Red Dragon revenge in Grove City
Exactly one year and one day ago, SUNY Cortland football ushered in a new era with Tom Blumenauer taking over as head coach. His first game in charge would be against Grove City, where the Red Dragons would lose 31-14. It was a bit of a déjà vu moment this past Saturday as the Red Dragons once again opened up their season against the Wolverines, though this time around they made the trip to Pennsylvania.
Blumenauer talked about last week on “Between The Lines” how there were “a lot more knowns than unknowns” entering his second year at the helm. Through the the 60 in-game minutes of play, there’s one known that stands out: Red Dragon football we be a force to be reckoned with once again.
Cortland exacted its revenge against Grove City with a 28-18 victory. The scoreline actually flatters the Wolverines, as the Red Dragons dominated most of the game. They jumped out to a 28-3 lead entering the fourth quarter. Grove City scored 15 unanswered points to make things a tad interesting, but Cortland took care of business and took the “W” back over the NY-PA border.
Perhaps the most notable differences between last year’s and this year’s performance was the play of quarterback Mike Rescigno. He had massive shoes to fill in 2025 after Zac Boyes graduated, and his debut under center was one to forget, throwing five interceptions. It was a completely different story on Saturday as he showcased his tremendous talents in the air and on the ground. He completed 12 of 20 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 83 yards and two touchdowns.
The Red Dragons’ offensive output should not have been surprising given that they’ve returned virtually every key skill position player, including running back Ethan Gallo—who had 107 yards rushing and a TD—along with a plethora of receivers: Jacque LaPrarie, Joe Iadevaio, Sam Cotton, and Jayson Zeva (who caught Rescigno’s TD pass).
But the biggest question mark entering the game was how the offensive line would be able to hold up given that the Red Dragons graduated most of their starting linemen. As it turned out, they more than held their own. The new-look line did not allow a single sack and only committed two penalties. Given that there’s typically a lack of discipline in the first game of a season, it was a mightily impressive performance from the line and allowed Rescignoand his many weapons to flourish.
Another road trip awaits the Red Dragons this Saturday as they head to Union. The Garnet Chargers gave #23 Susquehanna (the team currently ranked one spot ahead of Cortland in the latest D3football.com rankings) a real scare, taking them all the way to overtime but ultimately fell 23-17.
Should the Red Dragons prevail in another tough road test, there’s an even stronger chance that they could be undefeated heading into the Cortaca Jug game at Yankee Stadium. That’s assuming they once again sweep the Empire 8, which by the early looks of it seems like another achievable task. But of course, the cliché of “one game at a time” will suffice.
Bombers battle, but fall short at Johns Hopkins
Like their rivals, Ithaca College football also kicked things off with another rematch of a season opener. For the fourth straight year, the Bombers took on Johns Hopkins to begin proceedings. After losing those first three meetings—including last year 42-14 at Butterfield Stadium—Ithaca hoped that the fourth time would be the charm. While that ended up not being the case, they gave the back-to-back national semifinalists a run for their money.
Similar to last year’s meeting where they were down 28-0 at halftime, the Bombers got off to another slow start. As the offense sputtered and punted four times and turning the ball over on downs one on occasion, the defense was unable to contain new starting quarterback Luke Baker and he multitude of receiving weapons.
A 17-0 halftime deficit would turn into a 23-0 hole after the Blue Jays knocked through a pair of field goals in the third quarter. But the Bombers finally got on the board when Nicholas Lang hauled in a Michael Reed as he was draped by a cornerback for a 33-yard score. Johns Hopkins answered back to go back up by 23 points just six seconds into the fourth quarter, but Lang answered with another receiving TD to make it 30-13.
Ithaca gained some more momentum when Andrew Swierbut picked off Baker. The Bombers cashed in on the turnover with Reed punching it in from a yard out, and a two-point conversion made it a 30-21 ballgame.
The defense once again stood strong and forced the Johns Hopkins to punt. Ithaca was not able to take advantage, as Reed threw an interception with 1:37 left that sealed the deal for the now third-ranked Blue Jays.
It was always going to be an arduous task for first-year head coach Brandon Maguire to lead an upset over one of the top teams in the nation. But the Bombers were not able to dig themselves out of a hole after a slow start, especially offensively. That was an issue that plagued them last season, as they were multiple times where they were either held scoreless or in single-digit points at halftime. They’ll be well-aware that they can’t afford to have that become a recurring trend once again if they want to reclaim the Liberty League title and make it back to the NCAA Tournament.
The biggest positive offensively was undoubtedly the play of Lang. Over on defense, Joe Spirra was unsurprisingly their brightest spot, as the All-American made a team-high 11 tackles and was once again flying all over the gridiron.
Ithaca returns to South Hill this Saturday night to take on with Alfred, who is led by their former quarterback Matthew Parker. Noticed how I used the word “night” for a Bombers home game. You’re not reading that wrong. That’s because it’ll be the first-ever night game at Butterfield Stadium after lights were installed in 2023. Talk about a game with plenty of storylines.
