Ochoa's Late Heroics Seal Salisbury 21-7 Win Over Ithaca in Empire 8 Debut
SALISBURY, Md. – Freshman defensive lineman Nick Ochoa picked off a pass deep inside Sea Gull territory to thwart a final Ithaca College rally as the Salisbury University football team earned a 21-7 victory over Ithaca in its inaugural Empire 8 Conference contest on Saturday afternoon at Sea Gull Stadium.
Salisbury (2-0, 1-0 Empire 8) held a two-touchdown lead with just over three minutes left in the game but Ithaca (1-1, 0-1) rallied behind 11 consecutive passes to march itself to the Salisbury 18-yard line. Jason Hendel hit J.J. Crandall for a 9-yard strike to set up a second-and-one but the reception would prove to be as close as the Bombers would get. On the following play, Ochoa made the biggest play of his collegiate career when he retreated several steps back from his defensive line position and intercepted a Hendel pass to cement the victory for the Sea Gulls.
After 13 seasons and a combined 31-22 record in the Atlantic Central Football Conference, the Sea Gulls made their stance in the new conference as they posted 24 first downs and averaged 5.8 yards from scrimmage. SU dominated the time of possession against the Bombers and made several key stops in crucial situations. The Sea Gulls also had five different players collect at least five tackles in the victory.
The Salisbury defense was propelled by the efforts of junior linebacker Rodney Hill, who posted a team-high seven tackles. Sophomore defensive backs Greg Stanton and Calvin Ford both made six tackles while senior linebacker James Piersanti and junior linebacker Matt McMurdo had five. Everett led the defensive unit with three pass breakups and posted one interception along with sophomore defensive back Andre Carter and Ochoa.
The Sea Gull offense, which collected 391 yards in the victory, accumulated 309 yards from its ground game behind seven different rushers. Junior quarterback Dan Griffin led the charge with a game-high 106 yards on 20 carries while senior superback Randal Smedley and junior slot back Ross Flanigan ran for 87 and 75 yards, respectively. Griffin's performance behind center was balanced in the game as he was 6-for-7 through the air for 82 yards, including a 37-yard strike in the first quarter to senior wide receiver Doug Ticse.
For the second consecutive game, the Sea Gulls opened the scoring in the contest as they capped a 12-play, 82-yard drive that successfully ended with a 3-yard rushing score from Flanigan. With its back against the wall on the ensuing possession, the SU defense posted its first pivotal interception of the day when junior defensive back Chris Everett picked off Phil Neumann in Salisbury's end zone to post a touchback and kill the Ithaca threat.
The two teams failed to deliver on the next five drives before the maroon and gold upped its lead to two touchdowns on its final possession of the first half. Salisbury used a 31-yard punt return by senior slot Andy Bushong to start its drive at the Ithaca's 40-yard line. The third play of the drive featured a 23-yard aerial hookup between Griffin and junior wide receiver Juma Richards. Smedley had his hands on three of the next five plays and capped off his workload on the drive with a touchdown scamper from 1 yard out.
Ithaca tallied its first points of the game to begin the second half with a 6-yard touchdown run by Sal Sulla but the score was the only one either team would have in the entire third frame. On the second drive of the fourth quarter, Griffin raced in from 5 yards out to up the Sea Gull lead to two touchdowns, 21-7. The score held up the rest of the way as the next drive featured the heroics of Ochoa to move Salisbury to its second win of the year.
Ithaca, which was preseason ranked No. 5 in the Empire 8, had several of its players notch big games with Joe Gilfedder leading the way. Gilfedder posted a game-high 14 tackles while Josh Liemer made 10 of his own. Sulla rushed for 52 yards and Dan Ruffrage caught five passes for a game-high 44 yards. Andrew Rogowski booted four punts for 160 yards.