The Ithaca College football team gave its senior leaders a proper sendoff by annihilating St. Lawrence University Nov. 9, making its final home game of the season a 41–0 victory. The Bombers came into the game with their playoff lives on the line, needing a defining win in order to stay in the hunt for a postseason bid.
Sophomore quarterback Matthew Parker immediately got to work, rolling out of the pocket on the first play of the game to find graduate student Sam Kline for 29 yards down the right sideline. Not wasting any time, Parker went back to his right, putting the ball 41 yards downfield into the arms of sophomore receiver Nicholas Matos for a Bombers touchdown.
While the Bombers offense remained quiet for the rest of the quarter, the Saints couldn’t even up the score on offense. The Bombers’ vaunted “Death Row” defensive line wreaked havoc in the backfield, denying the Saints any semblance of a run game.
“We knew they weren’t going to be able to run the ball on us,” senior defensive back Tommy Moran said of his front four. “Our run defense is pretty legit.”
Back on offense to start the second quarter, Parker delivered another deep strike to Kline to set up a four-yard rushing touchdown for senior running back Jake Williams. Continuing to feed the hot hand, Kline had a major run after the catch to start off the next drive for the Bombers. Punctuating a huge Bombers possession after marching the ball down the field, Kline hauled in a beautifully timed ball in the left corner for his first touchdown of the season and likely his last at Butterfield Stadium. Naturally, he was immediately mobbed by his teammates to celebrate a catch that meant a lot more than a three-touchdown lead on the scoreboard.
The Bomber faithful wouldn’t have to wait long to see another highlight on that side of the field. On the next Bombers drive, Parker went back to the well, placing the ball in the same corner from 14 yards out. Sophomore receiver Nicholas Lang extended one hand, snagged the ball out of the air and survived contact with the turf for a “Sportscenter”-worthy touchdown that left the Saints questioning their faith.
Looking to dig themselves out of a 28–0 hole, the Saints came out looking to put the ball in the air, but Moran and the Bombers had other ideas.
“They were running a lot of screens,” Moran said of the Saints’ scheme. “The secondary just did our job and didn’t let them take any deep shots. We let them take what we gave them in front of us and then just got them on the ground.”
Inversely, the Bombers put the ball back on the ground for most of the second half. After one last rushing touchdown for senior running back Jalen Leonard-Osbourne, the Bombers started to cycle in their second-string players and settled for conservative play calling to secure their fifth win in a row.
The shutout victory proved to be the perfect sendoff for a Bombers’ senior class that not only turned this season around for the better, but also played a key role in several successful seasons over the last few years.
“They’re all great guys before they’re football players,” head coach Michael Toerper said. “I’m proud of what they’ve done and what they’ve meant to this football program over the last four or five years. These are guys I want my son to be like. I’m going to miss them, but they’ve left this program better than they found it. We’ve got some great guys coming up after them, but they’re only going to be great because they were trained by these seniors.”
As far as what today’s win meant outside of a senior celebration, Toerper is already focused on the biggest game of the season for his squad.
“Good win for us today, so we’re all on to Cortland,” Toerper said. “That’s it.”
The reigning national champion Red Dragons await after winning the Empire 8 in a tough matchup against SUNY Brockport. The Bombers will look to ruin their rivals’ perfect season in the 65th Cortaca Jug at 12pm Nov. 16 in their first trip to SUNY Cortland since 2021.
Despite the formidable challenge, Toerper and the Bombers are ready to play as the underdog.
“The standard is the standard for us,” Toerper said. “We’ll look at this week one day at a time as we game plan for these guys, put ourselves in good positions for the game and really just gain some clarity that will give us confidence and play four quarters on Saturday. We’re excited.”