Week 1 Section IV football recap
Not only was the it first weekend of local college football getting underway, the high school football season also started back up. Eight of the 10 local teams were in action, and three teams were victorious right from the get-go.
Undoubtedly the biggest statement made was by Groton. The Red Hawks were feeling very optimistic about themselves heading into this year given how many key returning players they had and their incredibly successful offseason in seven-on-seven tournaments. They certainly backed up their preseason hype Thursday night in Sidney with an astonishing 66-6 demolition of the Sabers. For comparison, they won last year’s matchup against Sidney by just two points.
The Red Hawks had a field on all three phases. On offense, Kam McClain thrived under center, completing 9 of 12 passes for 316 yards and four touchdowns and recorded a rushing TD. Lane Darling had 224 total yards and five touchdowns—three receiving, one rushing, and one fumble return TD. Colin Brockway also had a scoop and score on defense, while Jerome Turner excelled on special teams with two punt return touchdowns.
Groton will look to keep the train rolling this Friday night in its home opener against Greene/Oxford.
In 8-man football, Moravia ventured to Dryden and blanked the Lions 30-0. Brennan Carr takes over as their starting quarterback, and he’s primed to continue their trend of strong quarterback play that has been previously displayed in recent memory by Luke Landis, Thomas Palmer and Eli Landis. Carr completed 12 of 17 passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns. Carr connected with three different receivers for his TDs: Dillon Palmer (who also had 125 rushing yards), Carson Andrews (who is actually Carr’s cousin and was his favored target, hauling in a team-high five receptions for 128 yards), and Ian Proper.
The Blue Devils host Thomas A. Edison on Friday in a rematch of last year’s semifinal. The Lions will dust themselves off but will be thrown right back into the fire as they head to the defending state regional champions Morrisville-Eaton.
Back in 11-man football, it was a rare Class AA vs. Class D contest as Ithaca ventured to Spencer-Van Etten/Candor. Another shutout was pitched as the Little Red came out on top 21-0. All three Ithaca scores were on the ground, two from Jasmir Robbins and one from Eddie Peck. The Little Red is at Oneonta on Saturday, while the Eagles have another tough battle ahead at Delhi on Friday.
As for the other games, Newark Valley came up just short against Bainbridge-Guilford/Harpursville/Afton, falling 14-13. Watkins Glen/Odessa-Montour wowed on offense but lost in a shootout to Susquehanna Valley 42-33. Trumansburg had a difficult start to the year as they were shut out by Deposit-Hancock 56-0.
Lansing and Newfield were the only two local teams not to play over the weekend. They will open up their respective seasons against each other on Friday night in Lansing, a game that can be heard on ESPNIthaca.com and the ESPN Ithaca app with pregame coverage beginning at 6:45 p.m. and a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Other things that caught my eye
- The Yankees’ trip out West was a mixed bag with a 3-3 record. Things started off with a whimper with a 10-1 loss to the Angels but were able to recover by winning back-to-back games in Anaheim. They then dropped two of three to the Padres, with both losses by a run each. All in all, a .500 record from their longest trip of the season isn’t bad by any means. But as much as the Yankees would like to focus on themselves, they’ll have to do a fair bit of scoreboard watching to see where they’ll land in the postseason. The deficit to the Rays in the AL East is at four games despite the Mets helping their crosstown rivals out by taking two of three from Tampa and the Rangers splitting a four-game set with them. Even after a crucial series win over Boston, they’re still hot on their tails, just 2.5 games out after a four-game sweep of the Orioles. You’d think this week against the Rockies and Mets should be a piece of cake on paper, but no sport is played on paper. I guess paper football counts, but that’s about it.
- The other local college football team in action was Syracuse. The Orange obliterated New Hampshire 66-3, not all that surprising of a result. That’ll act as a tune-up game for its ACC opener on Saturday vs. Cal. The only real drama from that game was an injury scare for quarterback Steve Angeli. In his return to the gridiron after tearing his Achilles last September, Angeli went to the ground in the second quarter holding his knee. As the Dome sat in silence no doubt thinking, “here we go again,” Angeli popped back up and broke out into a sprint. At least they have actual serviceable backup quarterbacks this time around in case he gets hurt again.
- All other high school fall sports also began last week. The most notable event that piqued my interest actually took place in Homer. On Saturday, the school hosted the “Sundown Showdown,” where four volleyball matches pitting Section IV teams against Section III opponents would be played on an outdoor court at Homer’s football stadium. The opening game featured Newfield against Cazenovia, where the Trojans were defeated in a five-set thriller. After Windsor lost in four sets to Westhill, Lansing prevailed in five sets over Skaneateles. Newark Valley closed out the tournament with a three-set loss to hosts Homer. An incredibly cool and unique experience for all those involved.
