Ithaca College Athletics

Ithaca College Football (7-3, 3-2 Empire 8)

LAST WEEK: The Bombers retained the Cortaca Jug traveling trophy by holding off the visiting Cortland Red Dragons 23-20.

OFFENSIVE RECAP: Junior running back Dan Ruggiero (Pen Argyl/Pen Argyl, Pa.) ran for 109 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He capped Ithaca’s opening drive with a one-yard touchdown run and scored on a five-yard carry with 3:06 left in the fourth quarter. Ruggiero carried the ball a career-high 35 times and became just the second runner all year to eclipse 100 yards against the Red Dragons, who entered the game ranked 30th in rushing defense. Ithaca’s leading receiver was junior Thomas Vossler (Saranac Lake/Loon Lake), who caught six passes for 79 yards. He also recovered a fumble in the second quarter; a Red Dragon intercepted a pass on the Bomber 26-yard line, but lost the ball when he was hit by junior wideout Dan Ruffrage (Notre Dame/Whitesboro) and Vossler recovered the fumble. Senior quarterback Brian Grastorf (Niskayuna/Rexford) threw for 158 yards. Sophomore wide receiver Matthew Hannon (Minisink Valley/Middletown) caught a pair of passes and junior tight end Matt Crandall (Cattaraugus-Little Valley/Cattaraugus) set up Ithaca’s final touchdown with a 37-yard reception.

DEFENSIVE NOTES: Sophomore linebacker Ryan Clarke (Archbishop Spaulding/West Friendship, Md.) led Ithaca with 16 tackles, matching his career-high for the second week in a row. He broke up a pass and collected two tackles for loss. Sophomore strong safety Kevin Cline (Waldwick/Waldwick, N.J.) intercepted a pass – the first of his career – with 55 seconds remaining to seal the win. Junior linebacker Eric Toporoff (Montville Township/Towaco, N.J.) made nine tackles and senior free safety Chad Herring (Unatego/Unadilla) finished with seven along with a pair of pass break-ups. Both Herring’s break-ups came when he forced dropped passes on what would have been third-down catches by Red Dragon receivers. Sophomore linebacker Joe Gilfedder (Governor Livingston/Berkeley Heights, N.J.) added five, including two for loss. Sophomore cornerback Mike Conti (Hand/Branford, Conn.) picked off a pass and junior cornerback Andy Lonsky (Delaware Valley/Dingmans Ferry, Pa.) made six tackles.

SPECIAL TEAMS REPORT: Sophomore Andrew Rogowski (Canisius/East Amherst) kicked a career-best three field goals, covering 23, 39 and 32 yards. He kicked a 23-yard field goal midway through the second quarter, added a 32-yard kick with 26 seconds left in the half and gave the Bombers a 10-point lead with a 39-yarder late in the third quarter. Rogowski, who added extra points after both Bomber touchdowns, also averaged 43.2 yards per kick on six punts. He became the first Bomber to collect two 50-yard punts in a game and pinned the Red Dragons at their six-yard line twice. The second punt was downed at the Cortland six when Conti kept the ball out of the end zone and sophomore Adam Lajara (Cambridge Central/Cambridge) downed it. The Red Dragons converted just one extra-point try; their only kick attempt was blocked by senior Adam Drescher (Christian Brothers Academy/Syracuse) and recovered by the holder who threw a pass to the end zone that Toporoff batted down. A conventional two-point try in the fourth quarter failed when Gilfedder kept the receiver out of the end zone. Senior Shane O’Malley (Stroudsburg/East Stroudsburg, Pa.) forced a fumble on a Cortland punt return that Cline recovered. Junior Dan Higgins (Gates-Chili/Rochester) recovered an onside kick attempt following Cortland’s last score. Clarke made three tackles in kick coverage; Herring and junior linebacker Pat Scott (West Genesee/Syracuse) made two apiece.

MAKING THE GRADE: Senior free safety Chad Herring has been named to the District I College Division All-Academic Team: Herring, an exercise science major; is now eligible for academic all-America honors.  The District I All-Academic Team honors student-athletes with a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.30 from NCAA Division II and III and NAIA Division II schools in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Saturday’s game marked the final game for Ithaca’s 21 seniors. The 36th consecutive class to play in a playoff game, the group was part of three NCAA playoff teams and two Empire 8 titles and helped the Bombers to a 39-10 record since 2005.

ITHACA ITEMS: Ithaca’s win over previously unbeaten Alfred clinched the program’s 39th straight winning season. The Bombers own the nation’s second-longest active streak of winning seasons at any level of college football (Linfield has clinched its 53rd straight winning season).

    Saturday’s win raised Ithaca’s all-time record against Cortland to 39-26-3, with a mark of 23-10-1 at home. Since the 1959 introduction of the Cortaca Jug traveling trophy, the Bombers have won 34 of the 51 games, including a 21-7 record at Ithaca.

