ITHACA, N.Y. – The Liberty League championship was on the line Saturday, November 7 at Bertino Field at Butterfield Stadium and the Ithaca College football team fell to visiting RPI, 14-10. Ithaca had its seven-game winning streak snapped and is now 7-2 on the season.
The contest was truly a tale of two halves as Ithaca outgained RPI, 228-69, but the Engineers flipped the script and held a 192-63 advantage over the final 30 minutes of action. That included just one yard of offense by Ithaca in the third quarter.
Ithaca received the opening kickoff and chewed up nearly half of the quarter, but was unable to come away with any points, as a 34-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right with 8:51 to go.
Punts were exchanged for the remainder of the quarter as no points were put on the board.
Ithaca then took over just a few ticks into the second quarter following another RPI punt and picked up a crucial fourth down on a completion from
Michael Reed to
Nicholas Lang. That propelled the Bombers into scoring position, which would be capped off on a 3-yard run by Reed to give IC a 7-0 lead with 10:55 left in the half.
Following a 12-yard sack by
Henry Takacs, Ithaca turned the ball over on an interception at its own 35-yard line with 5:21 on the clock. The Engineers capitalized and scored on a 15-yard pass with 1:16 remaining to tie the game, 7-7.
On the ensuing kick,
D'Adj Love ripped off a 26-yard return to the IC 39-yard line. A 22-yard pass to
Tian Murray with 19 seconds to go moved IC down to the RPI 25-yard line and then Reed found
Antwan Harvey for a completion down to the 7-yard line to set up a 24-yard field goal for
Andrew Rice, which gave Ithaca a 10-7 lead heading into halftime.
IC had RPI on the ropes following the opening possession of the third quarter with an interception from
Jake Green at the Engineers' 34-yard line, but IC went backwards and turned the ball over on downs following a sack at midfield.
The Engineers used that momentum to move down inside the IC 30-yard line, but 25 yards of penalties stalled the drive and RPI punted back to Ithaca with 12:10 left in the quarter.
After a 3-and-out from the Bombers and a 53-yard punt by
Caleb Wandell, the Engineers took a 14-10 lead on a 19-yard completion from Justin McCormack to Grayson Hunter with 4:22 on the clock for his second touchdown of the game.
Early in the fourth quarter, Ithaca appeared the flip the field with a 66-yard punt from Wandell down to the RPI 11-yard line, but the Bombers were flagged for a holding penalty and had to redo the punt.
The ensuing punt only reached midfield and RPI moved inside the Ithaca 10-yard line, but a fumble gave IC the ball back at the 8-yard line as
Andrew Swierbut forced the fumble and it was recovered by
Carson Ciancuielli.
Ithaca managed to reach midfield but had to punt the ball back with 3:29 left in the game. IC's defense held strong and gave the offense one final chance, but a Hail Mary from the RPI 48-yard line was knocked down.
Reed finished the game with 185 yard passing on 17-of-31 attempts and rushed for 33 yards on 18 touches.
Chase Myers led the rushing attack with 48 yards on eight carries, while Harvey was the top receiver with 70 yards on five catches.
Defensively,
Joe Spirra logged 15 total tackles with a forced fumble, while Green had 10 tackles, including one for a loss.
Ithaca concludes its season next Saturday, November 14 at 1 p.m. in the 67th Cortaca Jug Game presented by Visions Federal Credit Union at Yankee Stadium.
