SUNY Cortland Athletics

PHOTO: Erick Bernard celebrates after scoring the winning touchdown with 26 seconds remaining (photo from ICTV broadcast screen capture)


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. Advance ticket sales for the game have currently surpassed 41,000.
 
General Ticket Sales Web Site
Cortland’s 2019 Cortaca Jug Info Page
Ithaca’s 2019 Cortaca Central Info Page

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:

Cortland Wins Thriller at Ithaca in 1997 for First Road Win vs. Bombers in 30 Years
 
Dan MacNeill played at Cortland from 1975-78 and returned to his alma mater as head coach in 1997. One of the first things he was likely reminded of was that Cortland, although coming off a convincing Cortaca Jug home win in 1996, had not won on Ithaca soil since the fall of 1967. Thanks to a thrilling, roller-coaster of a game that came down to the final minute, that futility streak ended during MacNeill’s first year at the Red Dragon helm.
 
Cortland and Ithaca were the top-ranked teams in Upstate New York, each with 7-1 records, and the game lived up to its billing on a muddy field in rainy, misty conditions front of a crowd of 11,714 fans at Butterfield Stadium.
 
The Red Dragons took an early 7-0 lead on a 15-yard screen pass from Rob Hale to Omar Darling, but Ithaca kicked a field goal late in the quarter and took a 10-7 lead when Abe Ceesay turned a short pass from Mike O’Donovan into an 86-yard touchdown five minutes into the second quarter. Cortland, however, struck with less than two minutes left in the half when Rob Hale connected with Shane Geisler on a 64-yard touchdown strike and the Red Dragons led 14-10 at the break.
 
The Cortland lead grew to 21-10 early in the third quarter on a 5-yard TD pass from Hale to Brian Girardi – a score set up by Matt Bruce’s 38-yard interception return to the Ithaca 12-yard line. The Bombers, however, struck for the game’s next 18 points. O’Donovan found Troy Canada for a 34-yard TD pass and Seth Steinberg hit a 27-yard field goal to pull the Bombers within a point after three quarters, and Eric Amorese’s 7-yard TD run with 8:41 left, combined with a 2-point conversion pass from O’Donovan to Cory West, put Ithaca ahead 28-21 with 8:41 remaining.
 
Cortland’s ensuing drive appeared to stall just shy of midfield, but Jason Edwards ran for 19 yards on a fake punt to convert on 4th-and-1, and three plays later Hale hit tight end Ross Esslinger for a 21-yard TD pass. Euphoria for the Cortland fanbase was quickly dampened, however, when the PAT kick missed wide left and Cortland trailed 28-27.
 
The next Cortland drive was stopped by the Bombers with 2:05 remaining after Hale’s scramble on 4th-and-11 from near midfield came up two yards short. The Red Dragon defense tightened to force a three-and-out, and Cortland used its final two timeouts to force an Ithaca punt with 1:17 left. And at this point, a wild game became insane.
 
Ithaca’s punt appeared to cover about 30 yards, but the officials blew the play dead mid-punt after apparently hearing a whistle being blown in the stands. Once things were sorted out Ithaca punted again, and this time shanked a 7-yard punt that gave Cortland the ball at the Bombers’ 48-yard line with 1:10 left.
 
Cortland’s first three plays were two incomplete passes, sandwiched around a 6-yard completion, setting up 4th-and-4 at the Ithaca 42-yard line with 34 seconds remaining. Hale took the snap, stepped up in the pocket to avoid pressure and found Erick Bernard, who was wide open at the 5-yard line after an Ithaca defender had slipped. Bernard went in untouched – igniting the Cortland crowd, many of whom poured into the end zone – and Cortland led 33-28 with 26 seconds on the clock.
 
“He’s the last read by far,” said Hale to the Cortland Standard about Bernard on the go-ahead touchdown. “He was running a clearing pattern. I was just trying to get an out pattern to Omar (Darling). I just looked and saw Erick behind Anthony (Falco) and took a shot. The ball was in the air about an hour. I was just saying to come down, please.”
 
“We ran a dig and a backside post,” said Falco, who was lined up on the right side while Bernard was on the left. “They jumped on the (Falco underneath) dig and Erick has the wheels on the backside. He got behind the defender and Rob made a great read. It was a great play and a great catch.”
 
Ithaca had one last shot as a 22-yard pass to Matt Buddenhagen, followed by a pass interference call that wiped out a potential game-ending interception, moved the ball to the Cortland 32-yard line. O’Donovan heaved a Hail Mary pass into the end zone as time expired, but a crowd of Cortland defenders, led by freshman J.T. Johnson, broke up the play to give Cortland the win.
 
Hale finished 24-of-41 passing for 342 yards and a school record-tying five touchdown passes to five different receivers. Bernard caught six passes for 129 yards and Geisler had four catches for 106 yards, marking just the second time in school history that two receivers both reached 100 yards in the same game (Frank Burm and Dwayne Taylor turned the trick versus Alfred in 1982).
 
Kyle Tave ended with 14 tackles, eight solo, followed by Bruce with 11 stops and his interception and Kory David with 10 tackles, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. Billy Bacon added eight tackles. O’Donovan was also productive through the air for Ithaca, completing 22-of-40 passes for 325 yards and two touchdowns. Matt Buddenhagen caught nine passes and Brian Austin and Tim Myslinski made 10 tackles each.
 
Despite a loss at Brockport the following week, Cortland earned an NCAA playoff berth and hosted The College of New Jersey in the opening round. The season came to a heartbreaking end on a snow-induced muddy Davis Field with a late 34-30 loss to the Lions as the Red Dragons closed with an 8-3 record.

After years of struggles at Ithaca, Cortland has had more than its share of success in Cortaca Jug road games in the Dan MacNeill era with a 7-4 record, including that 1997 contest.
 
Coverage Links:
1997 Box Score
1997 Highlights (pulled from Ithaca College TV broadcast)
1997 Cortaca Video Preview Feature (Ithaca’s Gridiron Report; broadcast on Empire Sports Network)