In a tough defensive battle, the No. 16 Endicott College Gulls outlasted the No. 24 Ithaca College football team on Sept. 14, winning by a final score 13-7. The Bombers came into the game fresh off an emotional loss to No. 8 Johns Hopkins to open the season, while the Gulls spent last weekend in St. Lawrence enjoying a 44-13 win.
The South Hill Squad opened the game by keeping the ball on the ground, with senior running backs Jalen Leonard-Osbourne and Jake Williams doing the majority of the heavy lifting. Sophomore quarterback Colin Schumm also logged multiple rush attempts, but the rushing attack was stifled early and often by a gritty Gulls defense.
The Bombers’ defense came out firing, forcing the Gulls to punt early. However, a subsequent muffed punt put the ball back in scoring position for the Gulls until first-year student linebacker Ty Boland hawked down the Gulls’ graduate student quarterback Clayton Marengi for a sack that sent the Gulls back 20 yards and out of field goal range.
Despite opening the next drive with a first down rush from Leonard-Osbourne, the Bombers’ rushing attack was stuffed by the Gulls once again. The Gulls marched down the field, but senior lineman Isaiah Couser swatted away their field goal attempt, which was picked up by senior defensive back Jake Connolly and returned for 47 yards.
The Bombers opened the second quarter by taking advantage of Connolly’s big play, with Leonard-Osbourne putting the Bombers on the board with an 11-yard rushing touchdown. A quick three-and-out by the Bombers’ defense bolstered their momentum as the squad looked to take over the game.
The Gulls’ offense finally found daylight, marching down the field and punctuating the drive with a three-yard touchdown courtesy of senior running back Yavier Cosme-Diaz. With the game tied, the two teams traded unsuccessful drives before the Bombers got an opportunity to run the two-minute drill. Despite making progress down the field, Schumm’s desperation heave into the end zone ended up in the hands of graduate student defensive back Johnny Carreiro to end the half.
The second half kicked off with a beautiful catch by the Gulls’ sophomore wide receiver Kennedy Charles for a 57-yard touchdown that would end up being the final points of the game. Couser got through for another block to deny the extra point and keep his team motivated. The Bombers and the Gulls punted the ball back and forth for the rest of the quarter as both defenses continued to have their way.
The final quarter started with a great Bombers drive, cutting up the Gulls’ defense and making it into the redzone. However, the Gulls were saved by graduate student defensive back Zachariah Twardosky, who made a leaping interception in the end zone to shut down the Bombers. Both teams exchanged punts once again, with Schumm appearing to sustain a lower-body injury during the Bombers’ offensive series. The next Endicott series ended when junior linebacker Ryan Burns popped the ball free from Cosme-Diaz and Connolly ended up with the ball for his second recovered turnover on the day.
The Gulls stopped the Bombers from capitalizing on Connolly’s heroics again. Schumm, on the sidelines in crutches, was effectively shut down for the day, putting the pressure on sophomore quarterback Matthew Parker to pull out a victory. Parker and the Bombers ended up with the ball one final time, and while Parker put together a string of nice passes, his final hail mary ended the same as his predecessor’s: picked in the end zone, this time by senior defensive back Alfino Davis.
Connolly, who saw his father Scott Connolly ’96 inducted into the Ithaca College Sports Hall of Fame at halftime, had a career game, adding three tackles for loss to his two recovered turnovers.
“Having my whole family here and being able to perform to the best of my ability during the game, it means a lot to me that they take the time out of their day to come and see me play,” Connolly said.
Head coach Michael Toerper spoke about Connolly and his impact on the Bombers, both in this game and over his career.
“He’s the ultimate football player, the ultimate competitor,” Toerper said. “I love him to death. He’s the perfect player. There’s nobody else I’d rather have leading the defense than Jake Connolly.”
With the loss, the Bombers start their season 0-2. Toerper offered an assessment of his team’s strengths while also expressing the need to workshop the offense.
“We’ve got grit, we’ve got heart, but we have to find a way to score points,” Toerper said.
The Bombers will capitalize on a bye week before hitting the road to close out their non-conference schedule. The Bombers will have their next game at 12 p.m. Sept. 28 at Curry College as the squad looks to return to their winning ways before Liberty League play opens.
Despite the losing record, Connolly recognizes that the pieces to a great season are there, and he’s excited to put them together during the bye week.
“We’re a gritty team,” Connolly said. “The first two games didn’t go the way we wanted, but we proved that we can hang with the best teams in the country, and we’re going to use our bye week to prepare and figure a few things out. Defensively, we have to communicate more.
Offensively, we need to figure out more ways to put the ball in the end zone, but we’re going to be great.”
