SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The nationally ranked No. 19 Ithaca College football team beat the host Springfield College Pride at their own game in an NCAA First Round matchup at Stagg Field on November 18 and came away with a 21-7 victory. The Bombers are now 9-2 on the season and are 31-9 all-time against Springfield.
Ithaca held Springfield to just 160 yards of offense and 105 yards rushing, while the IC offense ran for 259 yards and finished the day with 294 yards as the Bombers held onto the ball for over 40 minutes. Springfield entered the game as the nation's leading rushing team with 407 per game.
Ithaca received the opening kickoff and started its first drive at the 33-yard line after a 27-yard return by Anthony D'Addetta.
IC quickly faced a fourth down and converted on a sneak by Colin Schumm to continue the drive. On the next set of downs, Jalen Leonard-Osbourne avoided a big loss on first down and then picked up a third down on a screen pass. The Bombers then moved into the red zone following another third down conversion and a 5-yard completion to Leonard-Osbourne.
Facing another third down at the Springfield 13-yard line, Leonard-Osbourne picked up the fourth third down conversion of the drive to spot the ball at the 9-yard line.
IC took a 7-0 lead on a 3-yard run by Leonard-Osbourne as the Bombers chewed up nearly 10 minutes of the first quarter. The Bombers picked up six first downs on the drive as IC ran 18 plays for 68 yards.
Springfield was unable to produce anything on its opening drive, but the Pride boomed a 72-yard punt to pin IC at its own 1-yard line.
After a sneak by Schumm to give IC some breathing room, Leonard-Osbourne broke off a 90-yard run around the right side to move the ball all the way down to the Springfield 7-yard line. The 90-yard jaunt was the fourth-longest in school history as Leonard-Osbourne finished the first half with 125 yards on 11 carries.
On the ensuing snap, Jalen Hines scored to extend Ithaca's lead to 14-0 with 1:29 remaining in the quarter.
The Pride responded with a 39-yard kick return but were once again forced to punt back to IC without picking up a first down.
Springfield's punt only traveled 15 yards and IC took over at its own 42 to begin the second quarter. IC was stopped short on third down and appeared to fumble, but Schumm was called down by contact and the Bombers punted.
Springfield opened its next drive with a 30-yard completion on first down to move up to midfield. The Pride did not pick up another first down and punted for the third time down to the IC 16-yard line with 11 minutes to go in the half.
Darren Brunner boomed two punts over 50 yards in the half and placed both inside Springfield's 20-yard line. Brunner finished the game with four punts for 201 yards for an average of 50.3 per punt.
It was a punt game for the rest of the half as IC maintained its 14-point lead. The Bomber defense held the nation's leading rushing attack to just 42 yards on the ground in the first half.
Springfield started the second half at its own 10-yard line and fumbled on third down at the 15 to give Ithaca terrific field position. Brunner forced the fumble and Aidan Parry recovered.
Two plays later, Leonard-Osbourne scored on an 11-yard rush to the left to push IC's lead to 21-0 with 12:34 remaining in the third quarter.
After another punt by Springfield, the Bombers quickly moved up to midfield following a 7-yard carry by Nicholas Lang and 15-yard run by Leonard-Osbourne, but could not progress down the field any further and gave the ball back to the Pride with 7:04 left in the quarter.
The Pride put together their first sustained drive of the contest following the 51-yard punt by Brunner. Following a large dose of runs by Arsen Shetfan, Springfield moved down to the IC 25-yard line after a 15-yard pass from Jacob Silvester to Bradley Barcell. The Pride then reached the red zone on a 9-yard completion to Noah Wagnblas to end the third quarter.
IC was flagged for holding early in the fourth quarter to move Springfield up to the 7-yard line. The Pride then scored on a 3-yard run by Blane Hart to make it 21-7 with 12:52 left in the game. Springfield capped off a 17-play, 80-yard drive that took over nine minutes.
D'Addetta gave IC good field position with a 28-yard return to the 38-yard line to begin the next drive. Ithaca moved into Springfield territory after a pair of Hines runs and a 6-yard gain by Schumm. The Bombers then faced another fourth down at the Springfield 40 and continued the drive on a 4-yard run by Schumm.
Springfield was forced to call timeout with 6:43 left in the game as the Bombers moved down to the Pride 30-yard line and a 3rd-and-4 situation. IC went for it on 4th-and-short and came up just short to turn the ball over on downs at the 26.
The Pride went three-and-out to give IC the ball with less than five minutes remaining, but the Bombers could not close out the game and punted back to Springfield with 3:29 to go.
Ithaca took the ball back less than a minute later as Derek Slywka drilled Dante Vasquez to force the fumble and Danny Portas recovered at the Springfield 39-yard line with 2:50 on the clock.
Dan Mason would pick up the clinching first down as IC ended the game in victory formation.
Leonard-Osbourne concluded his performance with 165 yards on 20 carries, while Schumm added 60 yards on 17 attempts. Leonard-Osbourne also led in receiving yards with 26 as Schumm completed seven passes on 10 attempts.
Defensively, Jake Connolly led with 12 total tackles, Joshua Miles and Carson Ciancuielli both added seven tackles. Slywka earned six stops and two tackles for loss as the Bombers finished with five TFLs in the game.
The Bombers move onto the second round where they will play No. 8 Randolph-Macon next Saturday, November 25.
No. 19 Ithaca Jumps Out Early to Defeat Springfield in NCAA First Round, 21-7
/seasons/2023/boxscores/20231118_0zy1.xml
2023
Ithaca
21
Springfield
7
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 19 Ithaca (9-2) | 14 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| Springfield (9-2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
Nov 18, 2023