Ithaca College Football

   ITHACA BOMBERS (6-3, 3-2 Empire 8)   CORTLAND RED DRAGONS (7-2, 6-2 NJAC)

noon; Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009

Butterfield Stadium (c. 5,000); Ithaca, N.Y.

 

THE GAME: The Bombers close out their regular season, hosting long-time rival Cortland in the annual Cortaca Jug game this Saturday, Nov. 14. Kickoff is set for noon at Ithaca's Butterfield Stadium.

 

TICKET INFORMATION: All tickets for Saturday's game have been sold and no additional tickets will be sold at the gate on the day of the game.

 

THE COACHES: In his 16th season as Ithaca's head coach, Mike Welch (Ithaca '73) has posted a 127-46 (.734) record, including a regular-season mark of 117-39 (.750). He entered the season 19th all-time among Division III coaches in winning percentage. A running back who earned two letters while playing for coach Jim Butterfield, Welch succeeded his former coach after spending 10 years as an assistant at his alma mater. He is 8-7 vs. Cortland as a head coach and has participated in 28 Cortaca Jug games (three as a player, 10 as an assistant coach, 15 as a head coach).

        Cortland coach Dan MacNeill (Cortland '79) has posted an 87-48 (.644) mark in 13 years at his alma mater. He is 7-6 against Ithaca. He spent two years as an assistant at Ithaca (1982-83). Ithaca's 1983 coaching staff also included future head coaches Jerry Boyes (Buffalo State), Mike Donnelly (Muhlenberg), Dave Murray (Cortland, Lebanon Valley and Alfred) and Kevin Spencer (Wesleyan).

 

THE SERIES: The Bombers lead the series with their most frequent opponent 38-26-3. Last year Ithaca rolled to a 35-13 win over the previously unbeaten Red Dragons. The Bombers' last three wins in the series have come by an average of 23 points, marking their biggest margin of victory since winning four straight between 1983 and 1986 by an average score of 43-11. Ithaca's record against Cortland at home is 23-10-1. The teams have met once in postseason play, with the host Bombers winning 24-17 in the 1988 NCAA East Region title game on their way to the national championship. For the past 50 years the two teams have competed for the Cortaca Jug, which was donated by 1959 team captains Dick Carmean from Ithaca and Tom Decker from Cortland. Since the introduction of this traveling trophy, the Bombers have won 33 of 50 games including a 20-7 record at Ithaca.

 

LAST TIME THEY MET: The #17 Bombers beat previously unbeaten Cortland 35-13 in front of 10,300 fans at the 50th annual Cortaca Jug game last Nov. 15; in conjunction with the game, the Red Dragons had honored their 1988 team which had been the program's only team to post an undefeated regular season (the Bombers beat Cortland in the NCAA East Region final on their way to the national championship).  Quarterback Brian Grastorf (Niskayuna/Rexford), the first Bomber quarterback to make his first career start in the Cortaca Jug game, completed 19-of-28 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for two one-yard scores; all four figures were career bests. Dan Ruggiero (Pen Argyl/Pen Argyl, Pa.) came off the bench to rush for 96 yards – the highest total surrendered all year by the Red Dragons – and catch a touchdown pass. Cortland was limited to a pair of field goals and a blocked punt touchdown. Strong safety David Ahonen (Victor/Farmington) made nine tackles intercepted a pass in the end zone on Cortland's final play from scrimmage. Linebacker Morgan Abdelnour (Somers/Somers) added a career-high nine tackles.  Grastorf capped the scoring with a pair of one-year touchdown runs – the first two of his career – in the fourth quarter. The second was set up when sophomore defensive end Matt Dibble (Schodack/East Columbia) forced a fumble on a sack.

 

SCOUTING THE RED DRAGONS: Cortland has won four straight including Saturday's 56-42 win at Brockport. The 98 combined points were the most ever in a Red Dragon game. Alex Smith, who “came out of retirement” early in the season (he was serving as a graduate assistant coach before being granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA), has thrown for 635 yards and seven touchdowns. Dom Sair leads the team with 645 rushing yards, including 507 over the last four games, and has scored 13 touchdowns. Eric Hajnos is the top Red Dragon receiver with 44 catches for 662 yards and six scores (his 220 yards and three TDs at Brockport were both school records). Anthony Giuliano has rushed for 234 yards, caught 29 passes (including four touchdowns) and thrown touchdown passes in both his attempts. Kyle Peterson averages 38.8 per punt with six 50-yard efforts. Marc Corrado is five of seven on field goal attempts and has made 29 of 31 point-after kicks, including his last 27. Cortland ranks 10th nationally in total defense, with senior ends Bryan Wiley and Evan Wyler tied for ninth nationally with 1.9 tackles for loss per game. The Red Dragons' defense had allowed less than 19 points in seven of their first eight games before surrendering six touchdowns to Brockport.

