The Big Red of Cornell and Mr. Gary Wood gave the Indians a scare before bowing 12-7. Unlike the Columbia game, the Dartmouth offense found it rough going inside the opponents' 20-yard line. But just as they had done against Holy Cross, the Indians rallied in the fourth quarter to pull out the game.
Midway in the second period a drive stalled inside the Cornell 15 and the Green went for a field goal with Gary Wilson booting a perfect 29-yarder his first three-pointer of the season.
On the next series of downs, Cornell drove to the Dartmouth 38 where quar-terback Wood tossed a pass to his end Bill Ponzer, all by himself in the Dartmouth secondary, and he scampered across for the score. With the extra point good, the score was 7-3.
Even though the Dartmouth offense sputtered, the Green defense was superb. Time and again the Indians held on downs. One Cornell thrust was stopped on the Dartmouth 15 as Cornell, with less than a yard to go for a first down, was thrown back twice.
Finally in the fourth quarter the Indians put together a scoring drive. Starting from his own 38, Kelly, mixing his plays well, passed to McLean on the Cornell 30 and the shifty little halfback (5-11, 168) worked his way to the Big Red 11. It was McLean again who picked up the first down on the Cornell 1, and Spangenberg went over the center of the line for the score.
Cornell, which three times this year has pulled games out of the fire with less than a minute to go, tried again. They were missing Wood, however, who had been sidelined with a hip injury. As their final drive stalled inside the Dartmouth forty, they attempted a fake field goal, but the Green diagnosed and stopped the play and it was stopped short of the first down.
In the final minute Dartmouth punting specialist Ted Friel booted a 46-yarder which rolled dead on the Cornell 1 where it was downed by McLean. On the next play — the last of the game - end Al Pierce nailed Cornell quarterback Sponaugle for a safety to make the final score 12-7.