ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College football program improved to 2-2 on the season and 2-0 in the Liberty League with a 24-21 victory over visiting Hobart College on Saturday at Butterfield Stadium. In a game that was 7-3 in favor of Hobart at the half, the conference foes combined to score 35 points in the second half, and Ithaca came away with the three-point win. Ithaca is now 15-0 all-time against Hobart at Butterfield Stadium.
Senior Tristan Brown scored the game-winning touchdown on a 2-yard run with 42 seconds left in the fourth quarter. Brown finished the game with 120 yards rushing and two touchdowns, and became the 10th player in program history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in his career.
Freshman Wahid Nabi threw for 343 yards on 29-for-45 passing and a touchdown, while sophomore Will Gladney hauled in 12 passes for 183 yards and a score.
Ithaca won the toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff. The Bombers picked up their initial first down on an 11-yard completion from Nabi to Gladney, and then continued the drive on a 3rd-and-9 completion to senior JR Zazzara on a 13-yard catch.
IC would burn a timeout with 11:43 to play in the quarter and faced a 3rd and 7 at the Hobart 42-yard line. Out of the timeout, Nabi kept the drive alive with an 8-yard strike to senior Jack Yule to spot the ball at the 30-yard line. On the ensuing snap, Zazzara hauled in a 20-yard reception to give Ithaca a first and goal situation.
Unfortunately, the Bombers were unable to move the ball from there and turned the ball over on downs at the Hobart 4-yard line.
The Statesmen could not get out of the shadow of their own end zone and went 3-and-out.
Ithaca took over at the 50 with 6:43 remaining in the quarter after a 45-yard punt. On the first play from scrimmage, Gladney pulled down a 22-yard reception to move down to the Hobart 28. The Bombers could not put anything else together and turned the ball over on downs once again with 4:40 left in the quarter.
The Ithaca defense stood up to the task and stalled Hobart at its own 37-yard line and forced the Statesmen to punt the ball back to the Bombers' offense that held onto the ball for nearly 12 minutes of the opening stanza.
After the punt placed Ithaca at its own 5-yard line, Brown broke off a 15-yard run to give the Bombers some space. Nabi then found senior Jared Bauer for 25 yards and followed with a 15-yard completion to Yule to put Ithaca back in Hobart territory at the 40. Nabi would then scamper for an 8-yard run to give Ithaca another first down at the Hobart 29 and Gladney collected a 5-yard catch to end the quarter and set Ithaca up with a 3rd-and-5.
The Bombers outgained Hobart, 166-21, over the first 15 minutes of the game.
After the teams moved to the other end of the field, Nabi gave Ithaca another first down on a 9-yard run. Back-to-back incompletions set up a 3rd-and-10 and Nabi would be taken down for a sack, which set up a 37-yard field goal attempt by junior David Prudhomme.
The field goal try was blocked and Hobart took over at the 25-yard line.
That seemed to shift momentum as the Statesmen established their first long drive of the contest, which culminated in a 3-yard touchdown run by Dakota Harvey to give Hobart a 7-0 lead with 9:06 left in the half. The scoring drive lasted 12 plays and covered 75 yards in 4:26. The Statesmen faced a 3rd-and-6 at the Ithaca 40 during the drive and rushed for a 7-yard first down. A 26-yard completion from Shane Sweeney to Brandon Shed put Hobart inside the 10-yard line, and the Statesmen would score three plays later.
Ithaca started its next possession at its 35-yard line with 9:00 to go. Nabi and Gladney hooked up for a 13-yard gain on first down and then Brown rushed for eight yards to eclipse 2,000 in career. Nabi would find Gladney once again for a 26-yard connection down to the Hobart 13, but holding and tripping penalties called on the Bombers over the next two plays brought the ball back to the 38.
Now facing a 1st-and-35, Nabi completed three straight passes to Zazzara (4yards) and freshman Andrew Vito (7 and 5 yards) to set up another Prudhomme field goal attempt, this time from 39 yards out.
Prudhomme drilled the try for a new career-long and pulled Ithaca to within a 7-3 difference with 4:30 remaining in the half.
Hobart would once again go three-and-out on the ensuing possession to set up a chance for Ithaca to tie the game heading into the break.
IC took over at its own 25 with 3:06 to go. The Bombers moved up to the 46 on two completions to Gladney, but they would be faced with a 4th-and-1. A pooch punt from Nabi was tumble down to the Hobart 1-yard line, which was downed by Gladney and went in the books as a 53-yard punt.
Hobart ran out the clock on a quarterback sneak.
Out of halftime, the Statesmen received the kick and started at the 23 after a holding on the runback. Hobart committed two pre-snap penalties and eventually faced a 3rd-and-19 from its own 14. On the 3rd down play, Sweeney heaved up a pass to Shed, which fell incomplete, but Ithaca was called for pass interference to continue the drive. Three consecutive incompletions for Hobart after the penalty ended the drive.
The conference foes traded punts over the next two drives and Ithaca would take over at its own 43 with 8:00 left in the third quarter. Ithaca's first play from scrimmage went 22 yards on another Nabi-Gladney connection.
