By John Raffel
Ithaca’s winning streak of four state titles began against the same team that would end it.
In 2010, Ithaca defeated St. Mary Catholic Central, 45-35, for the first of four state crowns.
Four years later, on Nov. 28 at Ford Field, the Falcons got the better part of their rematch with a 22-12 victory.
“They’re a great football team, great program, great coaches,” St. Mary coach Jack Giarmo said. “It hurts, I know, I’ve been there before. They’re a great program and they’re not done. They’ll continue to win games.”
John Lako had touchdown runs of 2 and 3 yards, the only two touchdowns the Falcons would muster against a stingy Ithaca defense.
But Travis Vuich’s 19-yard fumble recovery return against the Ithaca punt return team would prove to be critical. “It was a great feeling,” Vuich said.
Ithaca had the edge in total yards, 262-182, but turnovers were 3-1 against the Yellowjackets, and they were hard to overcome.
“It’s fantastic,” Giarmo said. “It’s a great win for our program. We have a lot of tradition at our school. There’s been a lot of people before that built that tradition. We came close the last couple of times we were here.”
St. Mary lost the 2009 title game 24-21 to the Montague team that had beaten Ithaca in the semifinal, the Yellowjackets’ last loss prior to 69 straight wins.
“Our line did well on both sides of the ball, defensively and offensively,” Lako said. “We made big plays.”
“Through the year our defense has played very well,” Giarmo said. “We didn’t give up many points this year. We put in a new defense this year that really helped us a lot.”
One of those good defensive plays came from Lako, who sacked Ithaca quarterback Jake Smith for a loss of 12 yards with two minutes to play and the Falcons nursing a 15-12 lead. It would lead to an interception moments later that set up a clinching touchdown for the Falcons.
“I dropped coverage, then I blitzed,” Lako said. “That play was surreal and just unbelievable. The fact we got that stop off it, too, was amazing.”
While even Giarmo admitted his offense struggled against Ithaca, the Falcons had a textbook 17-play, 60-yard drive that lasted 8:15 to open the game for an 8-0 lead.
“We like to receive the ball first,” Giarmo said. “I joke with my coaches, ‘Why not go defense first if we win the toss?’ They say, ‘No, take the ball.’ The whole season except one game we pretty much received the ball on opening kickoffs, drove down, and scored. It was a momentum thing for us.”
Bryce Windham, the Falcon quarterback, said he could appreciate Ithaca’s winning streak. “It’s hard to win 69 games in a row,” he said. “To be that good for that long is pretty amazing.”
But No. 70 for Ithaca was not meant to be.
“Last year, we lost a heartbreaker in the regionals,” Windham said. “We wanted it so bad.”
“It was a great win for us in the fact our kids were resilient with some injuries, and they came back and played,” Giarmo said.