EDITOR’S NOTE: In the Monday, Sept. 14 sports section, the Ithaca-Norwich, Deposit-Oxford football reports were omitted. The following are the complete summaries:
Ithaca 16, Norwich 7
ITHACA – Ithaca showed it is not the same team that Norwich has dominated in the infrequent meetings over the past two decades.
The Little Red made up a first-quarter deficit holding Norwich scoreless the final three periods, and they improved to 2-0, the first time the program has started with back-to-back wins in 15 years.
Phillip Anderson rushed for 123 yards and one touchdown to lead Ithaca, who easily won the total yardage battle. On the defensive side, Ithaca limited Norwich to just 115 total yards – all of those on the ground.
“We have run the ball well early on in both of our games, but we haven’t been able to sustain it,” said Norwich coach John Martinson. “We’ve been inconsistent, and that can happen with a young offensive line.”
Ithaca, down 7-6 at halftime, took the lead in the third when a Norwich punt snap sailed over the punter’s head and into the endzone for a safety. “From that point on, anything that could go wrong, did go wrong,” Martinson said. “We had penalties, too many men on the field, not enough men on the field…we made so many foolish mistakes.”
Marcus Moss hauled in a 16-yard scoring pass late in the third quarter from quarterback Scott Boettger putting Ithaca up by seven points. Another safety, this time after Norwich quarterback Casey Edwards was sacked, capped the scoring in the fourth quarter.
Norwich capitalized on an Ithaca mistake in the first quarter. After an NHS punt, Ithaca fumbled the punt return allowing Tornado junior Nate Wilbur to recover the ball at the 21. Nine plays later, Christian Hotaling barreled in from two yards out.
Anderson capped a nine-play Ithaca drive in the second quarter scoring on a six-yard TD jaunt.
Norwich had one more sustained drive in the game reaching Ithaca’s eight-yard line in the second quarter. On a fourth-and-one, the Purple fumbled the snap – their only fumble of the game – to lose the ball on downs.
Mackay Hotaling led the Norwich attack with 77 yards on the ground, most of those coming on a 47-yard run in the second quarter.
Norwich plays Johnson City on Friday.
Score by quarters
NHS 7 0 0 0–7
Itha. 0 6 8 2–16
Scoring Summary
N: Christian Hotaling 2 run (Josh Favaloro kick)
I: Phillip Anderson 6 run (kick failed)
I: Safety, punt snap went through the endzone.
I: Marcus Moss 16 pass from Scott Boettger (pass failed)
I: Safety, Norwich QB tackled in endzone.
Team Summary
N I
First downs 6 16
Rushes-yds 31-115 41-208
Comp-att-int 0-5-2 7-10-0
Passing yds 0 58