 

LAST WEEK: Ithaca clinched its 39th straight winning season by upsetting previously undefeated Alfred (ranked 14th by the American Football coaches Association and 25th by D3football.com) 31-10 Saturday at Butterfield Stadium. The Bombers kept Alfred – ranked 11th nationally in scoring offense – out of the end zone until the sixth play of the fourth quarter and senior quarterback Brian Grastorf (Niskayuna/Rexford) tied a career high with four touchdown passes. 

OFFENSIVE RECAP: Grastorf threw for 254 yards and eclipsed the 3,000-yard career total in his 10th start. Junior wideout Thomas Vossler (Saranac Lake/Loon Lake) caught a pair of scoring passes. Grastorf's 34-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Matthew Hannon (Minisink Valley/Middletown) capped a 13-play, 80-yard drive early in the second quarter that followed a scoreless first quarter. After Alfred got on the board on a field goal with 2:19 left in the half, Grastorf drove the Bombers 66 yards in just 1:28 with Vossler catching his first TD (a 20-yard reception) to cap the drive. The teams traded touchdown passes late in the third quarter with Grastorf throwing a 14-yard touchdown to freshman wide receiver Joseph Ingrao (St. Anthony's/Southampton) – who scored his first career touchdown. Vossler closed out the scoring with a nine-yard touchdown catch with nine minutes to go. He finished with six catches for 88 yards. Junior wide receiver Dan Ruffrage (Notre Dame/Whitesboro) caught five passes for a team-best 87 yards. Junior Dan Ruggiero (Pen Argyl/Pen Argyl, Pa.) ran for a season-high 116 yards for the Bombers. Grastorf gained 28 yards on six carries. Ithaca's offensive line – junior left tackle Leland King (Burlington/Burlington, Vt.), junior left guard Rich Mallon (Locust Valley/Bayville), senior center Mike Boch (East Rochester/East Rochester), grad student right guard Kevin Heinzelman (Hudson Falls/Queensbury) and senior right tackle Jake Queener (Geneva/Geneva), along with junior tight ends Matt Crandall (Cattaraugus-Little Valley/Cattaraugus) – who was making his first career start – and Dan Higgins (Greece-Athena/Rochester) – turned in their best performance of the year, holding Alfred without a sack. Higgins caught three passes.

DEFENSIVE NOTES: Sophomore linebacker Ryan Clarke (Archbishop Spaulding/West Friendship, Md.) led Ithaca with a career-best 16 tackles, including four for loss. He broke up two passes, including one inside the five-yard line. Sophomore linebacker Joe Gilfedder (Governor Livingston/Berkeley Heights, N.J.) added nine tackles, including a pair for loss. Freshman defensive end Owen Kugler (Highland Park/Highland Park, Ill.) and senior defensive end Adam Drescher (Christian Brothers Academy/Fayetteville) were both in on two tackles for loss. Junior strong safety David Ahonen (Victor/Farmington) made six tackles and picked off a pass on his own one-yard line. Sophomore Mike Conti (Hand/Branford, Conn.) made seven tackles. He and Clarke were both in on their first career sack.

 

SPECIAL TEAMS REPORT: Sophomore Andrew Rogowski (Canisius/East Amherst) kicked a 23-yard field goal and added extra points after all four Bomber touchdowns. He punted four times, averaging a career-best 37.8 yards per kick. Three of his punts pinned the Saxons inside their 20-yard line and only one was returned (for a seven-yard loss by the nation's 22nd-ranked punt returner). Senior Joe Nicoletti (Christian Brothers Academy/Syracuse) blocked a Saxon punt. Junior linebacker Pat Scott (West Genesee/Syracuse) led Ithaca with four tackles in kick coverage. Juniors Morgan Abdelnour (Somers/Somers) and Tom Eschen (Cazenovia/Cazenovia) both made two special teams tackles. Ruffrage averaged 16.3 yards per punt return and 18.3 yards per kickoff return.

 

MAKING THE GRADE: Senior free safety Chad Herring (Unadilla/Unatego) has been named to the District I College Division All-Academic Team: Herring, an exercise science major; is now eligible for academic all-America honors.  The District I All-Academic Team honors student-athletes with a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.30 from NCAA Division II and III and NAIA Division II schools in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

 

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Saturday's game marks the final game for Ithaca's 21 seniors. The 36th consecutive class to participate in a playoff game, the group has been part of three NCAA playoff teams and two Empire 8 titles and has helped the Bombers to a 38-10 record since 2005.

 

BOUNCING BACK: Ithaca went into the Alfred game coming off a loss to Springfield; the Bombers have lost a total of 73 games in the past 33 years and have now bounced back with a win their next time out 61 times.

