CORTLAND, N.Y. – The Ithaca College football team ended its season on Saturday with a 28-16 loss to SUNY Cortland in the 58th Cortaca Jug game at the SUNY Cortland Sports Complex in front of 10,000 raucous fans. Ithaca finishes the year with a 5-5 record, as does Cortland, who has now won seven straight Jug games.

Ithaca received the opening kickoff and was unable to produce a first down on the ensuing possession. Cortland took over at its own 39-yard line after a 32-yard punt and brought the ball down to the Ithaca 21-yard line, but a 15-yard penalty took the Red Dragons out of field goal range.

The Bombers were forced to punt again, which only traveled 13 yards. Five plays later, Cortland found the end zone on a 25-yard pass from Brett Segala to Jon Mannix to give the Red Dragons an early 7-0 lead with 8:49 left in the first quarter.

Cortland drove down the field once again, but junior Jordan Schemm ended the Red Dragons' drive with an interception at the Ithaca 12-yard line. The Bombers took over at their own 6-yard line after an unsportsmanlike penalty was called on Ithaca with 5:04 to go in the period.

After the first quarter, Cortland outgained Ithaca, 122-24, and sustained its 7-0 advantage.

The Red Dragons had an opportunity to add to their lead on the opening play of the second quarter, but missed a 37-yard field goal attempt. Ithaca would burn more than six minutes off the clock on the next possession, but were unable to score and had to punt at the Cortland 37-yard line.

Cortland took over at its 12-yard line and marched all the way down the field and scored on a 3-yard pass from Segala to Anthony Pintabona with 3:39 left in the half to put the Red Dragons up, 14-0.

After the touchdown, Schemm returned the kickoff 36 yards to give the Bombers possession at the Cortland 46. Shafer connected with freshman Will Gladney on back-to-back plays for a total of 26 yards to reach the red zone. Two plays later, Shafer found Gladney again for a 14-yard touchdown with 1:28 to go in the half. The ensuing extra point was blocked to make the score 14-6.

Just 53 seconds later, Cortland found the end zone again on a 17-yard pass from Segala to Josh Riley to increase its lead to 21-6. Two plays prior to the touchdown, Schemm narrowly missed an interception, which turned into a 45-yard gain for the Red Dragons.

Cortland added to its yardage advantage after the second quarter, and went into the half with a 300-118 edge.

Two plays into the second half, junior Mike Miller intercepted the second pass of the afternoon for the Bombers and gave Ithaca the ball at the Cortland 47-yard line with 14:20 on the clock.

Ithaca turned the sudden change into a touchdown on a highlight-reel, 11-yard catch from Gladney in the corner of the end zone to cut the difference to 21-13 with 12:19 left in the quarter. Gladney also had a 27-yard grab during the drive.

The Bombers forced Cortland into a three-and-out after the touchdown, and then used a 12-play, 70-drive which was capped off with a 25-yard field goal by freshman DJ Ellis to bring Ithaca to within four points at 21-16 with just under six minutes left. Junior Tristan Brown rushed for 27 yards on the drive.

Cortland seemed to put together its first sustained drive of the second half, as the Red Dragons moved down to the Ithaca 25-yard line, but junior Kenny Bradley intercepted a wobbly pass after sophomore Pat Minogue put a solid hit on Segala. Bradley raced 21 yards to give the Bombers possession at the 38 with 2:35 to go in the quarter.

On the final play of the third quarter, Shafer connected for a 39-yard completion to Gladney, but the gain was waved off on a holding call. Ithaca then had to punt two plays into the fourth period.

Cortland moved right down the field after the punt on a pair of 15-yard penalties by the Bombers defense to set up a potential 43-yard field goal, but the attempt was short and Ithaca took over with 9:45 left in the game.

The Bombers couldn't get anything going and punted after three plays. The Red Dragons turned the punt into seven points after a 40-yard completion brought the ball down to the Ithaca 3-yard line. A pass interference call on 2nd-and-goal gave Cortland a new set of downs, which the Red Dragons would cash in for the final points of the game.

Shafer finished the afternoon with 196 yards on 17-of-26 passing, while Gladney posted career-highs of 11 catches and 138 yards.  Brown rushed for 104 yards on 25 carries to round out the offensive leaders.

On the defensive side, junior Dan Loizos led the way with 10 tackles. Bradley made eight stops with the interception and pass breakup, while Schemm and sophomore Jimmy Sullivan both had seven tackles.

Ithaca posted 256 total yards in the game, while Cortland racked up 473. The Red Dragons were led by 358 passing yards from Segala and 190 receiving by Mannix. Cortland's defense also recorded eight sacks in the win.