Ithaca, NY – The Utica College football team got as close as two points with 9:47 left in regulation, but host Ithaca College answered with a touchdown with just over four minutes left in the contest and held on for a 23-14 victory over the Pioneers in Empire 8 Conference action at Butterfield Stadium Saturday. 

The Bombers snapped the Pioneers four game winning streak and improved to 2-2 overall while earning their first Empire 8 victory of the season.  Utica's record moved to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in Empire 8 play.  UC returns home next Saturday when it hosts Brockport for a conference contest at 4 p.m. St. John Fisher College and Alfred University both earned wins on Saturday and remain atop the Empire 8 Conference standings with undefeated 5-0 records.

The Pioneers trailed 16-7 in the fourth quarter before freshman Lindell Reed (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) capped a seven-play 50 yard scoring drive with a one yard touchdown run to help make it a two point ball game, 16-14, with 9:47 left in the contest. Reed finished the day with nine carries for 19 yards and one score. He remains the team leader with six rushing touchdowns this season.

Ithaca answered with a 10-play 65 yard touchdown drive that ate 5:43 off the clock to take a nine point advantage over the Pioneers with 4:04 left in the contest.  Utica threatened on its next possession but came up short, turning the ball over on downs at the Ithaca 35 yard line with 1:47 left on the game clock.  The Bombers were able to run out the clock from that point to earn the 23-14 victory.

The first half was a defensive battle that featured just three points from the foot of Ithaca freshman kicker David Prudhomme with 9:13 to go in the second quarter. 

The Pioneers came out hot in the second half and scored on its first possession to take a 7-3 lead.  Senior quarterback Teddy VanGalen (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) completed a 34 yard touchdown pass to classmate Jerred Beniquez (Port Ewen, NY/Kingston) to cap a four-play 65 yard scoring drive to open the second half. VanGalen became the fourth quarterback in program-history to compile 300+ completions and 4,000+ yards passing in a career on Saturday.  He finished the day with 29 completions for 301 yards and a touchdown. 

Beniquez led the Pioneers with 10 catches for 113 yards and a touchdown.  He hurdled two spots on the College's all-time list and now ranks fifth all-time with 1,635 receiving yards. Beniquez now needs just 109 all-purpose yards to become the College's all-time leader.  He currently has 3,972 career all-purpose yards. 

Ithaca answered the Pioneers with two touchdowns in a span of 5:26 to take a 16-7 lead with 6:59 to go in the third quarter.  Running back Tristan Brown scored both of the Ithaca touchdowns. Brown finished the day with 25 carries for 125 yards and two touchdowns.

Utica junior receiver Shawn Marchant (Kingston, NY/Kingston) caught eight passes for 98 yards for the Pioneers.

Juwan Wilson (South Ozone Park, NY/Holy Cross) led the UC defense with 13 tackles and he also added an interception and a fumble recovery.  Wilson now needs just nine tackles to move into second place on the College's all-time tackles list.  Nicholas Bruzzese (Utica, NY/Proctor) picked up one sack and is now tied for sixth on the College's all-time list with eight career sacks. Anthony Bierria-Anderson (Freeport, NY/Freeport) made eight stops, while Matt Stone (Rochester, NY/Brighton) and Nick Pizzarelli (Rockville Centre, NY/Oceanside) each added six tackles.

The Pioneers were hindered by nine penalties that cost them 122 total yards on the afternoon.  UC was also forced to punt six times.