ALL-TIME SERIES: The Ithaca College football team welcomes Hobart College to Butterfield Stadium on Saturday in what will be the 38th all-time meeting between the two teams. Ithaca is 31-6 against the Statesmen dating back to 1961, but Hobart won last season's matchup, 16-7, to snap a six-game losing streak and eventually led to the Statesmen's Liberty League title.
NOT ON SOUTH HILL: Over the 60-plus-year history between the two colleges, Ithaca has never lost to Hobart at home. The Bombers hold a 18-0 record against the Statesmen.
LAST TIME OUT: The Bombers improved to 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in the Liberty League with a 65-3 win at Hilbert in the first-ever meeting. IC displayed a balanced offense with 320 yards passing and 246 yards rushing, to go along with 30 first downs. The Bombers' defense allowed just five first downs and 108 yards of offense to the Hawks.
Matthew Parker threw for 185 yards and a touchdown, while
Michael Reed threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another.
Robbie Carcich ran for a score and was 1-for-1 passing, while
Tyler Wolfe went 2-for-2.
Outside of the rushing scores from Reed and Carcich,
Tyrell Penalba scored twice on five carries for 65 yards, while
Chase Myers had 67 yards on 14 attempts and another score. Myers also caught a touchdown pass.
Nicholas Lang accounted for the other rushing touchdown on a 4-yard carry.
Lang also led the receivers with 87 yards on four catches and a score, while
Kevin Maloney had his first catch and touchdown, which covered 26 yards. Twelve players caught at least one pass.
The defense recorded 11 tackles for loss against the triple option foe and only faced two pass attempts.
A DAY FOR THE RECORD BOOKS: Numerous milestones, or records, occurred in the win at Hilbert last Saturday. First, IC set a new school record for completion percentage as a team, going 24-for-26, for 92.3%. IC also racked up the fifth-most total offensive yards (566), tied the school record for rushing touchdowns in a game (6), tied for the second-most first downs (30) and allowed the fourth-fewest passing yards in a contest (13).
Matthew Parker set a new school record in completion percentage, going 13-for-13 in the game.
It was also the first time in program history since 1993 that five players rushed for a touchdown and the first time ever that two players caught a touchdown and rushed for a touchdown as
Nicholas Lang and
Chase Myers accomplished that feat last Saturday.
ATOP DIII: Monday on X, @D3SportsData released its top statistical teams for Week 3 of the Division III football season and Ithaca was the top program in fewest first downs allowed (5) and passing yards allowed (13). There were 112 Division III football games played last week.
ANOTHER FOR WANDELL: For the second straight week,
Caleb Wandell was named Liberty League Special Teams Performer of the Week after he went 8-for-8 in PATs and booted a career-long 41-yard field goal against Hilbert.
SCOUTING HOBART: The Hobart Statesmen are 1-2 on the season but all three games have been decided by one possession. Hobart dropped its opener at Alfred, 28-23 and nearly overcame an 18-point deficit. The following week, the Statesmen lost at Brockport, 14-10, as the Golden Eagles scored the game-winning touchdown with just over two minutes left in the contest. Last week, Hobart defeated Utica, 20-17, on a go-ahead touchdown with 1:08 on the clock.
E.J. Taylor, the 2024 Liberty League Offensive Player of the Year, is the main offensive weapon for Hobart as he has six touchdowns on the season, to go along with 265 yards on 58 carries. Taylor has accounted for all but 47 rushing yards for Hobart so far.
The Statesmen have not thrown a touchdown pass through three games, but the main target is Marcus Peterson with 11 catches for 212 yards.
Three quarterbacks have seen action this year and have combined to complete 45.1-percent of their passes. Jeremy Weiss, Tru Styles and Aidan Conrath will all likely see action on Saturday.
The strength of Hobart is its defense. So far, they have allowed 19.7 points and 308.0 yards of offense to their opposition. Mike McGhee leads the team with 30 total tackles, while Noah Chachere and Alex Smith each have over 20 tackles.
Hobart has five interceptions and 10 sacks through three games.
Vicente Lyon was a difference maker in last year's matchup, and the returning All-American is currently averaging nearly 42 yards per punt.
UP NEXT: The Bombers hit the road for their next two games at Rochester on October 4 and St. Lawrence on October 11 before their bye week. IC's next home game is October 25 against Union.
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