Three plays later, Ithaca looked at a 4th-and-5 from the 30 and decided to take a shot. Nabi set in the pocket and found Bauer on a reaching 8-yard snag to continue the drive, and then tossed up a pass to Gladney, who came down with a 22-yard touchdown with 5:04 on the clock to give Ithaca a 10-7 advantage.
Hobart had trouble corralling the kickoff and could only bring the ball up to its own 9-yard line. The Statesmen came right with a 23-yard completion, but then had a 3rd-and-7 at the 35. A defensive holding call on the Bombers prolonged the drive. Junior Patrick McNeeley and sophomore John Hadac combined on a sack to force a 3rd-and-14 for Hobart at the 41.
Harvey took a screen pass from Sweeney and barreled his way to the Ithaca 45 for a first down with under two minutes to go. Three consecutive completions by Sweeney spotted Hobart at the Ithaca 3-yard line as time ran out in the third.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Harvey plowed in from 3-yards out for his second score of the day to cap off a 12-play, 91-yard drive to put Hobart back on top, 14-10.
The Bombers wasted no time to snatch the lead, as Brown rushed up the middle for 37 yards on 2nd-and-4 at their own 44. Now at the 19-yard line of Hobart, Brown ran twice more for 14 yards down to the 5, and finished things off to give Ithaca a 17-14 edge with 12:27 to play.
Hobart would not back down, however, as the Statesmen answered with a nine-play, 84-yard drive to go back up, 21-17. On the possession, Sweeney started things off with a 30-yard pass to move the ball up to midfield. Now at 3rd-and-5 at the Ithaca 45, Joseph Barrocas kept the drive going with a 7-yard catch. Another third down try for Hobart was stopped short on a 2-yard run and the Statesmen were up against a 4th-and-1 at the 29. Sweeney took the shotgun snap and lofted one up to Shed, who came down with the catch, made a man miss and went into the end zone.
Ithaca attempted to regain the lead and quickly moved into Hobart territory on an unbelievable grab by Gladney for 32 yards. The Bombers then committed two penalties and had a 4th-and-18 from the Hobart 39.
On that play, Nabi looked for Zazzara down the middle and threw the pass incomplete, but Hobart would be called for pass interference for a gut-wrenching penalty to spot the ball at the 24.
Ithaca once again had a fourth down attempt from the 15 and converted on a 6-yard pass to freshman Nick Cervone, but that's where the drive would end of IC, as another fourth down try was unsuccessful and Hobart regained possession with 2:12 to play in the game and the ball at its own 13.
Ithaca called two timeouts during the next drive to preserve clock, and then Hobart was called for too many men on the field on 3rd-and-9. The Statesmen were forced to punt from the 16, and the boot only traveled 30 yards to give Ithaca another chance from the Hobart 46 and 1:46 to play with no timeouts.
A 9-yard catch by Gladney, followed by a 4-yard completion to Zazzara moved Ithaca down to the 33. Hobart was then called for defensive holding to move the spot to the 23.
After the penalty, Nabi looked for Gladney in the end zone for the potential game-winner. A Hobart defender left his man to go for the jump ball and came down with an apparent interception but was ruled out of bounds.
A 7-yard grab by Zazzara gave Ithaca a 3rd-and-3 at the 16. Hobart called a timeout with 52 seconds left, and then Nabi found Bauer for a clutch 14-yard reception down to the 2-yard line. Brown found his way over the goal line to give Ithaca a 24-21 lead and 42 seconds left to play.
On the kickoff which looked to be heading out of bounds, a Hobart returned caught the kick and went out at the 5-yard line. Hobart marched 17 yards on first down, and on the next play, sophomore Rob Daly made a diving attempt over the middle to break up a potential long play for Hobart.
After that, senior Jordan Schemm intercepted a pass, but Ithaca was called for pass interference to keep the game going. A 16-yard completion placed Hobart inside Ithaca territory at the 37 and the Statesmen called their final timeout with 7.8 seconds left. Hobart moved up three more yards for once last play and 1.4 seconds on the clock, but its Hail Mary pass into the end zone was broken up by Schemm to give Ithaca the victory.
The Bombers finished with 497 yards of offense on 343 passing and 154 rushing, while Hobart had 324. Although Hobart's quarter, Shane Sweeney finished the game 19-of-35 passing, he was held to 4-of-16 early on.
Defensively, junior Pat Minogue led the way with eight tackles, while junior Brian Gill tallied seven. Junior Tyler Kishbaugh and sophomore Connor Swaine each notched six tackles.
The Bombers head to the University of Rochester next Saturday for a 12:05 p.m. kickoff at Fauver Stadium.
Ithaca Prevails Over Hobart After Wild Fourth Quarter, 24-21
/seasons/2017/boxscores/20170930_avop.xml
2017
Hobart
21
Ithaca
24
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobart (3-2) | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 21 |
| Ithaca (2-2) | 0 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 24 |
Sep 30, 2017