Hello and welcome to the second edition of Ryan’s Monday Musings!
This is a weekly column on Monday mornings where I talk about what stood out to me from the world of professional, college, and local high school sports.
A Super Bowl Smackdown
If you didn’t see my Super Bowl prediction as part of ESPN Ithaca’s Pigskin Pick’Em, I picked the Seattle Seahawks to defeat the New England Patriots 31-28 in what would be a surprisingly high-scoring but close contest.
As it turned out, I was only correct in one of three regards.
While Seattle prevailed, it was a defensive battle for most of the game. In fact, there were no touchdowns through the first three quarters with the Seahawks up 12-0 thanks to a quartet of field goals from Jason Myers. Both teams combined for 30 points in the final quarter, but it was unsurprisingly the defenses that were the stars of the show, especially for Seattle.
The final score doesn’t tell the full story of just how dominant Seattle’s defense was. They more than lived up to their “Dark Side” moniker. The Seahawks sacked Drake Maye six times and forced three turnovers, including the game-sealing pick six by Uchenna Nwosu. It was a performance that the “Legion of Boom” from over a decade ago would be incredibly proud of.
The triumph also completed one of the most remarkable redemption stories in the NFL. While Sam Darnold didn’t play a spectacular game (completing 50 percent of his passes for 202 yards and one touchdown) and Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker’s 135 rushing yards making up the bulk of their offense, he took great care of the ball and fought past a strong Patriots’ defensive line to help guide Seattle to glory. Darnold’s come a long way from his days with the New York Jets where he was seeing ghosts and being ruled out for mononucleosis. Who would have thought that in a 2018 draft class with Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson that Darnold would be the first to hoist the Lombardi Trophy?
As for the Patriots, it was a night to forget for both Maye and his offensive line, in particular. They allowed more sacks than there were commercials about AI—at least, that’s what it felt like. In fairness to New England, virtually nobody expected them to make it this far. Like Darnold, they too have had quite the turnaround after posting four-win seasons in 2023 and 2024. The big difference? Hiring an experienced head coach in Mike Vrabel. That should give Giants fans some glimmer of hope that John Harbaugh might be able to right the ship as quickly as Vrabel has in Foxborough.
A New Era For Bombers Football
After the news broke on December 14 that Ithaca College football head coach Mike Toerper would depart South Hill for East Hill to become the defensive coordinator at Cornell, the search for a new head coach immediately got underway. The Bombers seemed to have taken inspiration from their professional counterparts in Buffalo for their new head coach.
On Tuesday, the school announced that Brandon Maguire was chosen to take over the program. Maguire has spent the last two seasons as the Bombers’ offensive coordinator, where his unit led the Liberty League in total offense both years.
Not only is Maguire’s familiarity with the team a massive plus, he is certain to maintain the high expectations that come with playing for a program with a rich history of winning both Liberty League and national championships.
“The blueprint’s already in place to win and to do it on a national level here,” Maguire said in a recent interview on Between The Lines. “It’s been done. We’ve seen teams locally do it… We’re sitting here with a fantastic senior class. We feel really good about the recruiting classes we’ve had in past years. It’s not shying away from talking about it. If you want to achieve it, you got to talk about it, speak it into existence and work for it. We got the guys that want to do that.”
It also helps that many key players will return this fall. At quarterback, Mike Reed is set to be the full-time starter with Matthew Parker transferring to Alfred University. Reed took the reins for the final three games of last season, including the Bombers’ Cortaca Jug victory where he threw for 177 yards and two touchdowns. The Bombers will also return their top rusher Chris Scully and their top receiver Nick Lang on offense as well as All-American defensive back Joe Spirra on defense.
High School Hall of Fame Rundown
It was a very busy week in high school sports, and I’m not just talking about the games themselves. Two local high schools held Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, while Section IV revealed the Class of 2026.
On Tuesday, Newfield held its induction ceremony during halftime of the girls basketball game against Tioga. It was only fitting that a former standout on the court was the lone inductee: Michelle “Micki” Volpini. The 2008 graduate scored 1,000 career points and was named Section IV Class C Most Valuable Player during her senior year. After starring at SUNY Cortland also scoring 1,000 points, she returned to Newfield in 2019 to be the girls basketball assistant coach, helping the Trojans win the IAC Championship in 2020. Read more about Volpini’s achievements here.
Then on Saturday, Ithaca High School held its first Hall of Fame induction ceremony since 2018. Nine individuals made up the Class of 2026: Christopher Affolter ‘89 (football and lacrosse), Jim Avery ‘77 (swimming), Mike Biondi ‘77 (football and lacrosse), Bill Bryant (athletic director from 1988 to 2010), Charlie Estey ‘77 (football and lacrosse), Thomas Schwan ‘77 (football and lacrosse), Jeff Stark ‘77 (gymnastics and swimming), Logan Todhunter ‘08 (swimming), and Mindy West ‘97 (soccer, bowling and softball). Read more about their accomplishments here.
On Friday, Section IV announced the newest inductees into their Hall of Fame. The two local honorees are both from Newark Valley. Barry Sutter ‘64 was a standout wrestler for the Cardinals, winning the state title during his senior year at the 138 weight class. To this day, he is the only Newark Valley wrestling state champion. Jenna Cupp ‘13 was an accomplished runner for the Cardinals, qualifying for states in both cross country and outdoor track and field, the latter of which she finished runner-up for in the 800-meter run in back-to-back years.
Other Things That Caught My Eye
- The 2026 Winter Olympics are underway in Milan, and there’s a quartet of Cornell women’s ice hockey players who are already in action. Laura Fontino ‘13 has helped Italy get off to a 1-1 start. She logged the most defensive minutes in their 4-1 win over France and led all skaters in time on ice in their 6-1 loss to Sweden. Rory Guilday ‘25 played a few minutes for Team USA in both their 5-1 win over Czechia and 5-0 win over Finland. Brianne Jenner ‘15 and Kristin O’Neill ‘20 both featured in Canada’s 4-0 victory against Switzerland. This is Jenner’s fourth Olympic appearance, which is tied for the most in Cornell history with Rebecca Johnston ‘12 and Albert Hall ‘56.
- There were more local high school milestones set this past week. On Wednesday, a pair of Groton wrestlers reached 100 career wins. Carmen Bishop has done so as only a freshman, while Mya Locke did so as a junior. It’s Locke’s first season with the Red Hawks after transferring from Homer. Then on Friday, Watkins Glen’s Rachel Vickio was the latest basketball player to join the 1,000-point club. The senior scored 14 points in the Lake Hawks’ 43-35 win against Whitney Point.
- Believe it or not, the postseason has already begun for winter high school sports. The first sport to have sectionals is indoor track and field, and there were plenty of local individual champions. Lansing’s Trent Thibault won the Class C/D title in both the 1,600-meter and the 3,200-meter runs. Also winning Class C/D titles were Candor’s Logan Aman (55-meter dash), Groton’s Ross Bush (600-meter run), Dryden’s Reagan Burnham (1,000-meter run), Trumansburg’s Evey Pennock (pole vault), Newfield’s Madigan White (1,500-meter race walk) and Lansing’s 4×200-meter boys relay team, . As for Class A/B championships, Ithaca’s Tsadia Bercuvitz came out on top in the 1,500-meter run as well as the Little Red’s 4×800-meter girls relay team.
