SUNY Cortland Athletics

PHOTOS: Stef Sair's game-clinching interception in 2005; The Red Dragons mob Matthew Mintz (#6) after his game-winning 40-yard field goal in 2006. (Photos by Darl Zehr Photography)


By Fran Elia, Cortland Sports Information Director

The 2019 Cortaca Jug rivalry game between Cortland and Ithaca College will be played Nov. 16 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., with the schools hoping to break the Division III football attendance record of 37,355 set by Minnesota schools St. Thomas and St. John’s at Target Field in Minneapolis in September 2017. As of last week, advance ticket sales for the game have surpassed 39,000.

General Ticket Sales Web Site

Each game week as the big event nears we’ll be taking a look back at some of the top Cortland memories from past Cortaca Jug games.

Flashbacks from the entire series:
1988 Red Dragons Win "Upstate NY Game of the Century"
Botched Field Goal Turns Into Cortaca Jug’s Most Memorable Play in 2014 Red Dragon Victory
Red Dragons Beat Undefeated and Defending National Champ Bombers in Wild 1992 Contest
Cortland Wins Thriller at Ithaca in 1997 for First Road Win vs. Bombers in 30 Years
Cortland Pulls Off Two of Cortaca’s Largest Comebacks in 1999 and 2010
Red Dragons Work Overtime for Back-to-Back Wins in 2005 and 2006
Late Heroics Lead to Unexpected Road Wins in 2003 and 2013
Cortland's Three Largest Cortaca Jug Wins (1968, 1996, 2011)
Goal-Line Stands Lead Red Dragons to 2002 and 2012 Cortaca Victories
Cortland Wins Inaugural Cortaca Jug game in 1959

“Honorable Mentions” that almost made our list:
 
2015: Cortland won 11-8 at Ithaca to clinch the Empire 8 crown
1982: Cortland rallied from a 17-7 deficit at home behind TD runs from Mike Bowe and Dave Cook to win 21-17 to end Ithaca’s nine-game Cortaca streak, prompting one of the few photos ever of players celebrating with the Jug after the game

This week’s flashback:

Red Dragons Work Overtime for Back-to-Back Wins in 2005 and 2006
 
The NCAA instituted overtime to decide regular-season football games in 1996, and in the 24 times Cortland and Ithaca played since there have been two occasions where 60 minutes wasn’t long enough to decide the Cortaca Jug winner.
 
Cortland won both of those overtime games, which occurred back-to-back in 2005 and 2006. One of those victories helped propel the Red Dragons to an NCAA tournament at-large berth, although looking back it probably wasn’t the one that Cortland fans expected.
 
2005: Cortland 37, Ithaca 30 (at Ithaca)
 
The 2005 Cortaca Jug game shaped up to be a good one as Empire 8 champion Ithaca entered the game with an 8-1 record and Cortland, which finished as New Jersey Athletic Conference co-champion, came in at 6-2.
 
The first half was just about all Cortland, starting with Stef Sair’s 70-yard interception return less than five minutes into the game for the first points Ithaca allowed in the first quarter all season. Quarterback Alex Smith scored on a 10-yard run early in the second quarter to cap a short scoring drive set up by Sair’s 45-yard punt return.
 
And when Ithaca scored a touchdown on the next series, Josh Jablonski blocked the PAT kick for his school-record sixth block of the season. Greg Steward recovered the ball and eventually lateraled to Sair, who outran the Bombers for a two-point conversion and a 16-6 lead. Matt Rickert ran in from 13 yards out later in the quarter and Cortland led 23-6 at halftime.
 
Ithaca, however, quickly closed to within 23-20 on two long Josh Felicetti TD passes to Kelly Gordon. Cortland answered late in the third on Dustin Bowser’s 15-yard TD reception from Smith, but Ithaca scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, and a long Cortland field goal attempt on the final play of regulation was short.
 
Ithaca won the toss to start overtime and elected to play defense first. Cortland moved the ball to the 8-yard line, and on 3rd-and-4 Smith lofted a pass to the left corner of the end zone. Junior Anthony Morat, who finished his career with 109 receptions, leapt and beat an Ithaca cornerback for the ball and Cortland led 37-30.
 
“I knew it was a big play and I consider myself a big playmaker. Fortunately, I was able to do it,” Morat told the Cortland Standard after the game. “He (Ithaca cornerback) had it in his hands and I just took it away from him.”
 
