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THE CORTACA JUG SERIES: This Saturday marks the 66th Cortaca Jug Game and the 83rd all-time meeting between the archrivals. Ithaca leads the all-time series, 43-36-3, and is 38-27 in Jug Games. The Bombers are 25-14-1 on South Hill against Cortland, but the Red Dragons claimed the last matchup at Bertino Field at Butterfield Stadium in 2023 by a 38-28 score. Cortland brings a two-game winning streak back to Ithaca after a 28-17 victory last season.
The longest winning streak in the Cortaca Jug goes to the Bombers, who won nine straight from 1973 to 1981. Cortland’s longest winning streak was seven games between 2010 to 2016.
MORE ABOUT THE JUG: The Cortaca Jug was officially introduced to the already competitive rivalry between Ithaca and Cortland in 1959 by the captains of the two teams. While driving in nearby Homer in 1959, Cortland football captain Tom Decker stopped at a yard sale and purchased a $2 jug from a local farmer that he thought could be used as a trophy during the annual game between the two schools. After meeting up with friend and Ithaca football captain Dick Carmean, the two painted the jug blue, gold, red, and white in honor of both schools’ colors.
LAST TIME OUT: The Bombers improved to 7-2 and 6-1 in the Liberty League with a 24-23 triumph at RPI last weekend. IC gained 362 yards of offense and held the Engineers to 285 yards, including just 92 yards through the air.
IC fell behind, 7-0, on the opening drive of the game and tied things up early in the second quarter. A field goal from RPI gave the Engineers a three-point lead at halftime, but a 32-yard field goal from Andrew Rice in the third quarter knotted things up again. RPI closed out the third quarter to take a 17-10 advantage into the final quarter of play. IC dominated most of the fourth quarter with back-to-back touchdowns and built a 24-17 edge. RPI then blocked a punt and returned it for a score with less than two minutes remaining, but the ensuing two-point conversion was not successful.
Michael Reed threw for 202 yards and two touchdowns, with 57 yards on the ground. Chris Scully also threw a touchdown and rushed for 45 yards.
Marcus Boyle intercepted two passes, while Joe Spirra led the defense with 15 total tackles.
BIG GAME LANG: Nicholas Lang put together the best game of his career at RPI as he caught eight passes for 201 yards and accounted for all three of Ithaca’s touchdowns. Lang hauled in touchdown passes of 7, 46 and 19 yards and he was rewarded with Liberty League Offensive Performer of the Week honors on Monday.
Lang is the first IC wide receiver to eclipse 200 yards since Will Gladney in 2018 and is the first wide out to catch three touchdowns since Gladney in 2019.
D3FOOTBALL.COM TEAM OF THE WEEK: Tuesday morning, D3football.com announced its Team of the Week for Week 10. Lang was selected as one of two wide receivers to the team and Boyle was one of two cornerbacks.
They are the 64th and 65th players to be named to D3football.com Team of the Week since 1999.
BLOCKING KICKS: IC’s special teams have been a difference maker over the last four games with three blocked field goals and a blocked punt. In fact, the Bombers have blocked a field goal in back-to-back games for the third time in the past four seasons.
WEDNESDAY’S PRESS CONFERENCE: IC and Cortland held their annual press conference on Wednesday afternoon with student and local media. The press conference was recorded on Zoom and is available on the Bombers Sports YouTube channel.
CORTACA 2026: As announced on Wednesday morning by Ithaca and Cortland, the 2026 Cortaca Jug Game returns to Yankee Stadium on November 14 for the 67th installment of the rivalry. This will mark the third time in which the tradition has been played in the Metro New York area. In 2019, the Cortaca Jug set the Division III attendance record at MetLife Stadium with a crowd of 45,161 fans, and in 2022, 40,232 faithful traveled to the Bronx.
STILL A PATH TO CHAMPS: The Bombers stay alive heading into Cortaca for a chance at a three-way tie for the Liberty League title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. IC still needs to beat Cortland this Saturday and RPI needs to defeat Union in the Dutchman’s Shoes rivalry for the Bombers to secure the AQ due to tiebreaker scenarios.
SCOUTING CORTLAND: The Red Dragons are ranked No. 14 by the AFCA and No. 20 by D3football.com. Cortland boasts an 8-1 overall record and just claimed another Empire 8 title last weekend with a 44-14 win over Brockport. Since it’s season-opening loss to Grove City, the Red Dragons have run off eight straight victories.
Cortland once again possesses a high-powered offense by scoring more than 40 points a game, but it looks different than the past few years with a new quarterback and head coach. The Red Dragons average over 230 yards rushing per game and throw for just 169 per contest.
Quarterback Mike Rescigno has rushed for nearly 1000 yards this season with 12 touchdowns, and he has also thrown for 20 touchdowns and 1340 yards. Ethan Gallo has 567 yards rushing and nine scores, while Sam Cotton is the leading receiver with 416 yards and four touchdowns.
The offensive yardage numbers are not as eye-popping as the past two Cortland seasons (where the Red Dragons averaged over 500 yards per game) and that’s in large part due to the opportunistic defense that has forced 28 turnovers this season, which leads Division III.
Eleven different players have an interception this season, while nine players have recovered a fumble and 11 have forced a fumble. The Red Dragon defense also has 20 sacks on the season as they allow just 11.3 points and 266.0 yards per game.
A BOMBER REUNION: Three members of the Cortland coaching staff have ties to Ithaca College. First-year head coach Tom Blumenauer played for the Bombers from 2005-06 and graduated in 2007. Defensive coordinator Jack Mrozinski was a coach at IC for six seasons from 2011-16. Linebackers coach Paul Shaffner was also a member of the Bombers program and was on the 1979 national championship team.