    Ithaca’s win over Cortland marked just the second time that the Bombers have ended their season by beating visiting Cortland; the 1982 team capped a 6-3 season by pounding the visiting Red Dragons 42-0.

    Five Bomber wide receivers caught a touchdown pass this season (Eric Breton, Matt Hannon, Joseph Ingrao, Dan Ruffrage and Thomas Vossler), matching the school record set in 2005 and tied last season.

    Dan Ruggiero’s 100-yard rushing effort was the sixth of his career and his second in a row. The Bombers have had at least one 100-yard rusher in 120 games since 1984 and have won 107 of those games.

    Ithaca has taken a lead into halftime 116 times under Coach Mike Welch and has won 104 of those games. The Bombers’ record in that span when winning after three quarters is 116-10.

        Adam Drescher’s blocked extra point try against Cortland marked the ninth block of his career and extended his school record of seven blocked PAT attempts. Drescher’s total matches Dave Stone (four field goals and five punts) for the program’s record. As a team, Ithaca blocked four PAT attempts this fall – one short of the school record set in 2007 and tied last season.

    Ithaca’s comeback at Utica marked the fifth time since 2001 that the Bombers have rallied from a third-quarter deficit of at least 10 points. In 2005 Ithaca trailed St. John Fisher by 14 points with nine minutes left before winning 41-35 in overtime; in 2003 the Bombers trailed St. John Fisher 19-7 in the fourth quarter before winning 20-19, in 2002 Ithaca trailed Hartwick 18-7 in the fourth quarter before scoring a pair of touchdowns in the final 6:41 to win 19-18 and in 2001 Ithaca scored twice in the last 5:29 to beat Springfield 17-16 after trailing 16-3.

RECORD WATCH: (note Ithaca career and season records include post-season games since 2002; statistics compiled in post-season games before that do not count toward Ithaca career and season records)

    Senior quarterback Brian Grastorf finished his career with 3,333 yards, good for seventh all-time at Ithaca. Despite making only 12 career starts, he also ranks in the top 10 in touchdown passes (fifth, 31) and completions (sixth, 267) as well as completion percentage (fourth, .582) and pass efficiency rating (sixth, 134.9)

    With 2,220 yards this fall, Grastorf ranks sixth on the program’s single-season list. His 203 completions rank second all-time at Ithaca (and are the highest total for a 10-game season); he ranks sixth with 22 touchdown passes, ninth with a completion percentage of .592 and 11th with a rating of 132.2.

    Junior wide receiver Thomas Vossler moved into the top 10 on Ithaca’s career receptions list, raising his total to 92. His 4.4 catches per game is a school record. Vossler will enter his senior season eight receptions away from becoming the seventh Bomber to catch 100 passes and 40 shy of the school record held by Abe Ceesay (131 from 1996 to 1999). With 1,267 receiving yards, Vossler ranks 16th (87 yards from 10th) and his nine touchdown catches leave him one short of becoming the 17th Bomber to reach double figures.

    Junior wide receiver Dan Ruffrage has raised his career total to 50 receptions, which ranks 31st all-time at Ithaca. He’s 22 catches away from the top 20.

    Junior running back Dan Ruggiero raised his career total to 1,162 rushing yards, moving into 26th on the school’s all-time rushing list. He’s 30th Bomber to run for 1,000 career yards (and the 11th to reach that total since 1998).

        Sophomore Andrew Rogowski kicked a school-record 12 field goals and finished the season with six straight successful attempts, matching the third longest streak by an Ithaca kicker. He’s raised his career total to 132 points, good for fourth all-time among Ithaca kickers. With 81 extra points he’s fourth all-time and his 17 field goals are third. Rogowski’s 81.0 accuracy rate on field goals is the best ever by an Ithaca kicker with at least 10 attempts and only two Bomber kickers have higher PAT percentages than his 94.2 success rate. Rogowski became the 28th Bomber (and sixth kicker) to reach 100 career points and is 15th all-time on the program’s scoring list. He needs 11 points to move into the top 10.

    Junior tight end Dan Higgins (Greece Athena/Rochester) has caught 33 passes, good for ninth among tight ends on Ithaca’s career list. His 29 catches this fall rank seventh on the single-season tight end list.

    Senior tackle Joe Goetz (New Hyde Park Memorial/New Hyde Park) recorded 11 career sacks, good for 17th all-time at Ithaca.

EMPIRE 8 HONORS: Sophomore punter Andrew Rogowski was selected Empire 8 Special Teams Player of the Week following his performance in the Bombers' win over Cortland on Saturday. Rogowski was honored for the third time this season (and the second week in a row) after winning the award following Ithaca's wins over Widener and #14 Alfred.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please contact Ithaca sports information director Mike Warwick in the sports

information office at (607/274-1401) or mwarwick@ithaca.edu.

2009 Results (7-3, 3-2 Empire 8)