BROCKPORT GAME NOTES
ITHACA, N.Y. — The Ithaca College football team held Hartwick College to minus-19 rushing yards and generated a season-high nine sacks during a convincing 47-19 road win last Saturday.

The defense was led by senior defensive end Logan Murphy, who recorded a career-high four-and-a-half sacks with six tackles for a loss against the Hawks as the No. 24 Bombers (4-1, 2-1 Empire 8) rebounded from their first loss of 2015.

The Bombers are hoping for another dominant defensive outing when they host Empire 8 rival the College at Brockport at 1 p.m. Saturday on Community Appreciation Day, presented by the Ithaca Journal.

Brockport (3-2, 1-2) boasts a potent running back in Dan Andrews, who is averaging 173 rushing yards per game, the third-highest total in Division III. He leads the nation with 14 rushing touchdowns in five games, and leads the Empire 8 in rushing yards by 400 over the next-best rusher.

Head coach Mike Welch, in his 22^nd season leading the Bombers, knows one of the keys to beating Brockport is finding a way to contain Andrews.

"Brockport is a very good program and they have an excellent rushing offense with Andrews, and then they complement him with their passing attack. It will be a very good challenge for our defense," said Welch, Ithaca's Hall of Fame coach.

"We can't just commit totally to the run because Brockport has an effective quarterback and some good receivers, too. We feel good about how our defense is playing. We know that Andrews is going to be someone that we're going to have to contain to have success on defense, but I feel very confident that our defense has been playing well and will continue to play well. Last week we got good pressure on the quarterback, there was continuous pressure from our defensive line and linebackers, and we need that to continue."

The Bombers held the Hawks to 301 yards, below its average of 445 yards per game, and also limited Hartwick 14 points below its scoring average.

Murphy's strong play earned him Defensive Player of the Week honors from both the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) and the Empire 8 after he recorded the most tackles for a loss in a game by a Division III student-athlete, and the second-most sacks in a game by a Division III student-athlete this year.

"Logan was relentless. It's his style, he has great instincts and he had a great game against Hartwick," Welch said. "Logan is a high energy guy who is playing really well and showing great leadership. When you have someone on the defensive line who is dominant, he creates problems for the opponent and he frees someone else to get after the quarterback."

Offensively, junior Wolfgang Shafer passed for 297 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, senior Josh Oliver caught five passes for a career-high 123 yards, and classmate Kyle Hastings had five catches for 91 yards and a career-high two touchdowns.

The Bombers converted 75 percent of their third downs (8 of 12) in knocking off Hartwick. Ithaca's offensive line gave Shafer time to throw, and opened up holes for sophomore Tristan Brown (79 yards, 5.3 yards per rush, one TD) and classmate Dan Porter.

"The offensive line played very well and they took a step forward. Now the challenge is to continue that because we need a level of consistency from that group, and from our offense," said Welch.

"That's what we do offensively, converting third downs and moving the ball effectively. We strive for a good balance of runs and passes while converting third downs, which are very manageable in our style of offense. And Wolfgang, when you have a high completion rate and you're taking care of the football, he was really in a rhythm and I'm very pleased with his play."

While Oliver saw his streak of games scoring a touchdown snapped at four, he was all over the field, from making big catches to keep drives alive to delivering a punishing block that sprung sophomore Jordan Schemm for a 91-yard kickoff return halfway through the first quarter.

Welch has come to expect those types of big plays from his do-it-all wide receiver/returner.

"Josh is very explosive with the ball, whether we give it to him on a punt return, hand the ball off to him, or throw him the ball. His ability to run and change direction is truly outstanding," Welch said. "He's very resilient and a tough runner. He's hard to bring down, he's strong, and he has a determination to advance the football and those are the key ingredients of someone that can really help your football team."

Here are some notes heading into Saturday's clash as Ithaca

The Series: Ithaca leads the all-time series against Brockport with a 23-8-2 record since the teams first met in 1950. Ithaca is on a five-game winning streak in the series and has not lost to Brockport since 2004 when the Golden Eagles won 21-20. Today's game marks the 55th anniversary of when the teams first met in 1950.

Bombers Rush Defense in the Top-5: While it might seem that Ithaca's defense will have its hands full with Andrews, the Bombers boast the fourth-ranked rushing defense in all of Divi­sion III so far this season. Only Wabash and Mary Hardin-Baylor have allowed less rushing yards (275 yards, an average of 1.9 yards per rush) than Ithaca. The Bombers defense only allows 55 rushing yards per game and has not allowed a team to rush for 100 yards this season. The leading rusher against Ithaca this season was Malcom Stowe (Utica), who rushed for 51 yards. The Bombers have only allowed two 100-yard rushers in their last sixteen games, with Tony Fusco (St. John Fisher) the last opposing runner to top 100 rushing yards when he ran for 119 in a 19-8 Ithaca win Nov. 8, 2014. Last season, Ithaca's defense limited Andrews to an average of 2.8 yards per carry with his longest run being seven yards. The Bombers total defense is ranked 23rd overall in Division III.

Bombers back in the Top-25: For the fourth time in the last five weeks, the Ithaca Bombers are ranked in D3football.com's Top-25 poll. Ithaca dropped out of Top-25 after losing to Utica in overtime two weeks ago, but resurfaced after a dominant win over Hartwick last week. The Bombers are ranked 24th in the nation, earn­ing 51 total points in the poll. Ithaca is now only team from New York ranked in the poll, after both Cor­tland (No. 18) and Hobart (No. 22) suffered losses to Buffalo State and Springfield respectively. Ithaca remains unranked in the AFCA Coaches Top-25 poll, but received the third-most votes from unranked teams.

Defending Butterfield: Ithaca has not lost in the last calendar year at Butterfield Stadium since losing to Buffalo State on October 11, 2014. The senior class has a career 15-3 record at Butterfield Stadium, with the only losses coming against Buffalo State in 2012 and 2014, and a Cortaca Jug loss against Cortland in 2013. In the last 10 seasons, the Bombers own a 40-9 record on the South Hill

Shafer Having Success: In a conference with two of the top-10 and three of the top-20 quarterbacks in passing yards in Division III, Wolfgang Shafer has quietly and efficiently put up a successful season so far. He ranks first in the Empire 8 in completion percentage (34th nationally), completing 100 out of his 154 passes this season. His 11 touchdowns rank third in the conference, and while he has six interceptions (four against Utica) Shafer ranks second in the conference in passing efficiency. He has thrown for over 250 yards in three out of five games this season, and has thrown for 595 yards and six touchdowns in his last two games.

Offensive Line Bounces Back: After allowing eight sacks against Utica two weeks ago, the offensive line only gave up one sack against Hartwick last week. The offensive line allowed the rushing attack to gain 137 total yards against the Hawks, the second most this season for the Bombers, and allowed Shafer to pass for 297 yards, one-yard shy of his career high.

Big Day for Schemm: With Ithaca trailing 9-0 early in the game last week against Hartwick, the Bombers des­perately needed a spark. Sophomore Jordan Schemm delivered that with a 91-yard kickoff return to give the Bombers momentum as Ithaca would outscore the Hawks from that point on 40-10. The kick return touchdown was the first since Sam Carney's 91-yard return against Wesley on Nov. 30, 2013 in an NCAA second-round contest. Schemm also added his second interception of the season in the second quarter. He is fifth on the team in tackles, and second in interceptions. He leads the Empire 8 in kick return average (37.6).