HANOVER, N.H. ? A touchdown and a safety in the game's final two minutes broke a tie to give Dartmouth a 37-28 victory over Columbia on the Big Green's Homecoming at Memorial Field.

With the score tied, 28-28, Dartmouth benefited from a Columbia fumble at the Lions' 30-yard line with just over three minutes left in the game. Free safety John Pircon scooped the loose ball and returned it to the 16-yard line. On a 3^rd and 8 at the 14, the Big Green's Nate Servis, who gave the Lions fits all day up the middle to total 130 yards, rushed 12 yards for a first down at the two. On the next play, fullback Hudson Smythe rushed for his third touchdown of the day.

The Lions had a final shot, down seven with 1:49 to play. Craig Hormann completed an 18-yard pass to Taylor Joseph at the 33 on the drive's first play. An incompletion and a sack led to a 3^rd and 18. On the next play, Mike Partain's snap sailed past Hormann in shotgun formation. A chase into Columbia's end zone followed, with the result being a safety for the final two points of the contest.

Late in the fourth quarter, Columbia had seized momentum after a six-minute, 56-yard Dartmouth drive ended with a field goal attempt rocketing off the right upright and back into the endzone. First-year defensive back Calvin Otis had made a clutch pass breakup in the endzone to prevent a Dartmouth touchdown and force the three-point attempt.

The Lions took over at the 20, looking for their first lead since the opening minutes of the game. On the first play, Hormann hit senior tight end Jamal Russell for a 10-yard pickup, but Russell was ruled to have fumbled the ball, setting up Dartmouth's game-winning score.

In what was a back-and-forth game all afternoon, the Lions had been first to score. Brandon Buckley's first career interception on Dartmouth's opening drive resulted in a brief outing for starting quarterback Tom Bennewitz, who played the opening three snaps. Buckley returned his pick 18 yards to the Dartmouth 32 and the Lions made use of the good field position. On third down, Hormann lofted a pass to Nico Gutierrez up the left sideline to about the five-yard line. The ball dropped incomplete, but the Big Green was penalized for pass interference, moving the ball to the Dartmouth 11. After a loss of five, Hormann found Knowlin cutting across the right side of the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead at 11:16.

Dartmouth responded with a quick drive in which the home squad picked up at least eight yards per play for the first six plays of the possession to cover 72 yards, taking the Big Green to the Columbia five, first and goal. The Lions dug in, forcing a fourth down from about a foot from the goal line before Smythe finally punched it in to tie the score, 7-7.

The score remained 7-7 into the second quarter. On the last play of the first, Craig Hormann cleared the 5,000-yard mark for his career on a short completion to Ray Rangel to set up a 3^rd and 1. However, Hormann fumbled the snap on the ensuing play, and the Big Green took advantage.

On a 4^th and 4 at the 25, Dartmouth completed a quick slant for the first down. Two plays later, fullback Julian Collins grabbed a lateral pass from Alex Jenny near the Dartmouth sideline, and the Lions' secondary bit on the gadget play. Collins tossed the ball to wide receiver Philip Galligan in the front corner of the endzone to give the Big Green a 14-7 lead at 12:57 of the second.

Columbia briefly knotted the score with a 95-yard drive. On 2^nd and 5 at the Columbia 10, Hormann connected on a 10-yard pass with Tim Paulin, who ducked the cornerback and picked up 23 more yards to the 33. Rangel added four carries for 30 yards on the drive. On 4^th and 11 at the Dartmouth 32, Hormann launched the ball to first-year Nico Gutierrez, who had run a pattern up the right sideline and cut across to the hash. He hauled in the ball at the goal line for a 32-yard TD with 3:16 left in the half.

Before the break, Dartmouth grabbed the lead right back. With just 26 seconds showing on the clock, the Big Green capped a 76-yard drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jenny to Brian Evans. The touchdown was set up by 56-yard run to the Columbia 33 by Servis, one play after he fumbled and made his own recovery for a loss of 13 to his own 11-yard line.

The Lions were workmanlike on their first drive of the second half, as the team covered 72 yards in eight plays. Hormann made completions to four different receivers, including a 19-yard hookup to Pete Stoll. On 3^rd and 9 at the Dartmouth 40, Taylor Joseph added another to a series of diving receptions for a 40-yard touchdown catch to make the score 21-21.

Again Dartmouth responded with a touchdown, and again Smythe was the player sealing the score, this time on a three-yarder. Jenny had completed a 50-yard pas to Brett Lowe to move the host school into the red zone.

The final tie and the Lions' final points came on a 96-yard drive in the fourth quarter. The touchdown came on a reverse; Hormann handed off to Ray Rangel, who started left and pitched to Knowlin heading the other way. Knowlin found plenty of daylight up the right hash, and dashed 27 yards for the game-tying TD. Gutierrez, who finished the day with 132 yards, had two catches for 42 yards on the drive, and Russell had a 21-yard grab.

“Nico did a good job,” said Norries Wilson, the Patricia and Shepard Alexander Head Coach of Football. “He made a play. We need more guys to step up and make plays.”

Hormann finished the day with three touchdowns and an interception on 19 of 28 for 343 yards. He now has 5,323 for his career.

“I thought Craig did a good job picking up blitzes and didn't back down from anyone,” Wilson said.

Rangel rushed 15 times for 50 yards. Joseph had three catches for 72 yards.

On defense, Alex Gross led the team in tackles with nine, marking the fourth straight week a first-year player led the Lions in that category. Drew Quinn and Grant Jefferson had eight each, and Matt Bashaw and Phil Mitchell recorded sacks.

“I don't think we did too much wrong on defense,” said Quinn, a junior co-captain. “We did miss a few tackles. They pushed the ball to the outside on us, just like we expected.”

The Lions (1-5, 0-3 Ivy League) return to action at home vs. undefeated Yale on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 12:30 p.m.