ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College football team improved to 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in Liberty League play after a 76-6 victory over Hilbert College on Saturday at Bertino Field at Butterfield Stadium.
The Bombers set a new school record with 769 yards of offense as IC threw for 413 yards and rushed for 356. IC also matched school records of 35 first downs, six passing touchdowns and points in a quarter with 35. The 76 points scored and 11 total touchdowns rank second all-time, while the 413 passing yards are fourth and 356 rushing yards rank seventh in single game history.
IC put the game away early by building a 35-0 lead after the first quarter of action. The Bombers received the opening kick and took just over a minute to find the end zone as
Chris Scully scored from 11 yards out.
A little over three minutes later,
Michael Reed found
Chase Myers for an 11-yard completion to increase the lead to 14-0 and then
Antwan Harvey scored on a 35-yard touch pass with 7:00 left on the clock for a 21-0 advantage. At the 4:25 mark, Reed and
Nicholas Lang hooked up for a 24-yard score and then Scully found the end zone again on a 34-yard run with 2:06 on the clock to make it 35-0.
Ithaca racked up 291 yards on 16 plays in the quarter.
The Bombers would then tack on two more touchdowns early in the second quarter on a 26-yard run by Myers and a 12-yard catch by
Kevin Maloney from
Gavin Bickford.
A 90-yard touchdown from
Anthony Mestre was called back due to a holding penalty and Hilbert capitalized with a pick-six a few plays later to make it 49-6.
The Bombers closed out the half with a 66-yard touchdown grab by
Tyler Sanders from Bickford with 2:23 remaining to make it 56-6.
IC produced 24 first downs in the opening half, while holding Hilbert to just two first downs.
There was no scoring in the third quarter, but the Bombers scored three times over the final 15 minutes to account for the 76-6 final.
Jay Felio started things off with a 56-yard run in the early stages of the quarter and then
Tyler Wolfe rushed in from 9-yards out with 9:21 to go. The final score of the contest came on a 5-yard completion from
Brody Frederick to
Jack Gannon after the two-minute timeout.
Reed threw for 261 yards and three touchdowns on 12-of-14 attempts in just over a quarter of action, while Lang caught three passes for 100 yards, while Scully rushed for 53 yards on three attempts. Myers rushed for 73 yards on six carries and Mestre finished the game with 70 yards on 11 carries.
Felio also racked up 83 yards on four carries and
Carter Switek had 36 yards on five carries.
Fifteen different players caught a pass on 21 completions.
Defensively,
Jack O'Connor led the way with six tackles, while
Caleb Casey and
Collin Leonhardt each finished the game with five tackles. Six different players logged four tackles for the IC defense.
Caleb Wandell went 7-for-7 in extra points, while
Luke Savino booted six touchbacks in 12 kickoffs.
Ithaca is back at home next Saturday, September 26 at 1 p.m. against St. Lawrence.
