turnovers, the Big Green offense was formidable on the day, stringing together several long drives and amassing 402 total yards of offense.
Kempe also had a good game individually, connecting on 24 of 37 passes for 235 yards and a touchdown without throwing an interception.
Dartmouth's offensive line once again proved impressive, refusing to allow a sack for the fifth time this season. In fact, Kempe has not been sacked since the first half of the season opener against Bucknell University. The Big Green's total of one sack allowed this season leads all FCS teams.
Once again, however, the offense took a while to get in gear, scoring only three points in the first half. Fortunately, the defense stepped up and only allowed Columbia to score one touchdown, keeping the game within reach at halftime.
Dartmouth has trailed at the end of the first half in all six games this season, but has ultimately lost only two.
Schwieger couldn't say why the Big Green seems to be a purely second-half team.
"I really wish we weren't," he said. "Our coaches make some really good adjustments at halftime which really help out. This game, we just kind of stalled out with penalties. We were driving really well."
The first points of the game came on the opening drive when Lion sophomore Nick Gerst ran the ball in from three yards out for a touchdown.
It was the sixth time this season that Dartmouth has allowed its opponent to score on its first drive of the game.
The Big Green responded with its own sustained drive, but the offense stalled at the Columbia ten-yard line, and Foley Schmidt '12 booted a 27-yard field goal to get Dartmouth on the board.
The rest of the half was an exercise in offensive futility, but the Big Green came out strong in third quarter, when Schwieger ran the ball one yard into the endzone on fourth down to cap an eight-play, 51-yard drive that gave Dartmouth its first lead of the game, 10-7.
After the defense held the Lions to a three-and-out, the Big Green once again marched down the field and scored a touchdown, this time on an eight yard pass from Kempe to Mike Aprahamian '13, making the score 17-7 and giving Dartmouth enough of a buffer to overcome its rough fourth quarter and come away with the win.
"Ruining a homecoming is always pretty fun," Kempe said. "We're definitely pumped up to get to work this week and play well against Harvard [on Saturday]."
The Big Green looks to even its record in the Ivy League to 2-2 when it takes on Harvard University at Memorial Field this Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on Homecoming weekend.
