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ITHACA, N.Y. - The nationally ranked No. 23 Ithaca College football team suffered a heartbreaking 10-9 loss to No. 20 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) on Saturday afternoon at Butterfield Stadium as part of Alumni Weekend. Ithaca drops to 3-2 on the season, with RPI improves to 5-0. It was also both teams' Liberty League opener in the 2018 season.

Late in the fourth quarter, Ithaca regained possession at its own 21-yard line with 2:44 left in regulation and trailed by a 10-3 score. The Bombers moved up to midfield in seven plays as senior Peter Palczewski completed passes to junior Will Gladney for nine yards, freshman Jacob Cooney for five and an 11-yard strike to sophomore Andrew Vito. A 7-yard run by Palczewski also factored into the drive.

On the next snap, Palczewski hit Gladney again for 17 yards down to the RPI 30 and then Vito hauled in another catch for 11 to spot the ball at the RPI 19 with under 30 seconds left. A 14-yard completion to junior Nick Cervone pushed the Bombers to the 5-yard line with seven seconds to play.

After a timeout, Palczewski hit Vito at the goal line, but the ball popped loose for what looked destined to go down as an incomplete pass, but Gladney made a diving attempt and corralled the ball for an Ithaca touchdown and no time on the clock.

To add to the drama, the ensuing extra point was blocked by RPI's Rohan Cherian-Ashe, but the Engineers were called for an unsportsmanlike penalty for their players coming off the bench too early. On the retry, Ithaca attempted a two-point conversion to win the game but came up short on a Vito end-around.

The Bombers outgained RPI, 418-162, and picked up 25 first downs to the Engineers' nine.

Three key plays changed the course of the contest on Saturday. On the initial drive of the second quarter, Palczewski was intercepted deep inside RPI territory by John Sadak, who returned it 55 yards with the Engineers leading, 3-0.

The Bombers would tie the game up, however, after a three-and-out following the sudden change. On that tying drive, junior Kendall Anderson rushed for 20 yards, while Cervone rattled off 14 more. Freshman Brian Fallon capped off the possession with a 25-yard field goal.

The second play occurred in the final seconds of the opening half. Ithaca's defense, as it has all season, stymied the opposition and forced a punt. IC took over with 3:55 remaining in the half at its own 11. Ithaca would march all the way down to the RPI 1-yard line on 17 plays and faced a fourth-and-goal with four seconds remaining. IC elected to go for the touchdown to try and take a 10-3 lead into the break, but Palczewski was sacked by Amaechi Konkwo to keep the contest knotted at 3-3.

As the second half got underway, Ithaca received the kick but was unable to move the ball down the field. Senior Pat Minogue came on for his first punt of the game and boomed a 47-yarder to the RPI 28, but Connor Davies brought the punt back 60 yards to the Ithaca 12-yard line with 13:36 on the clock. Three plays later, RPI took a 10-3 advantage on a 2-yard run by Nick Cella with 12:01 to go, which held up as the winning touchdown.

RPI struck first in the top 25 battle, as the Engineers capped of a 15-play, 59-yard drive that chewed up 8:17 of the opening quarter with a 23-yard field goal by Sanjay Krishnan.

Cella finished with a game-high 73 yards rushing on 23 carries and quarterback George Marinopolous connected on 8 of 14 passing attempts for 59 yards. Sadak led the Engineers with 11 tackles, including five unassisted and one for a 5-yard loss, along with his interception. Jack Fallon had 10 stops (6 solo) and Jack Hoggard had eight tackles with two unassisted and 0.5 for lost yards (1). Konkwo had 2.5 sacks with 10 yards lost among his six tackles.

Palczewski finished with 300 yards passing on 25 of 44 attempts. Gladney hauled in eight catches for 101 yards and a score, while Cooney recorded 58 yards on five receptions. On the ground, Anderson led the way with 58 yards on 13 carriers. Junior Nick Garone led the defense with 12 tackles, while classmate John Hadac notched eight stops with a sack. 

The Bombers look to get back on track next Saturday as they head to Union College for a 1 p.m. kickoff in Schenectady. Union, which was 4-0 heading into today's game against Hobart College, lost, 29-28. RPI is on a bye next week and returns to the field on October 20 against Hobart (12pm).