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Rob Zappia

Football

Bombers Wrap Up Season In Cortaca Jug Game

Cortland, N.Y. -- The football team (6-4) wrapped up its season with a 20-17 loss to Cortland (9-1), ranked 20th by the AFCA and 22nd by D3football.com. Senior quarterback Rob Zappia (Greece Athena/Rochester) ran for one score and threw for another.

The Red Dragons scored 10 points in a two-minute span early in the fourth quarter to complete their comeback from a 17-3 deficit.

Zappia capped an eight-play, 80-yard drive midway through the first quarter with a five-yard touchdown run. His 33-yard touchdown to senior tight end Dan Higgins (Greece Athena/Rochester) on Ithaca's first-play of the third quarter helped the Bombers take a 17-3 lead.

Zappia's touchdown pass was set up when sophomore linebacker Will Carter (Westlake/Thornwood) recovered a fumbled Cortland snap. On Ithaca's first play, Higgins caught a pass near the Cortland 10, bounced off one defender then broke a pair of tackles at the five for the score.

Zappia finished with 275 passing yards, completing 19 of 39 passes. His season total of 2,507 yards ranks fifth on the program's single-season mark and he ranks eighth on the career list (2,525 yards).

Senior Thomas Vossler (Loon Lake/Saranac Lake) caught a team-best eight passes for 83 yards. He finished his career with a school-record 144 receptions. Classmate Dan Ruffrage (Utica Notre Dame/Whitesboro) caught six passes for 57 yards. He raised his career record to 103 catches and became the eighth Bomber to reach 100.

Junior Andrew Rogowski (Canisius/East Amherst) kicked extra points after both Bomber touchdowns and added a 29-yard field goal.

Junior linebacker Ryan Clarke (Archbishop SpauldingWest Friendship, Md.) led the Bombers with 13 tackles, including three for loss. Junior linebacker Eric Toporoff (Montville Township/Towaco, N.J.) had three tackles for loss among his 12 total stops. Carter finished with 10 tackles; he and senior defensive ends Matt Dibble (Columbia/East Schodack) and Sean Gil (Sachem North/East Holbrook) all finished with two tackles for loss.

The Bombers recorded their 40th consecutive winning season -- only six schools at any level of college football have ever posted a streak that long over the 140 years the sport has been played.

Photo gallery, courtesy of D3football.com

Box score