 

EMPIRE 8 UPDATE: This season marks the eighth year of Empire 8-sponsored football and the fifth year that the conference's champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs. The 2004 addition of Norwich and Springfield as affiliate members brought the league's total to seven football playing members. Norwich dropped out of the conference following last season, but the NCAA allows conferences a two-year grace period to replace members in order to maintain their automatic bids. Frostburg State and Salisbury will join the Empire 8 as affiliate members for the 2011 season.

    The Bombers own an all-time record of 34-7 (.829) in league competition. They were picked atop the conference's preseason poll for the fifth time in the six years that the preseason balloting has been conducted.

    The Bombers won the inaugural Empire 8 title in 2002 and repeated as conference champion in 2003, posting a 4-0 league record each season. In 2004 Ithaca and St. John Fisher tied for the league crown with 5-1 records. In 2005 the Bombers posted the Empire 8's first 6-0 record en route to their fourth league championship then won the title outright last year with a 5-1 mark. The Bombers also won conference titles in the Independent College Athletic Conference (forerunner to the Empire 8) in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987. Ithaca owns a 93-32-2 (.740) advantage against the conference's current members.

 

ITHACA ITEMS: Ithaca's win over previously unbeaten Alfred clinched the program's 39th straight winning season. The Bombers own the nation's second-longest active streak of winning seasons at any level of college football (Linfield has clinched its 53rd straight winning season).

    Saturday's win raised Ithaca's all-time record against Alfred to 36-13. The Bombers have won 19 of the 25 games in Ithaca, including 12 straight dating back to 1982.

    With four interceptions this fall, Joe Gilfedder is one short of the school record for most interceptions by a linebacker; he is tied with Chris Colloca (1990), Rich Pasquale (1997), Mark McDonough (2000) and Dustin Ross (2005). John Laper holds the record with five in 1979.

    Five Bomber wide receivers have caught a touchdown pass (Eric Breton, Matt Hannon, Joseph Ingrao, Dan Ruffrage and Thomas Vossler), matching the school record set in 2005 and tied last season.

    Brian Grastorf's 200-yard passing effort was the eighth of his career (only four Bombers have more) and his seventh this season. Only two Ithaca quarterbacks have had more in a season and only Josh Felicetti (nine in 2005) had more in the regular season.

    Dan Ruggiero's 100-yard rushing effort was the third of his career and his second against Alfred.

    Ithaca has taken a lead into halftime 115 times under Coach Mike Welch and has won 103 of those games. The Bombers' record in that span when winning after three quarters is 115-10.

        Adam Drescher's blocked extra point try against St. John Fisher marked the eighth block of his career and extended his school record of six blocked PAT attempts. Only Dave Stone (nine blocks: four field goals and five punts) has more blocks.

    Ithaca's comeback at Utica marked the fifth time since 2001 that the Bombers have rallied from a third-quarter deficit of at least 10 points. In 2005 Ithaca trailed St. John Fisher by 14 points with nine minutes left before winning 41-35 in overtime; in 2003 the Bombers trailed St. John Fisher 19-7 in the fourth quarter before winning 20-19, in 2002 Ithaca trailed Hartwick 18-7 in the fourth quarter before scoring a pair of touchdowns in the final 6:41 to win 19-18 and in 2001 Ithaca scored twice in the last 5:29 to beat Springfield 17-16 after trailing 16-3.

 

RECORD WATCH: (note Ithaca career and season records include post-season games since 2002; statistics compiled in post-season games before that do not count toward Ithaca career and season records)

    Senior quarterback Brian Grastorf raised his career total to 3,175 yards Saturday, becoming the seventh Bomber to reach 3,000 in his career. His 31 touchdown passes and 255 completions rank fifth and sixth all-time and his .590 completion percentage and 138.0 rating rank fourth and sixth, respectively.

    With 2,220 yards this fall, Grastorf ranks seventh on the program's single-season list; he's the seventh quarterback to record a 2,000-yard passing season and his yardage is 214 yards from fifth. His 191 completions and 22 touchdown passes are fifth and sixth, respectively. His .604 completion percentage and 136.1 rating would rank sixth and eighth on Ithaca's single-season lists.

    Junior wide receiver Thomas Vossler is now 13th on Ithaca's career list with 86 receptions. He's six catches away from a spot in the top 10. Vossler raised his career total to 1,188 receiving yards; he's the 18th Bomber to gain 1,000. His two touchdown catches give him nine in his career, leaving him one away from becoming the 17th Bomber with at least 10.

    Junior wide receiver Dan Ruffrage has raised his career total to 49 receptions, which ranks 32nd all-time at Ithaca. He's six catches away from becoming the 32nd Bomber with 50 in his career.

