Ithaca Football moves to Level 2
By Phil Nee
It was an exciting, hard hitting game from start to finish. In the end the Ithaca Bulldogs punched in a touchdown and kicked an extra point to win 7-0 over visiting Randolf. The first round WIAA playoff football game turned out to be an instant classic. The defenses took center stage. Both teams turned the ball over in the first half. Levi Wiersma recovered a fumble for the Rockets and Nolan Waldner recovered one for Ithaca. Ashton Fua picked off two passes for Randolf.
The Bulldogs had to play for most of the game without Wyatt Hilby who had rushed for 1032 yards coming into the contest and also is one of the leaders on defense. He was injured early on in the contest. Ithaca drove to the Randolf 6 yard line during the first drive of the 2nd half before turning it over on downs. The game was scoreless until 6:18 left in the game. Ithaca was able to cap off a drive on a 2 yard run by Senior Wesley Nelson. Balthasar Kaiser kicked the extra point to make it 7-0.
Randolf mounted a drive on the next possesion. A long pass play from quarterback Ben Paul to wide receiver Nick Medema took the ball inside the 10 yard line of Ithaca. The Bulldogs defense stood tall and forced them to turn the ball over on downs with 20 seconds remaining.
With the 7-0 win, Ithaca is now 10-0 on the season and will rematch with Johnson Creek level 2 playoff football. The Bulldogs lost on a late touchdown at Johnson Creek one year ago. The Blue Jays beat Royall on Friday night 26-22.
