LATROBE, Pa. – The Ithaca College football team started off the 2019 season in impressive fashion, as the Bombers took down Saint Vincent College, 66-28, at Chuck Noll Field on Saturday afternoon, September 7. The Bombers have now started a season 1-0 in 21 of the past 22 seasons. The 66 points scored are also the most points IC as put up in an opener since IC defeated Mansfield, 59-23, in 1996.
Ithaca won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Saint Vincent put together a solid opening drive, but everything stalled deep inside Ithaca territory, as junior Antonio Valle forced a fumble and was recovered by sophomore Warren Watson at the 31-yard line with 12:38 left in the first quarter.
The Bombers quickly flipped that turnover into a touchdown with a six-play, 69-yard drive, which was capped off with a 27-yard touchdown pitch-and-catch from senior Joe Germinerio to junior Andrew Vito with 10:46 left in the opening quarter. The extra point was missed to make the score 6-0.
Germinerio would finish the game with a school-record-tying six touchdown passes on 27-of-37 attempts and 303 yards.
Just over two minutes later, Ithaca forced Saint Vincent to punt, and on that play, junior Kyle Smith blocked and returned the punt 26 yards for a touchdown. Germinerio then found senior James Jarvis for a two-point conversion to give the Bombers a 14-0 lead.
On the next SVC possession, the Bearcats had to punt again. K. Smith broke through the line and blocked his second punt of the game and junior Jake Smith covered up the loose ball to give IC possession at the SVC 33-yard line.
Four players later, Germinerio hooked up with senior Will Gladney for a 16-yard score and IC led, 21-0, with five minutes left in the opening stanza.
The Bombers would cap off the impressive initial 15 minutes with another touchdown catch from Vito, this time 11 yards on a shovel pass from Germinerio in the final minute to make the score 28-0.
SVC would get on the board just 3:30 into the score quarter on a 13-yard touchdown reception, but IC answered with a 1-yard run from senior Isaiah D'Haiti with 7:35 to play and a 6-yard catch from Gladney less than two minutes later to extend the difference to 42-7.
The Bearcats scored again at the 2:05 mark on a short run, but IC had the final say heading into intermission as Gladney hauled in his third score of the contest on a 7-yard strike from Germinerio with 18 seconds on the clock to give IC a 49-14 advantage heading to halftime.
IC had 292 yards of offense in the first half, to 179 for Saint Vincent.
SVC came out of the break and forced IC into a 3-and-out. The Bearcats then scored from 10 yards out less than five minutes into the third period to pull to within 49-21.
Ithaca answered with a 20-yard touchdown catch from Jarvis, the first of his career, after Germinerio avoided multiple sack opportunity and hit Jarvis in the far corner of the end zone with 2:11 to go in the third, which made the score 56-21.
In the fourth quarter, Ithaca established its largest lead of the game at 63-21 on a 2-yard jaunt from senior Dominick Pfisterer just 1:11 into the period. Pfisterer rushed for a team-best 21 yards on four carries and tallied his first career touchdown at IC.
SVC scored once again with 8:39 remaining on a 6-yard run, but the Bombers would close out the contest on a 30-yard field goal from freshman Nicholas Bahamonde with just over a minute left to account for the final score of 66-28.
Bahamonde made 6-of-7 extra point attempts to go along with his first career field goal and logged four touchbacks.
Vito led all receivers with 115 yards on nine catches, while Gladney had 89 yards on eight grabs. Sophomore Donte Garcia also hauled in four receptions for 44 yards.
Sophomore Chase Hebron ran for 21 yards on seven carries, while classmate A.J. Clifford had 17 yards rushing and 81 yards in kick returns. Junior Wahid Nabi threw for 27 yards on 4-of-7 attempts.
Defensively, junior Antonio Valle and sophomore Michael Roumes each had eight tackles. Senior John Hadac and sophomore Miles Haynes each logged 1.5 sacks, while senior Nick Garone and junior Thomas Diver each recorded interceptions.
Garone returned his interception 17 yards to set up the 6-yard touchdown grab by Gladney and Diver's pick was brought back 39 yards and led to the Pfisterer score.
Sophomore Nathaniel Potts forced a fumble on a 9-yard sack, while was recovered by sophomore Zach Toback.
IC finished the game with 413 yards of offense and picked up 25 first downs. SVC recorded 327 yards on the offensive end and 23 first downs.
The Bombers will be back in action on September 21 at home against Alfred University at 1 p.m.