Syracuse Strong overcome slow start to beat Ithaca Warriors in Week 10
Syracuse Strong continue undefeated season with strong first-half finish vs Ithaca. Here are the full details and what’s next for the squad.
The final score of this Week 10 matchup (37-8) between the Syracuse Strong and the Ithaca Warriors doesn’t truly indicate how close this game actually was.
In Week 9 the Monroe County Sting utilized a ball-control offense to limit the Strong possessions and shorten the game. The strategy worked and the game came down to the bitter end on a goal-line stand.
The Ithaca Warriors utilized a similar game plan focused on a running offense primarily through the quarterback.
Sadly the team shot itself in the foot too many times and the Strong made them pay for it:
- Shanking punts.
- Fumbles.
- Penalties.
Syracuse got off to a quick 7-0 lead thanks to star running back Rashad Burns, but Ithaca answered back with a screen play inside their own 15-yard line and No. 81 dodged three would-be tacklers and took it over 80 yards to the house. Much to the dismay of the Warriors fans in attendance a costly holding penalty negated the score that would’ve tied the game back up.
That would be the first of many self-inflicted wounds.
Ithaca in the second quarter had a 13 play drive, with over half of those coming from inside the
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opposing five-yard line and couldn’t find a way to punch it into the endzone.
Despite Ithaca’s ineptitude, this game was still very much within reach near the end of the second quarter, but that’s ultimately where the game was lost.
Ithaca was set to punt the ball back to the Strong only down seven points and one muffed snap to the punter later, the Strong took over inside the opposing 15.
No. 3 Joshua Thomas made the Warriors pay for their mistake and put the Strong up 14-0.
Again this game is still very much within reach.
Another special teams gaffe forced Ithaca close to their own endzone, on the very first play of this new drive, another muffed snap and the Strong sack the Ithaca quarterback in the endzone making it 16-0.
Hey, it’s still a two-score game, everything is fine until it wasn’t.
The safety drop punt gave the Strong favorable field position and they scored again making it 23-0.
So a quick recap, in a span of maybe four minutes. The Strong turned a 7-0 lead into a 23-0 lead heading into halftime.
At this point, the players on the Ithaca bench were arguing with each other and the game was lost. The final score ended up being 37-8 and the Strong continued their perfect season at 9-0.
Next. Syracuse Football: Ranking every SU first round pick in NFL Draft history. dark
Up next the Strong return home for the first time in nearly a month to the Valley Sports Complex to face the WNY Mustangs.