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Postseason Preview
By Mike Warwick, Ithaca SID (updated Nov. 19)
| Mike can be reached at mwarwick@ithaca.edu Aug. 11: Regional preview Sept. 7: Buffalo opens with win Sept. 15: Eight receiving votes Sept. 22: Marquee matchups Sept. 30: Brockport-Buffalo preview Oct. 7: Buffalo-Rowan preview Oct. 14: UCAA takes center stage Oct. 22: Brockport's stretch over Oct. 29: Top 25 matchup Nov. 5: Cortaca Jug battle Upstate NY stats, schedules |
The playoffs begin for four Upstate New York teams this week, and one of them will definitely win. That’s because Union hosts Ithaca in the ECAC Northwest championship game. In NCAA playoff competition, first-time entrant Rensselaer hosts national power Rowan and Buffalo State travels to Montclair State in a matchup of two teams who played their way in with upset wins last Saturday.
Rensselaer, one of just two undefeated Pool B teams in the nation, will be making its first NCAA playoff appearance. (the Engineers won four ECAC playoff games between 1992 and 1997).
Buffalo State rode the big play to a come-from-behind win against Ithaca that sealed an NCAA playoff bid. The Bengals, the first Division III team to ever beat Ithaca five straight times, erased a 28-19 third-quarter deficit with a 95-yard run, an 87-yard reception and an 88-yard interception return (which came as the Bombers were driving for what would have been the winning touchdown. Wide receiver Derrick Baker, who has had over 500 receiving yards against Ithaca the past two years, caught a pair of touchdown passes including the 87-yard score.
Saturday’s ECAC Northwest championship between Ithaca and Union rekindles one of Upstate New York’s great postseason rivalries. The teams played three NCAA playoff games in a seven-year span, with Ithaca winning all three.
The Bombers won NCAA regional semifinal games in 1985 (13-12) and 1986 (24-17 in overtime) and beat the Dutchmen 35-23 in the 1991 East Region championship, en route to the program’s third national championship.
Two unbeaten postseason streaks go head to head in this game: Union is 3-0 in ECAC playoff games, while the Bombers have never lost a playoff game -- ECAC or NCAA -- on the road.
Mike can be reached at mwarwick@ithaca.edu.