UTICA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College football team rushed for 231 yards and the defense secured its first shutout of the season as the Bombers topped Utica College, 14-0, on Saturday at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. The 231 yards rushing is the most for a Bombers offense since IC racked up 253 against Alfred in 2015. Ithaca's main culprit in both offensive explosions, senior Tristan Brown, ran for 144 yards this afternoon and tallied a career-best 176 two seasons ago.

The game also marked the inaugural New York State Tool Believe Bowl, which will be held each year by Utica. The Believe Bowl has been created to assist children at the Thea Bowman House as well as Firefighters battling cancer and life-threatening illnesses. For more information on the Believe Bowl, follow this link.
Utica earned the opening possession of the game and marched right down the field on 44 rushing yards until the drive stalled at the Ithaca 23-yard line. The Pioneers brought their field goal until onto the field for a 36-yard try, but sophomore Noah Hill broke through the line and blocked the attempt just three minutes into the contest.

Ithaca answered with a sustained drive of its own and reached the Utica 22 before a fumble by freshman Wahid Nabi gave the ball back to Utica. On the drive, the Bombers picked up three first downs on a 5-yard run by Nabi, a 14-yard completion to sophomore Will Gladney and a 22-yard rush from sophomore Isaiah D'Haiti.

Utica was unable to capitalize on the sudden change and had to punt the ball back to Ithaca. The Bombers responded with a stellar ground attack on the ensuing drive, as senior Tristan Brown rushed for 34 yards, including a 27-yard scamper. D'Haiti cleaned up the final nine yards of the drive with an 8-yard run and a 1-yard touchdown plunge to give the Bombers a 7-0 lead with 5:05 left in the first quarter.

After the score, the former conference foes traded punts until the Pioneers regained possession with just under two minutes to play in the quarter and ran out the remaining clock.

Two plays into the second period, Utica quarterback Vinny Aloi fumbled the ball at midfield and junior Tyler Kishbaugh scooped it up, but Ithaca would go 3-and-out on the ensuing drive.

Three more drives would end in punts, but Ithaca faced another short field with 5:33 to play in the half, as the Bombers took over at their own 43. Nabi started off the drive with a 16-yard completion to Gladney, but three plays later, Ithaca lost possession on another fumble at the Utica 26.

The defense once again stood tall off the turnover and forced a 3-and-out. A 52-yard punt pinned Ithaca deep in its own territory with a two-minute situation. D'Haiti rumbled for 12 yards on the opening snap, but it was called back on an illegal block. Utica stymied Ithaca's offensive attacked and used all three timeouts during the drive to get one more chance to tie the game heading into intermission.

Utica took over at its own 38 with 1:35 to play and could only advance to midfield before time ran out.

The Bombers received the kick to start the second half but turned the ball over on downs at the Utica 43. The Pioneers answered with a 12-play drive, which resulted in an interception at the 1-yard line by senior Dan Loizos with 6:57 to play in the third quarter.

After another Ithaca punt that gave Utica the ball at the Bomber 46 following an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, senior Jordan Schemm picked off Aloi on 4th-and-7 at the IC 33.

Ithaca ran out the final 3:32 on the stanza behind a defensive pass interference call and 24 yards rushing from D'Haiti on five carries.

Three plays into the final 15 minutes, Brown scampered into the end zone from 10 yards out to extend Ithaca's lead to 14-0, and the eventual final score, with 13:34 remaining in the contest. D'Haiti moved IC into a goal-to-go situation with back-to-back 4-yard runs.

Ithaca picked off another pass, this time by senior Mike Miller with 10:29 on the clock. After the turnover, the Bombers had a chance to add a field goal, but the 30-yard attempt by junior David Prudhomme was blocked.

Brown carried the ball 24 times for his 144 yards, while D'Haiti accounted for 57 yards on 14 attempts. Nabi completed 13-of-23 passes for 121 yards, to go along with 22 yards rushing. Gladney led the receiving corps with 71 yards on five catches.

Ithaca amassed 352 yards of offense and the defense held Utica to 234 yards. The Pioneers also went just 3-for-17 on third down conversions.

Miller paced the defense with nine tackles, while junior Brian Gill notched eighth with one for a loss. Loizos tallied seven stops (1.5 for loss) and junior Pat Minogue and senior Kenny Bradley each recorded six tackles.

Ithaca will play at home for its final two regular season games of the season against Union (November 4 at 1 p.m.) and Cortland (November 12 at 12 p.m.).