    Junior running back Dan Ruggiero raised his career total to 1,053 rushing yards, becoming the 30th Bomber to run for over 1,000 yards. He's 115 yards from a spot in the top 25.

        Sophomore Andrew Rogowski raised his total to 121 points, good for fourth all-time among Ithaca kickers. With 79 extra points he's fifth all-time and his 14 field goals are third. Rogowski's 77.8 accuracy rate on field goals is the best ever by an Ithaca kicker with at least 10 attempts and only two Bomber kickers have higher PAT percentages than his 94.0 success rate. Rogowski became the 28th Bomber (and sixth kicker) to reach 100 career points and is 16th all-time on the program's scoring list.

    Junior tight end Dan Higgins has caught 33 passes, good for ninth among tight ends on Ithaca's career list. His 29 catches this fall rank seventh on the single-season tight end list.

    Senior defensive tackle Joe Goetz (New Hyde Park Memorial/New Hyde Park) has recorded 11 career sacks, good for 17th all-time at Ithaca. He needs two more to match the Bombers' 10th-highest all-time total.

 

EMPIRE 8 HONORS: Sophomore linebacker Ryan Clarke was named Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Week and sophomore kicker/punter Andrew Rogowski was selected Empire 8 Special Teams Player of the Week following their performance in the Bombers' win over previously unbeaten Alfred on Saturday. Clarke's weekly award was the first of his career; Rogowski was honored for the second time this season after winning the award following Ithaca's win over Widener.

 

WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS: Award winners for the Alfred game, as chosen by the coaching staff, were: Outstanding Back: Ruggiero; Outstanding Lineman: Gilfedder; Specialist of the Week: Rogowski; Hustler of the Week: Nicoletti; Offensive Scout Team Player of the Week: freshman tight end Matt Hartz (Lansing/Ithaca); Defensive Scout Team Player of the Week: freshman linebacker Pete Haines (Germantown Academy/Blue Bell, Pa.); Special Teams Scout Team Player of the Week: Nick Passarella (North Broward/Pembroke Pines, Fla.); Honorary Offensive Captain: Vossler; and Honorary Defensive Captain: Clarke.

BROADCAST NEWS: The Cortland game will be broadcast by WICB-FM (91.7) in Ithaca. Senior Andrew Champagne and junior Josh Getzoff will call the game, beginning at 11:15 a.m. with the Countdown to Kickoff pregame show. WICB's coverage – which also includes a live post-game call-in show – can also be heard online through TEAMLINE, a pay-per-listen service, by calling 800/846-7000. Ithaca's access code is 3945.

    Saturday's game will also be carried by 106 VIC and broadcast over 105.9 FM. Both stations' coverage is available through RealAudio over the Internet, which can be accessed at http://www.wicb.org/ and http://www.vic.org/

    Saturday's game will be televised live by IC-TV on Time Warner Cable's channel 16; ICTV's broadcast will be available over the Internet at no charge through Stretch Internet at http://www.stretchinternet.com/ithaca/video.html.

    ICTV also broadcasts The Gridiron Report, a weekly highlight show featuring Coach Mike Welch and Bomber players. The Gridiron Report airs Sundays at 9 p.m.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please contact Ithaca sports information director Mike Warwick in the sports information office (607/274-1401 or mwarwick@ithaca.edu) or at home (607/662-4446) or Cortland SID Mark Whitehouse (607/753-5673).

 2009 SCHEDULE

 

	Ithaca College (6-3, 3-2 Empire 8)	Time		Cortland (7-2, 7-2 NJAC)	Time
9/5	at St. Lawrence (2-7)	W, 45-0	9/5	Idle
9/12	at Union (7-2)	L, 21-24	91/2	Morrisville (6-3) #	W, 26-17
9/19	Widener (3-6)	W, 41-17	9/19	Rowan (6-3) #	W, 24-14
9/26	at Utica (4-5) *	W, 27-24	9/26	Kean (8-1) #	L, 10-24
10/3	at Hartwick (5-3) *	W, 24-20	10/3	at Buffalo State (2-7) #	W, 42-13
10/10	St. John Fisher (5-3) *	L, 17-40	10/10	at Montclair State (8-1) #	L, 7-16
10/17	at Frostburg State (1-8)	W, 20-10	10/17	Western Connecticut (2-7) #	W, 35-6
10/24	Idle		10/24	at William Paterson (4-5) #	W, 12-20
10/31	at Springfield (7-2) *	L, 26-47	10/31	New Jersey (4-5) #	W, 30-7
11/7	Alfred (7-1) *	W, 31-10	11/7	at Brockport (3-6) #	W, 56-42
11/14	Cortland (6-2)	noon	11/14	at Ithaca (6-3)	noon
	* Empire 8 game			# NJAC game