Box Score
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Ithaca football team concluded its conference season with a 28-7 win over Hartwick at Butterfield Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Bombers (6-3, 4-3 Empire 8) intercepted six Hartwick (3-6, 0-6 Empire 8) passes, which tied a school single-game record. Cornerback
Brian Garvey had three of the interceptions, which tied the individual record for interceptions in a game. Garvey returned one of the interceptions four yards for Ithaca's final touchdown of the game.
Quarterbacks
Phil Neumann and
Tom Dempsey each threw a touchdown pass and
Clay Ardoin had a rushing touchdown for the Bombers. Neumann led two Ithaca touchdown drives in the first quarter and was replaced for the final three quarters by Dempsey, who saw his first significant varsity action at quarterback.
Neumann hit
Joseph Ingrao on a 9-yard touchdown pass to give the Bombers a 7-0 lead, and Ardoin's 1-yard touchdown run on the next drive put Ithaca ahead 14-0. Neumann was 6-for-9 for 41 yards with one touchdown pass and one interception.
Early in the second quarter, Hartwick converted a fourth-and-6 on a fake punt and later in the drive scored on a 39-yard touchdown reception.
Ithaca added two touchdowns in the second half. The first was a 39-yard touchdown pass from Dempsey to
Jared Prugar who was wide open down the right sideline. It was the first touchdown pass of Dempsey's career. Garvey's interception touchdown with 6:48 left in the game was the final scoring play. Dempsey was 5-for-9 passing for 107 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The Ithaca defense held Hartwick to one third-down conversion in 13 attempts and forced seven turnovers in the game. Seven Hartwick drives started at or inside of the Hawks' 20 yard line.
In addition to Garvey's interceptions
Chris Williams,
Josh Duggan and
Skylar Griffenberg had interceptions.
Logan Murphy forced a fumble on a sack, and that was recovered by
Joe Ricotta. Ithaca totaled eight tackles for loss, three of which were recorded by
Jake Santora. He was Ithaca's leading tackler with 10 total tackles.
Ardoin carried 17 times for 38 yards and
Jarrett Naiden had 16 carries for 31 yards.
The Bombers visit Cortland for the annual Cortaca Jug game on Saturday, Nov. 10. The game starts at noon from Cortland's Stadium Complex and will be shown on Time Warner Cable Sports.
BOMBER NOTES
* Ithaca's 26-member senior class was honored prior to the start of the game during the starting lineup ceremony.
* The game marked the sixth time that Ithaca has intercepted six passes in a game. The previous instances are as follows (dates in parentheses): at St. Lawrence (9/15/90), vs. Hobart (10/31/81), vs. Bloomsburg (9/5/81), vs. Springfield (10/11/80), and at American International (11/5/66).
* It was the seventh time that a Bomber player has intercepted three passes in a game, most recently done by Jason Chier at Cortland on Nov. 15, 2008.