Nov 16, 2024
CORTLAND, N.Y. - The Cortland football team won the Cortaca Jug for the second straight year and completed the third 10-0 regular season in school history as the host Red Dragons defeated Ithaca College, 28-17, in the 65th edition of the rivalry game in front of 9,562 fans at Grady Field.
Cortland, ranked second nationally and the defending NCAA Division III champion, won its 22nd straight game dating back to last season. The Red Dragons were previously 10-0 in the regular season in both 1988 and 2021. Cortland is almost assuredly guaranteed receiving a bye in the first round of the 40-team NCAA playoffs and hosting a second-round game on Nov. 30. The NCAA selections and pairings will be announced on NCAA.com Sunday at 5 p.m.
Cortland trailed 14-7 through one quarter after allowing 56-yard and 58-yard touchdowns but held the Bombers to three points the rest of the way. Cortland ended with a 455-321 advantage in total offensive yards, including a 324-130 rushing margin.
Ethan Gallo (Slate Hill/Minisink Valley) carried 32 times for 183 yards and a touchdowns and quarterback Zac Boyes (Buffalo/Kenmore West) ran 15 times for 132 yards and a TD despite being held to 13-of-22 passing for 89 yards and a score. It's the third straight Cortaca Jug game in which Boyes has surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark. Gallo ran 14 times for 107 yards in the second half and Boyes had nine carries for 75 yards after halftime.
Sam Cotton (Fulton/G. Ray Bodley) caught four passes and threw a TD pass, while Jaden AlfanoStJohn (Westhamton/Westhampton Beach) and CJ Messina (Sayville) each caught TD passes. Jaden Martinez (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue) led Cortland with 12 tackles, including a sack. Junius Keys (Queens/Eagle Academy) and Jack Winey (Lindenhurst) each finished with eight tackles and Ty Kolar (Sayville), Max Llewellyn (Sayville) and Ryan Isom (Levittown/MacArthur) totaled six tackles each. Anthony Luciano (Loudonville/Shaker) broke up two passes.
Jalen Leonard-Osbourne led Ithaca with 13 rushes for 117 yards and a TD. Jake Williams caught a TD pass and Derek Baldin made a 42-yard field goal. Matthew Parker was 10-of-24 passing for 148 yards and a score before leaving in the fourth quarter due to injury. Colin Schumm completed 5-of-8 passes for 43 yards. Nicholas Lang and Ben Marinaccio caught three passes apiece. Ryan Burns led the Bombers (6-4) with 14 tackles, seven solo. Joe Spirra and Jake Connolly each had 13 tackles and Andrew Swierbut recorded nine stops.
Ithaca got on the board first when Williams turned a screen pass into a 56-yard TD just 3:36 into the game. Cortland tied the game on its next possession when Cotton took a backwards pass from Boyes and then threw downfield go a wide open AlfanoStJohn for a 42-yard score. The catch was AlfanoStJohn's 12th TD reception of the season.
The Bombers answered right back on Leonard-Osbourne's 58-yard TD run to cap an 87-yard drive and take a 14-7 lead. Cortland completed the stretch of four consecutive possessions between the teams resulting in touchdowns with a 12-play, 68-yard drive that ended in five straight Gallo runs, including a 3-yard run for his 20th rushing touchdown of the season. Cortland looked poised to take the lead with less than three minutes left in the half but an errant snap to a fumble inside the Ithaca 30-yard line that the Bombers' Danny Portas recovered.
Ithaca marched from its own 25-yard line to the Cortland 25-yard line on the opening drive of the third quarter and Baldin's 42-yard field goal put the Bombers up, 17-14. Gallo started the Red Dragons' next drive with 14-yard and 35-yard runs to move the ball to Ithaca's 21-yard line. A 14-yard pass to Cotton, coupled with an Ithaca roughing the passer penalty, advanced the ball to the 3-yard line, and on 3rd-and-goal from the 5-yard line Boyes hit Messina in the back left corner of the end zone to give Cortland its first lead of the afternoon, 21-17, with 9:18 left in the third.
A few minutes into the fourth quarter Cortland pushed the ball to the Ithaca 2-yard line, but on 3rd-and-goal Henry Takacs forced a fumble that Connolly recovered to keep the Bombers within four. Cortland, however, forced a 3-and-out and started its next drive on its own 41-yard line. Boyes ran for 26 yards on 2nd-and-10, and three plays later hit Gallo on a 7-yard pass to the Bombers' 19-yard line on 3rd-and-3. Boyes converted another 3rd-and-3 with a 6-yard run to the Ithaca 6-yard line, and two plays later he ran in untouched from three yards out to extend the lead to 28-17 with 3:42 left.
Ithaca drove from its 25-yard line to the Cortland 31-yard line before turning the ball over on downs with 1:12 left. Gallo ran for seven and four yards on the next two plays to close out the victory.