– ITHACA, NY- The 2025 Cortaca Jug Game took place on November 14, 2025, at Butterfield Stadium in Ithaca, New York. The cool breeze and overcast skies created a stellar atmosphere for Division 3’s biggest game of the year. The rivalry lived up to its high expectations resulting in a one possession game. Although Cortland ended up coming up short in a 26-21 defeat, the Red Dragons went down swinging in an excellent matchup to prepare them for the upcoming national tournament. Photo Credit: Strictly Photos
A sold out crowd of over 8,000 fans packed into Butterfield Stadium to watch the 66th annual Cortaca Jug Game. Despite the weather conditions, both fan bases represented well and came to support their athletes. This game had several postseason implications that raised the stakes even higher than usual. Ithaca was on the hunt for a post-season berth, and a win at home against Cortland would give them a much greater chance to make it. Earlier in the week I had the chance to speak with Coach Blumenaur, I asked him about how it would be to have such a difficult matchup after securing a conference championship. Blumenaur responded saying “It’s a blessing for sure…this is an easy game to get up for. We were fortunate enough to play well and win the conference last week, but I’ve received a text saying ‘now it’s time for the big game’. We are facing a great opponent this week and it’s gonna take us preparing to be the best version of ourselves to win a tough game on the road that’ll benefit us not only this week, but beyond.”
In the first half Cortland came out with their best foot forward. The Bombers scored on their first possession of the game with a long well executed 60 yard opening drive, capped off by a 2yd rushing touchdown by running back Chris Scully. After a blocked PAT attempt the Red Dragons offense responded well with a 76 yard drive led by quarterback Mike Rescigno, who ended up finding junior wide receiver Joe Iadevio for a 6 yard touchdown to take the 7-6 lead. The back and forth shootout continued with Ithaca scoring on their second drive of the game in the second quarter with a 44 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Nicholas Lang. However, Ithaca failed on the two point conversion keeping the score at just 12-7.
Despite being down the Red Dragon offensive unit did not back down, responding with an 84 yard drive that resulted in a touchdown after Ethan Galloway ran it in on the goal line. After extending the lead 14-12 Cortland’s defense forced a fumble giving the offense excellent field position. Unfortunately for Cortland after the offense stalled out in field goal range, their field goal attempt was blocked and the half would end with Cortland up just by two points.
In the second half Ithaca dominated time of possession. The Bombers received the ball coming out of the half and scored on their initial handle on a drive that took nearly ten minutes of game time. On the kickoff after the score the Bombers received some help from their kick off team as they recovered a fumble on Cortland’s 28 yard line. The turnover created a huge swing of momentum for Ithaca as their home fans erupted in joy. Another Ithaca touchdown would push the score to 26-14. Cortland did not go down without a fight however. They would cut the lead down to only 5 after a 63 yard deep shot from Rescigno to receiver Jacque LaPrarie.
The Red Dragon defense would give their offense two more chances to take the lead, but after a goal line turnover and an incomplete last second heave the game would end with the 26-21 score. Although this loss is a tough one to take in a rivalry game of this measure, it can serve as a great lesson for Cortland ahead of their Springfield match up. On November 22nd, the Red Dragons will travel to Massachusetts to take on Springfield in the first round of the NCAA championships. Stay tuned for updates on the Springfield vs. Cortland match.