Ithaca gained just one yard on its first three plays, and on 4th-and-9 Sair stepped in front of a Felicetti pass for his second interception of the game, and his then-school record 12th of his career (he still ranks third at Cortland with 13), to seal the victory.
 
Smith finished 19-of-34 passing for 191 yards and two touchdowns in addition to his scoring run. Morat caught eight passes and Bowser ran for 74 yards on nine carries. Bill Hauser and Chuck Eich registered 11 and 10 tackles, respectively, and Jablonski had nine tackles and a fumble recovery in addition to his blocked PAT.
 
With a 7-2 record, Cortland was likely expecting to receive an ECAC postseason berth, but the following day was pleasantly surprised when the NCAA awarded the Red Dragons one of 11 at-large berths into the Division III playoffs. Cortland lost a 23-22 heartbreaker at Hobart in the opening round and finished the season 7-3.
 
2006: Cortland 23, Ithaca 20 (at Cortland)
 
The 2006 season was shaping up as one of the best in school history for the Red Dragons. With a strong core returning from its 2005 NCAA team, Cortland won its first eight games and was ranked fifth in the country entering its showdown at 21st-ranked Rowan in early November.
 
Starting quarterback Smith, however, suffered a season-ending injury in Cortland’s sixth win of the year at Western Connecticut State. Ray Miles filled in admirably, throwing three TD passes in a win at Montclair State the following week, but early in the fourth quarter at Rowan Miles was knocked out with an injury as well. Cortland eventually lost to the Profs, 14-7 in overtime, and entered the Cortaca Jug game at Cortland figuring it needed a win over the 7-2 Bombers to secure an NCAA at-large bid.
 
Cortland took an early 7-0 lead when Bryan Shea, the Red Dragons’ third-string quarterback to start the season, threw a 28-yard TD pass in the first quarter to Drew Lascari (himself a former QB converted to wide receiver). Midway through the second quarter, however, Shea was injured and left the game, prompting former fourth-string freshman signalcaller Sean Pratt to enter the game.
 
Pratt held his own against the Bombers, completing 11-of-17 passes for 125 yards. Ithaca took a 17-10 lead on a Kelly Gordon 89-yard kickoff return to start the second half, but Matthew Mintz made a 23-yard field goal later in the third, and Rickert’s halfback option TD pass to Dave Fregelette with 5:08 left in regulation put Cortland on top, 20-17.
 
Ithaca methodically drove the ball from its 40-yard line to the Cortland 10-yard line over the next four and a half minutes. The Red Dragons forced an incomplete pass on 3rd-and-8 with less than 45 seconds left, and the Bombers’ Brett Kitenplon made a 27-yard field goal to tie the game.
 
Unlike the previous year, Cortland won the toss to start overtime and Ithaca began on offense. Similar to the previous year, Ithaca’s possession ended with an interception as Bill Hauser picked off the Bombers on their second play. The Red Dragons managed to gain only three yards on its possession, but Mintz calmly nailed a career-best 40-yard field goal for the victory.
 
“I hit it pretty good, I knew I could make it happen,” said Mintz to the Cortland Standard afterwards. “I practiced really hard and I was really determined.” Mintz finished the season 12-for-17 on field goal attempts and 35-for-35 on PAT kicks as part of what ended up being a school-record 70 straight made point-after kicks from 2005-07.
 
Adam Haas, a first-team All-America defensive tackle in both 2005 and 2006, led Cortland’s defense with 10 tackles, five solo. Hauser made nine tackles and Matt Berman had eight tackles, with each also intercepting a pass, and Sair – who won an NCAA wrestling national title in the winter of 2006 and was a national runner-up in 2007 – finished with eight tackles and a pass breakup.
 
Sitting with a 9-1 record, with its only loss in overtime at a ranked opponent, Cortland felt confident after the win that an NCAA at-large bid was coming its way for the second straight year. The Red Dragons, however, were stunned when they were one of only two playoff-eligible one-loss teams in the country to be left out of the tournament, and they finished the season 9-2 after losing at home to RPI in an ECAC bowl game.
 
Coverage Links:
2005 Box Score
2005 Highlights (Team Highlight Video)
2006 Box Score
2006 Highlights (Team Highlight Video)
2006 Entire Overtime Period (Cortland Video Club)