BALTIMORE, Md. – The Ithaca College football program opened its 2026 season on Saturday at No. 4 Johns Hopkins University and was handed a 30-21 loss. After trailing Hopkins, 17-0, at halftime, the Bombers outscored the Blue Jays, 21-13, over the final two quarters.
Michael Reed accounted for most of IC's offense on the day as he threw for 175 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 158 yards and another score.
Nicholas Lang was on the receiving end of both Reed touchdown passes as Lang finished the game with 105 yards on six receptions.
Joe Spirra guided the defense with 11 total tackles, including eight solo stops, while
Marcus Boyle and
Henry Takacs each notched five tackles.
Andrew Swierbut made four tackles with an interception that he returned for 18 yards.
On special teams,
Caleb Wandell averaged 45.0 yards on four punts with a long of 72 yards, which is the second longest punt in program history.
The Bombers received the opening kickoff and moved into Hopkins territory before turning the ball over on downs. On the first snap after the change in possession, Hopkins connected on a 44-yard pass play to move inside the IC 10-yard line, but the drive stalled and the Blue Jays settled for a field goal to take a 3-0 lead.
Hopkins then took a 10-0 lead later in the quarter on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Luke Baker to Cole Crotty. Late in the second quarter, Hopkins took over at its own 20 with 2:25 to go after the 72-yard boot by Wandell and proceeded to move down the field on 7-of-9 completions from Baker, which was capped by a 20-yard completion to Crotty to increase the spread to 17-0.
Kaleb Wayt then connected on two more field goals to begin the scoring in the third quarter on 21- and 44-yard attempts to make the score 23-0 with 3:59 to go. Thirty-seven seconds later, Reed found Lang for a 33-yard touchdown score to get the Bombers on the board at 23-7.
Hopkins answered with another touchdown in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter to make it 30-7, but the Bombers would score the final two touchdowns of the contest on a 24-yard pass from Reed to Lang at the 11:21 mark and a 1-yard plunge from Reed with 4:41 left.
IC regained possession with 2:51 remaining in the game, but an interception at the 1:37 mark ended the contest.
Ithaca rushed for 220 yards in the loss, which is just the fourth time over the past three seasons that Hopkins has surrendered that many yards on the ground. The Bombers were also 9-for-17 on third down conversions.
IC will play its next three games at home, opening with Alfred next Saturday, September 12 for a 6 p.m. kickoff.
