Game Story written by staff writer Rory Mastine
The Ithaca College football team lost its final game of the season on Saturday, giving defending national champion No. 2 Cortland and their dominant run game all they could handle in a 28-17 dogfight. Despite going back and forth between bitter rivals for 60 minutes, the 65th Cortaca Jug remained on Red Dragons soil among thousands of rowdy fans.
This loss puts an end to the Bombers’ hopes of earning an at-large bid for the NCAA playoffs and therefore ends their 2024 season.
The Bombers announced their presence in the Dragons’ lair early, forcing a three-and-out on the first possession and then immediately bringing the heat on offense. On a third and long from their offense’s 44-yard line, Bombers’ sophomore quarterback Matthew Parker baited the Dragons’ defense before dumping the ball off to senior running back Jake Williams on a screen play. Williams, with room and blockers, bolted down the field untouched before capping off the 56-yard run by forcibly planting a Dragons defender into the end zone to put Ithaca up by a touchdown.
Unfazed, the Red Dragons retaliated during their next possession with a deep cut from their playbook. Senior quarterback Zac Boyes fired the ball on a lateral pass to sophomore wide receiver Sam Cotton, as he had done multiple times already that game. Instead of running upfield, this time, Cotton put the ball in the air, allowing senior wide receiver Jaden AlfanoStJohn enough time to adjust to an underthrown pass and arrive in the endzone for a 42-yard touchdown.
Parker began to find his stride during the next possession, completing passes in some tight windows to march the Bombers down the field. But it was the ground game that would earn the Bombers their next score, as senior running back Jalen Leonard-Osbourne turned the corner on the right side of the field before letting the afterburners carry him 58 yards downfield to put the Bombers back on top 14-7.
After struggling to run the ball effectively on their first two drives, the Red Dragons decided to focus on the ground game. When Boyes was not running the rock himself, it was in the hands of sophomore running back Ethan Gallo. Gallo did much of the heavy lifting during a long scoring drive, including the final three–yard rush into the end zone to tie the game once again at the beginning of the second quarter. Gallo would finish the game with 183 yards on the ground, making himself a huge problem for any Bomber who met him in the open field.
After allowing touchdowns on four straight possessions, both defenses started to settle in. As the Red Dragons made their way into the red zone, the Bombers managed to keep the game even, with senior defensive linemen Owen O’Neill and Josh Miles slamming Gallo back on a crucial fourth down conversion attempt on the Bombers’ own 5–yard line. On the Dragons’ next offensive series, senior Bombers defensive back Danny Portas exploded through the line on an errant snap, pouncing on the ball as it bounced into the air and winning possession back for his team. Although a sack on Parker by senior defensive lineman Max Llewellyn killed the ensuing drive, a perfect punt to the 1–yard line by Williams ensured that the Red Dragons would not make the Bombers pay for it.
The Bombers started the second half with the ball, advancing far enough for senior placekicker Derek Baldin to split the uprights from 42 yards out and break the tie once again, putting the Bombers up 17-14.
Red Dragons head coach Curt Fitzpatrick made his second-half adjustments, and they paid off almost immediately. A dominant drive was capped with a five-yard strike to senior receiver CJ Messina, beating the Bombers’ zone defense for the first Red Dragons lead of the game. Offensively, the Bombers could not replicate the success of the first quarter, but the defense, led by their senior standouts, stopped a threatening Dragons drive as the third quarter expired.
The Bombers could not capitalize on their first possession of the final quarter, giving Cortland the ball back. Once again, the Bombers’ defense bent without breaking, as the Red Dragons made it all the way to the two-yard line. Sophomore running back Tyson Taylor tried to punch it home, but the ball was dislodged from his hands before ending up in the hands of Bombers standout senior defensive back Jake Connolly.
An apparent injury to Parker derailed the ensuing Bombers drive, and the Cortland offense finally capitalized on their defense’s efforts. After asserting their will on the ground, Boyes faked the handoff and ran for three of his 132 rushing yards as he scampered into the endzone, finger-rolling the ball in celebration before climbing the chain link fence to celebrate with his classmates behind the end zone.
With Parker unable to stand in the pocket, the Bombers sent out sophomore quarterback Colin Schumm to try and pull a season-saving win out of thin air. He found a shred of magic in a strike to senior receiver Sam Kline, whose will to extend his football career was stronger than the vicious contact to his helmet from the recovering corner. Ultimately, Schumm and the Bombers could not pull off the unthinkable, surrendering possession on downs before watching as Cortland ran out the clock on the 2024 season.
Bombers head coach Michael Toerper spoke about his team’s effort, commending his players for the heart they showed in a bitter rivalry game.
“The only way you give yourself a chance is to work as hard as you possibly can in your preparation and play as hard you possibly can on game day,” Toerper said. “And they definitely did that, but we just didn’t make enough plays in the critical situations in some of those games this year to get the result to be in our favor.”
While the ultimate goal of the postseason was never realized, this Bombers team will be remembered for the five-game winning streak that followed a rough start. A unique mix of young talent and senior leadership — especially from the likes of Kline and Connolly — brought this team to a winning record. More importantly, it created a baseline for 2025: potential for greatness, room for improvement, and hunger for vengeance.
Toerper spoke about the imminent preparations for the 2025 season, detailing his process for the coming months.
“We have to continue to strengthen our culture,” Toerper said. “These seniors and the upperclassmen, they’ve done a great job of being a part of the building blocks of this culture. The last three years, we’ve done some great things, but we’re not satisfied. I think for us, we know that we didn’t reach our ultimate goal this year, so the work starts this week. It starts with identifying the things that we do better as a team and that I need to do better as a coach, and making sure that we communicate with our players what they need to really work on individually to be the best version of themselves.”
Live blog done by sports editor Flynn Hynes.
