"It wasn't a pretty win, but our guys played well, specifically in the second half," head coach Buddy Teevens said. "Cornell was aggressive and played hard throughout the contest, and our defense really responded well early on."
Even though Dartmouth finished the game in convincing fashion, it once again played a weak first half, allowing the Big Red to stay in the game and go into halftime with a 10-7 lead despite playing equally as poorly.
Nick Schwieger '12 turned in a solid rushing performance, notching 164 yards and two touchdowns on the day. It was his fifth 100-yard game of the season and pushed his season total to a League-leading 942 yards.
Despite his gaudy statistics, Schwieger fought for every yard he gained.
"Cornell played us really tough," he said. "They had some guys in the box and brought a lot of pressure. It was a hard fought game."
Dartmouth's defense wreaked havoc in Cornell's backfield throughout the day, finishing with 10 sacks only two off the school record set in 1973. Six Big Green players contributed to the number, with tri-captain Charles Bay '11 leading the group with three sacks and Buddy Benaderet '11 and Eddie Smith '12 posting two each.
The Big Red could only manage 24 yards rushing and 188 total yards on the day.
"As a defensive line, we really just want to get to the quarterback," Benaderet said. "The backs covered really well, so we were able to just go and have fun out there."
Quarterback Conner Kempe '12 overcame a bad game against Harvard University to put together a solid showing against Cornell despite throwing a costly interception early in the game that led to a Big Red touchdown. He finished 9-for-19 for 125 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
For the first time this season, Dartmouth prevented its opponent from scoring on its opening drive, stopping Cornell and giving the offense the ball at its own 40-yard line. After an effective mix of rushing and passing, Kempe found tri-captain Tim McManus '11 in the endzone for a seven-yard touchdown pass and an early 7-0 lead.
After several series of ineffective offense by each side, Big Red senior Emani Fenton intercepted Kempe at the Dartmouth 12-yard line to put the Big Red within easy striking distance. It did not take long for Cornell to take advantage, as sophomore Luke Tasker ran the ball in for a touchdown on the very next play to tie the score at 7-7.
The Big Red took the lead slightly before halftime when senior Brad Greenway punched through an impressive 49-yard field goal the sixth-longest in Cornell's history and the longest since 1995.
"Offensively, we went into halftime pretty disappointed with our performance," Schwieger said. "Our big emphasis at halftime was to get everyone on the same page and really just get focused."
The Big Green started out strong in the second half following a 50-yard kickoff return by Shawn Abuhoff '12 to the Big Red 32-yard line. From there, it only took three runs by Schwieger to get the ball to the endzone, giving Dartmouth a 14-10 lead.
"[The return] was huge," Teevens said. "We talked about making plays going out there, and it really helped us get some momentum."
Nobody scored again until the end of the fourth quarter, when Dominick Pierre '14 took the ball in for a score from 11 yards out, pushing the Big Green's lead to 21-10 with less than nine minutes to go.
Serving in reserve duty for Schwieger, Pierre finished the game with 44 yards on nine attempts for an average of 4.9 yards per carry and one touchdown.
"He's not playing like a freshman," Teevens said. "He's physical, and he's picking up his pass protection."
The final score of the day came on an impressive 22-yard run by Schwieger to make the score 28-10 and put Cornell out of reach for good.
The win puts Dartmouth in fifth place in the Ivy League standings with a 2-3 conference record. While the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University and Yale University are the only schools left with a shot at the title, the Big Green can defeat Brown University on Saturday to tie for fourth and Princeton University next week to have a chance at moving higher up the standings.
This week, Dartmouth will host Brown in its final home game of the season on Senior Day at noon. The game will be nationally televised on the VERSUS television network.
