Football | 11/14/2026 8:27:00 PM
BRONX, NY - Mike Rescigno (Arlington) ran for 144 yards and two scores and passed for 217 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and Cortland's defense stopped Ithaca twice in the final two minutes to preserve a one-score lead, as the Red Dragons completed a perfect regular season with a 30-23 win over Ithaca in the 67th Annual Cortaca Jug game, presented by Visions Federal Credit Union, at Yankee Stadium.
The game was played in front of a crowd of 31,118, the fourth-largest attendance in Division III football history. The Cortaca Jug game holds three of those four spots, including the record 45,171 at MetLife Stadium in 2019 and the runner-up 40,232 at Yankee Stadium in 2022.
Cortland recorded its fourth 10-0 regular season in school history, joining the Red Dragon squads in 1988, 2021 and 2024. Cortland will likely be in the top two or three in the final NCAA Power Index (NPI) rankings and will receive a bye into the second-round of the 40-team Division III playoffs. The field will be announced Sunday at 5 p.m., and Cortland will most likely host a game on Nov. 28.
Rescigno, who was named the inaugural Larry Czarnecki Cortaca Jug Most Valuable Player, rushed 27 times for 144 yards and completed 11-of-19 passes for 217 yards. Sam Cotton (Fulton/G. Ray Bodley) caught two touchdown passes and finished with four receptions for 53 yards, and Jayson Zeva (East Northport/St. John the Baptist) finished with four receptions for 115 yards.
George Gjelaj (Bedford/Byram Hills) led Cortland's defense with 10 tackles, including two sacks and four total for loss. One of the sacks came on a safety in the first quarter, and the other ended Ithaca's final drive in the fourth. Aidan Lochner (Ravena/Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk) and Memphis Ferguson (Whitesboro) each had eight tackles, with Ferguson adding a sack and pass breakup. Joe Galea (Cross River/John Jay) totaled seven tackles and a sack, Shane Reilly (Lake Grove/Sachem North) posted a sack, and Sonny Mayo (Mastic Beach/William Floyd) ended with six tackles. Cortland finished with five sacks in the contest. Gavin Dandrea (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue) averaged 40 yards on five punts.
Quarterback Michael Reed led Ithaca (7-3) offensively, completing 16-of-24 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns. Nicholas Lang was both Ithaca's leading receiver with six receptions for 87 yards and leading rusher with 16 yards on three carries. Both of Tian Murray's receptions went for touchdowns.
Cortland finished with a slight 409-340 advantage in total offense. The Red Dragons outrushed the Bombers, 192-57, but Ithaca held a 283-217 lead in passing yardage.
Joe Spirra and Jake Green each registered nine tackles for the Bombers, with Spirra adding a breakup. Andrew Swierbut added seven tackles.
Cortland opened the scoring with a safety with 9:15 left in the first when Gjelaj grabbed Reed in the end zone, leading to an intentional grounding penalty and a sack. On the ensuing drive, Zeva caught a 21-yard pass and Rescigno ran four ties, the last a 14-yard TD run around the right side for a 9-0 lead.
Ithaca responded immediately when Reed threw a 59-yard TD bomb to Murray on the next offensive snap. The Bombers missed the PAT kick and trailed 9-6. Cortland had its own quick answer with a 3-play, 85-yard touchdown drive. Zeva turned a completion into a 73-yard gain to the Ithaca 12, and two plays later Rescigno hit Cotton for a 12-yard completion in the middle of the end zone to give the Red Dragons a 16-6 lead.
Early in the second quarter, Ithaca mounted a 71-yard scoring drive, capped by Murray's 27-yard catch from Reed, to pull the Bombers within 16-13. On Cortland's next drive, Rescigno hit Jacque LaPrarie for a 46-yard completion on 2nd-and-14 to move the ball to the Ithaca 35-yard line. Five plays later, Cotton made a leaping catch on the right side of the end zone, scraping his feet inbounds to complete the touchdown catch and give the Red Dragons a 23-13 lead with 3:42 left.
The score remained 23-13 until early in the fourth quarter. Ithaca started a drive with 1:39 left in the third from its own 30-yard line, and on the second play Lang caught a 42-yard pass to the Red Dragon 25. On the next play, on the first play of the fourth quarter, Reed hit Colin Schumm for a 22-yard TD in the front right of the end zone and the Bombers were back within three at 23-20.
Cortland scored its only second-half points on the next drive. The series started with a 15-yard Zeva catch and a Ethan Gallo (Minisink/Minisink Valley) 23-yard run to the Ithaca 23-yard line. Following two incompletions and a short pass, Cortland faced 4th-and-6 from the Ithaca 19-yard line and elected to go for it. Rescigno ran up the middle for a 19-yard TD and Cortland took a 30-20 lead with 12:42 left.
Ithaca's next series went from its own 35-yard line to the Cortland 2-yard line, with the big play an Antwan Harvey 42-yard reception. The Bombers had 1st-and-goal at the 2 and 2nd-and-goal at the 1, but a tackle by Gjelaj and Joe Russo (Hasbrouck Heights, NJ) pushed Ithaca back a yard. A third-down pass missed its mark, and Ithaca settled for an Andrew Rice 19-yard field goal to make it a one-possession game at 30-23 with 8:26 left.
After Cortland had to punt, Ithaca drove from its 25-yard line to the Cortland 35-yard line and faced 4th-and-1. Reed tried to run for the first down, but Gjelaj and Chris Carter Jr. (East Greenbush/Columbia) stopped him for no gain and the Red Dragons took over on downs.
Ithaca used two of its timeouts on Cortland's next possession, and following an pass breakup by Spirra on third down, the Bombers got the ball back on their own 21-yard line with 1:32 remaining and one timeout left. Reed ran for five yards on first down, but Cortland's defense tightened with pass breakups by Carter on second down and Ferguson on third down, and Gjelaj sealed the win with an 11-yard sack on fourth down. Rescigno knelt twice and Cortland earned its fourth Cortaca Jug win in the last six years.