TROY, N.Y. – With an at-large bid still up for grabs heading into Saturday for the nationally ranked No. 17/19 Ithaca College football team, the Bombers fell to host Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 38-12, at East Campus Stadium. With the loss, Ithaca drops to 7-2 on the season and 4-2 in the Liberty League, while RPI improves to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in league play.
RPI received the opening kickoff and marched 68 yards on eight plays in under five minutes, which was capped off by a 26-yard touchdown pass from George Marinopoulos to Marc Meislahn to give the Engineers a 7-0 lead.
RPI never looked back from there. The Engineers forced Ithaca to throw an interception on its first possession of the game and capitalized with another touchdown with 5:52 left in the quarter.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Bombers fumbled the ball back over to RPI at the IC 34-yard line. The Engineers found the end zone again to take a 21-0 lead with just over three minutes left.
The Bombers attempted to get back into the game with a long drive in the second quarter, but turned the ball over on downs at the RPI 26-yard line with 9:11 to go.
RPI once again used the sloppy play by Ithaca to its advantage as the Engineers tacked on a 33-yard field goal in the waning minutes before overtime. On that drive, RPI connected on a 32-yard pass to move up to the red zone, but the drive stalled there, and RPI settled for three points.
IC had another opportunity to get points on the board heading to the break but threw another interception with 20 seconds left at its own 44-yard line.
The Engineers went for the knockout punch and put in another touchdown on the final play of the half on a 17-yard pass to take a 31-0 advantage.
In the second half, IC finally got on the board with 3:20 remaining in the third quarter as senior
Joe Germinerio found fellow senior
Will Gladney for a 5-yard touchdown pass. The ensuing two-point conversion was unsuccessful to make the score 31-6.
RPI then built its largest lead of the game, 38-6, with 9:01 to go in the contest on a 6-yard completion from Marinopoulos to Meislahn.
The Bombers would score the final touchdown of the game, however, as Germinerio and Gladney hooked up again for a 21-yard completion with 7:04 on the clock. IC was once again unsuccessful on the two-point try to account for the 38-12 final.
Germinerio finished the game with 248 yards passing on 22-of-37, while Gladney had 121 yards on 11 catches. Junior
Andrew Vito notched 81 yards on six catches in the loss.
Defensively, senior
Nick Garone logged his second straight 16-tackle game, while sophomores
Michael Roumes and
Miles Haynes each had eight tackles a piece. Haynes added 1.5 sacks, while Roumes had 1.0.
IC and RPI each recorded 20 first downs in the game, but the Engineers outgained the Bombers, 345-294, including a distinct advantage on the ground, 138 to 46.
The Bombers will wrap up their regular season next Saturday, November 16 in the 61st Cortaca Jug Game against Cortland at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
