One last goal-line stand was all the football team needed for a win. The ball was on the 1-yard line as the middle linebacker bent his knees and balanced on the balls of his feet. With the snap of the ball, he hurdled over the running back to try and clog the hole to the goal line.

But when the whistle blew, a game-winning touchdown became the least of his concerns. An awkward landing on his left foot had graduate student and captain Matt Scalice wondering if his days in a Bomber uniform were over.

“I had immediate pain in the middle of my foot,” Scalice said. “When I came off the field, I knew something was wrong.”

It was an injury originally diagnosed as season-ending for Scalice. But after missing three games early in the year, Scalice saw limited action against St. John Fisher College in week six and returned to the starting lineup Saturday in the team’s 20–10 win over Frostburg State University.

“I could be done for the year, but I’m prolonging the surgery,” Scalice said. “I count my blessing every day that the doctor cleared me to play.”

Head Coach Mike Welch said Scalice’s return was a pleasant surprise for his team.

“The doctor that gave the diagnosis was surprised,” Welch said. “Usually that type of injury is season-ending, but he responded well to treatment and really felt it coming around.”

Scalice is not the only Bomber captain who has been sidelined by an injury this season. Senior captain and defensive end Adam Drescher missed three games after an elbow injury in the season opener.

“It was hard to watch from the sidelines,” Drescher said. “I just tried to stay involved as much as I could coaching and helping out. You just got to stay in that football mind-set.”

Drescher’s injury forced him to miss three games before returning to the starting lineup Oct. 3 in Oneonta, N.Y., a game in which the Bombers defeated Hartwick College by a score of 24–10. Drescher also made a speedy recovery back to the gridiron ahead of his expected timetable and said he is back to 100 percent.

Saturday’s win against Frostburg marked the first time Scalice and Drescher lined up on the starting defense together since week one. Despite the bangs and bruises, the Bombers’ defense has allowed fewer than 20 points per game, which is better than last season’s 9–1 conference champion Bombers, who allowed an average of 22 points per game.

While the Bombers finally have the core of their defense back in the starting lineup, the team still finds itself overcoming injuries. Senior fullback Danny Witbeck is done for the season because of an injury in week five, and junior tight end Dan Higgins had an injury keep him out of the starting lineup the last two weeks after starting the first five games of the season. Most notably, junior running back Dan Ruggiero has been sidelined since being injured in week two. Ruggiero practiced last week, and Welch said he is day to day. Senior running back Thomas Bergerstock suffered an injury in Saturday’s game, but his status is unknown.

The Bombers are idle this weekend, and the week off could not have come at a better time for the team, which will play two crucial league contests before finishing the regular season against rival SUNY-Cortland. But despite having an extra week of rest, the Bombers said they must remain focused.

“It’s good to have extra time to prepare and get these guys healed up,” Drescher said. “But we know it’s not just a week off. We take it really serious.”

Box Score - Ithaca vs Frostburg State (10/17/09 at Frostburg, Md.)