Nov 3, 2001

HANOVER, N.H. - Senior Evan Simmons ran for three touchdowns to lead the Cornell football team to a 28-24 victory over Dartmouth this afternoon, here at Memorial Field. Simons finished the day with 18 carries for 83 yards. He scored his touchdowns on runs of 9, 3 and 11 yards.

Cornell is now 2-5 overall and 2-3 in the Ivy League, while Dartmouth falls to 1-6, on the year and 1-4 in league action.

Dartmouth got on the board first with a 3-yard run by Michael Gratch in the first quarter. The Big Green covered 72 yards with nine plays in 1:53 and fought through two illegal blocking penalties for the score. Starting on its own 24 yard line, Dartmouth had two runs by Gratch to start off the series and then converted free safety, now quarterback, Joseph Kinder, connected twice with Jay Barnard for 18 total yards. Another 4-yard run by Gratch put the Green on the Cornell 32 and a big 20-yard pass from Kinder to Bob Murphy put the ball within striking distance. Gratch ran for 4 yards and then, following an incomplete pass intended for Damien Roomets, punched in from 3 yards out for the score with 7:54 on the clock. Tyler Lavin connected on the extra point to make it a 7-0 game.

Vince Bates took the ball on the goal line and returned it to the 25 on the kickoff, but the Big Red got the ball no further than its own 33 before Michael Baumgartel came in to punt. Grant Wagner came charging up the middle and blocked the punt attempt and then covered it on the Big Red's 19, setting up another Big Green drive. This time, Dartmouth got the ball to the 20 and attempted a field goal, but Lavin's kick from 37 yards out went wide left, and the first quarter ended with Dartmouth leading 7-0.

The Big Red picked it up in the second quarter and got on the board with 6:15 left in the first half. Evan Simmons capped off a 10-play, 62-yard drive with a TD run from 9-yards out. Simmons had three runs for 18 yards in the drive, while quarterback Ricky Rahne passed three times for 23 yards and also ran for 14 yards. Peter Iverson split the uprights to tie the game at 7-all.

The next two possessions resulted in scores, with Dartmouth scoring on a 7-yard pass at 2:46 and then Cornell scoring on a 2-yard pass with 26 seconds left on the first-half clock. Jay Barnard collected the 7-yarder from Kinder for the Big Green, while Nathan Archer pulled in the 2-yarder from Rahne. Cornell's Jamie Moriarty closed out the half with an interception, which he returned 18 yards, as time ran out, and both teams went into the locker room with 14 points each.

Dartmouth came out in the second half and had a field goal and a touchdown to take a 10-point lead. Gratch was the ground leader in the 56-yard drive, gaining 29 yards on seven carries. Lavin then set up and kicked a 26-yard field goal to give Dartmouth a 17-14 lead. Cornell went three plays after the kickoff before having to punt and Dartmouth took over on its own 44 and, in four plays, traveled 56 yards for its third TD of the day. Gratch scored with 7:03 left in the quarter on a 34-yard rush to give the Big Green its 10-point, 24-14 lead.

The Big Red wasn't done though and fought back to score another seven points. The two teams traded the ball twice and then junior free safety Jamie Moriarty set up the Big Red's scoring drive when Kinder threw the ball right to him for an interception on Dartmouth's first play of its drive with 2:52 left in the third. Moriarty picked the ball off at the Dartmouth 48-yard line and the Big Red used seven plays to cover 48 yards to come within three points. Rahne connected with Justin Dunleavy for six yards and then hit Tim Hermann twice for 12 yards, while Simmons added 10 more yards on the ground to put the Red on the Dartmouth 3. Simmons then punched in from three yards out for the score, making it a 24-21 contest.

On its first drive of the fourth quarter, Cornell moved ahead of the Green for the first time in the contest. With 9:46 left in the game, Simmons capped a 10-play drive that covered 49 yards for the go-ahead score. The Big Red offense moved the ball to the Dartmouth 11 and Simmons fought his way through from there for the score. Iverson connected on the extra point, and Cornell led 28-24.

The Big Red defense forced the Big Green to punt on its next possession and then took over the ball on downs with 3:56 left. Cornell then ran 2:37 off the clock with six plays, giving the Big Green just seven seconds to try and march down the field from its own 20, but the home team could muster just eight yards in the limited time.

Rahne finished the day 23x36 for 212 yards and a touchdown. Hermann had a game-high six receptions for 45 yards, while Keith Ferguson had four catches for a game-high 62 yards.

Kinder finished the day 11x23 for 100 yards and also had three interceptions. Gratch was the leading rusher for Dartmouth with 141 yards on 24 carries.

Defensively, Nate Spitler had a game-high 10 tackles with three solo efforts and seven assists. Deron Smith was second in tackles with nine (five solo, four assists) and also had an interception (11-yard return), a tackle for loss and a broken up pass. Moriarty had five tackles (three solo, two assists) along with his two interceptions.

Matt Mercer had five solo and five assists to lead the Big Green. He also had two sacks for three yards. Phil Frost and Andy Rankin followed with nine total tackles each.

Cornell returns to action next Saturday, Nov. 10, when if battles Columbia in a 1 p.m. game at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca.