New York shootout defies words
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So I’ll let Ithaca head coach Mike Welch do it.
“It was a wild game,” Welch said. “It’s a game that you just have to say ‘woo’ afterward. Everyone was exhausted.”
Wild. Exhausted. An excellent choice of words.
This was a game that was 41-35 at the half, and thanks to my set of eyes and ears of fans in and out of Ithaca’s famed First Down Club, 80 might not been out of the question for either team.
They definitely got close. To top it off, it was Ithaca’s homecoming, and the 20th anniversary of the Bombers’ 1988 national championship team. The win was the 25th in 27 football games on Homecoming.
“It was an exciting setting with Homecoming ... we hung tough and kept battling back and forth,” Welch said.
With all the history Ithaca has, it’s difficult to break school records, but junior running back Thomas Bergerstock did just that. He tied or came close to four of them, including a tie for most rushing touchdowns with five. He was 5 yards short of breaking a record for most rushing yards in a game with his 268.
“Tom had an excellent day. He runs well, sees the field and makes cuts. He’s tough to bring down,” Welch said.
Hartwick learned that the hard way. On Monday, Welch was very humble about his team’s performance, saying basically that they did a pretty good job. But I had to laugh... I mean they put up 70 points against a conference opponent!
“The offense played well – I guess it’s understated a little bit,” Welch said. “It was pretty impressive from our offense.”
The team broke a couple records too. It was the second highest point total in IC history and the 111 combined points were the most in school history.
Welch gave a lot of credit to his offensive line as well, including right tackle Jake Queener, right guard Eric Russo, center Ben Garvey, left guard Chris Gray and left tackle Shawn Mirkov.
“There was great blocking up front,” said Welch, who also added All-American tight end Brian Weverbergh to the list. “It’s a good combination.”
Behind that line, Ithaca quarterback Dan Juvan was having a career day of his own. Juvan only completed 13 passes on the day, but they went for 279 yards and a career-high four touchdowns.
“There were two really good quarterbacks on that field,” Welch said, referring also to Jason Boltus for Hartwick. “A lot is put on (Boltus) ... he threw 59 times,” Welch said.
Boltus completed 36 of those passes for 460 yards and four touchdowns of his own.
Ithaca keyed on All-American wide receiver Jack Phelan all day, holding him to only four catches for 29 yards, but junior Noah Koreman picked up the slack for the Hawks, catching 16 passes for 250 yards and three touchdowns.
Koreman’s number of receptions are tied for second-highest in the country this year and the 250 yards was third-highest, and in an interesting twist, Phelan’s 289 against WNEC is the highest.
According to Hartwick statistics, the totals for Koreman were more on one day then he had combined in his career for the Hawks.
“Two guys to key on were Boltus and Phelan, but they had the other receiver Noah,’ Welch said.
“It was a chess match. They won some and we won some. They were a lot to handle.”
Welch, who is one of the most humble coaches I’ve ever deal with, said that even though his team put up Arena Football League numbers, they still want to take it one game at a time.
“Success breeds success,” said Welch, whose team travels to Growney Stadium to take on St. John Fisher for what many believe is the de facto Empire 8 championship game. “We feel good about how we did Saturday, but we don’t want to get complacent. We’re playing a successful football team.”
Oh brother!
Cortland State’s brother connection led the Red Dragons to their first win in Glassboro, N.J. over the Rowan Profs since 1969.
Senior running back Andrew Giuliano rushed for 136 yards and two touchdowns, while his brother, sophomore Anthony Giuliano caught five passes for 122 yards in Cortland’s 27-20 victory.
Courage Bowl IV
More than 4,100 fans came out to Fauver Stadium at the University of Rochester on Saturday night to support more than just two good football teams. The game, which raises money for St. John Fisher assistant coach Gary Mervis’ Camp Good Days, was fairly close throughout, with St. John Fisher coming back for the third year in a row to take down the Yellowjackets.
The Cardinals’ Tim Marion earned MVP honors for St. John Fisher, rushing for two touchdowns and running up 197 all-purpose yards, and now he’ll have his name engraved on the Teddi trophy, named for Mervis’ daughter.
On the Rochester side, Brad Carlson caught six passes for 51 yards and ran 16 times for 63 yards, all career-highs.
Great performances
William Paterson senior Joel Rivera did everything and more for the Pioneers on Saturday in a 21-13 win over the Merchant Marine Academy. Rivera caught 9 passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns as a wide receiver, blocked a point after touchdown and recovered the last ditch onside kick from the Mariners.
USMMA senior Karl Heimbrock had a real nice game on defense making seven tackles, 3.5 for loss, and forcing a fumble to keep the game close against the Pioneers.
Kean’s defense did a terrific job stopping the run against Western Connecticut on Saturday, holding WestConn to a mere 21 yards rushing in a 43-26 victory. The Cougars pass defense, not so much. Western Connecticut quarterback James Williams completed 28 of 40 for 367 yards and four touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to get a win.
Norwich’s Nate Stroffleno caught seven passes for 133 yards and two touchdowns in the Cadets 25-19 loss against Husson.
College of New Jersey quarterback Chris James had a monster game under center on Saturday against Buffalo State in a still relatively new NJAC matchup. James had a hand in five touchdowns in the Lions 42-32 victory over the Bengals. James went 24-for-31 for 303 yards and three touchdowns through the air and rushed for 40 yards and two more scores on the ground to take down Buffalo State.
Utica’s Eric Kahl earned Empire 8 defensive player of the week honors for his performance against RPI. Kahl made 17 tackles in the 24-10 defeat, seventh-most in team history.
Anthony Venturino, a guy I played with and one of the best defensive football players I’ve ever seen, has the record with 23 stops against Springfield in 2004.
Record breakers/milestones
Out of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, new William Paterson head coach Jerry Flora won his first game as coach of the Pioneers.
Speaking of coaches, Cortland coach Dan MacNeill won his 71st game with the Red Dragons, putting him in sole possession of second place in school history behind Carl “Chugger” Davis, for whom Cortland’s old stadium was named. Davis had more than 120 wins in his time as coach from the 1930s into the late ’60s.
Hobart seniors Justin Hager and Jeff Sanders both broke the Hobart school record for most tackles in one game. Hager had 21 stops and Sanders 20 against Centennial Conference foe Carnegie Mellon in a 21-16 victory. The old record was 19, set by 1996 graduate Jesse Truly.
Kean senior Durell Dukes had 163 yards receiving, giving him 2,019 for his career. The total is second all-time in program history.
Lycoming quarterback Josh Kleinfelter had an all-time great day running the football against Susquehanna. Kleinfelter set school records in carries (42) and career highs in yards (229) and touchdowns (3) in Lycoming’s 28-16 win over the Crusaders. Kleinfelter was named as the MAC’s offensive player of the week for his effort.
Other minutiae
Worcester Polytech held Becker to a mere 40 yards of offense in the first half and 150 yards overall in a 47-7 thrashing. WPI has started this season 3-0, and extends their non-conference winning streak to 14 games out of conference since 2004. The Liberty League schedule starts this Saturday for Ed Zaloom’s Engineers, traveling to Troy, N.Y., to take on RPI in the annual Transit Trophy game.
Alfred was held to 15 yards rushing by St. Lawrence, but the Saxons came out on top 20-3 on Saturday at Merrill Field. Alfred only had 10 first downs, but a 60-yard touchdown pass to Trevor Bork from Tom Secky was a big momentum changer against the Saints. Bork had a terrific day, catching nine passes for 172 yards, including the long TD.
Hobart senior running back Anthony Hobaica rushed for 111 yards in their 21-16 win over Carnegie Mellon, the first time a Hobart rusher has gone over 100 yards since Doug Blakowski did it on Nov. 11, 2006 against Rochester.
Kean has scored more than 40 points in both their team’s victories this year. They are 2-0 for the first time since 1994. The 43 points was the second-most in program history in a conference game.
Frostburg State beat Brockport State for the first time in nearly a decade on Saturday, taking down the Golden Eagles 27-14. Frostburg, out of the Atlantic Central Football Conference, played Brockport every year when they were a member of the ACFC and could never quite take them out, but they do this year.
Brockport State’s Garet Lynch rushed for 155 yards in the defeat.
Top 10
1. Ithaca
2. Cortland State
3. RPI
4. St. John Fisher
5. Hobart
6. Delaware Valley
7. Albright
8. Worcester Tech
9. Montclair State
10. Hartwick