FAUVER STADIUM – The first game of the Liberty League football season did not go as well as the Yellowjackets might have hoped. Ithaca College won its third straight game in league play by controlling both sides of the ball.
The Bombers (3-2 overall, 3-0 Liberty) ran for five touchdowns, passed for one, and recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a seventh score in a 46-6 win on Saturday afternoon. Rochester is 2-3 overall, 0-1 in the Liberty League.
Isaiah D'Haiti rushed eight times for 102 yards and two touchdowns. He scored on a three-yard run late in the third quarter and then broke free for an 80-yard touchdown midway through the fourth.
Tristan Brown, Nick Carvone, and Anthony Capozzi rushed for touchdowns. Quarterback Wahid Nabi completed 17 of 21 passes for 206 yards and one score – an 18-yarder to Will Gladney to open the scoring in the first quarter. Gladney and JR Zazzara caught five passes apiece.
Ithaca totaled 455 yards in offense – 221 on the ground and 234 through the air. Rochester had 228 yards in offense. The Yellowjackets rushed for 145 yards and passed for 83 more. Josh Brown led Rochester with 67 yards on 14 carries. He scored on a 15-yard run five minutes into the fourth quarter. Brown completed 11 of 19 passes for 80 yards with one interception.
The special teams touchdown came five minutes before intermission. Andrew Vito blocked Paul Mokrzycki's punt and Ryan Bronson recovered it in the end zone. David Prudhomme's PAT increased Ithaca's lead to 27-0. It was 33-0 early in the third after Brown's 22-yard touchdown run. Prudhomme made three of five PATs. His first attempt was blocked by Rochester's Tristan Yates (after the Gladney TD catch-and-run). His try after the Brown touchdown missed. Josh Riger made one of two extra points for Ithaca – he hit on D'Haiti's first touchdown. His attempt after D'Haiti's 80-yard scoring run was blocked by UR's Justin Warner.
Rochester drove 68 yards in 10 plays to score its TD in the fourth quarter. Brown completed two key passes to David Angie to keep the drive going. He found Angie for 17 yards on 2nd-and-4 from the Ithaca 44. Three plays later, he hit Angie with a 13-yard pass, moving the ball down to the 15. Brown scored around left end on a keeper from the 15. The PAT snap was low and Brown tried to pass it but the ball was picked off in the end zone by Mekai Gandy.
Ithaca got the points back almost immediately. The Bombs started at their own 18. D'Haiti rushed for two yards on first down. On 2nd-and-8, he found a seam through the left side of the line, beat a defender to the sideline, and outran pursuers to the end zone for an 80-yard TD. Warner blocked Riger's PAT.
Defensively for Ithaca, Taylor Catz was the leader with seven tackles. Pat Minogue had one tackle for loss (five overall), one QB hurry, and he recovered a fumble. Brian Gill had four tackles, a two-yard sack, and one more TL. The Bombers had five tackles behind the line, one fumble recovered, one interception, and two blocked punts – one by Vito, one by Nick Garone.
For Rochester, Matt Woodarek was the tackle leader with 11 (seven solo). He had 1.5 tackles for loss, totaling four yards. Ricky Simcic had 10 tackles. Christian Marini had 1.5 tackles for loss. The Yellowjackets broke up two passes and blocked two kicks.
Notes: This was the first time Rochester and Ithaca ever played in football. Ithaca played 759 games before Saturday. The program began in 1930 (with a three-year gap because of the Second World War). Rochester started football in 1889 and played 1,106 games heading into Saturday. That's 1,865 years covering 214 years of football… Next Saturday, Rochester hosts Union on Meliora Weekend with a 1 p.m. kickoff planned. Union won its fifth straight game on Saturday, a 30-7 win over St. Lawrence.
Ithaca Hands Rochester Big Loss in Liberty Opener
/seasons/2017/boxscores/20171007_xf9q.xml
2017
Ithaca
46
Rochester
6
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ithaca (3-2) | 13 | 14 | 13 | 6 | 46 |
| Rochester (2-3) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
Oct 07, 2017