By all rights, Cortland should’ve lost to Ithaca in this game. Trailing 20-17 with the clock running out and no timeouts, they opted to go for a field goal instead of going for the win, and everything went wrong. The holder, Luke Hinton, failed to run onto the field. And when the snap came, it was low and he bobbled it.
DIII rivalry game ends with incredible muffed field goal turned into game-winning touchdown
Cortland got a miracle to beat Ithaca in one of Division III’s most intense rivalry games, earning them the Cortaca Jug for the fifth-straight year.
He couldn’t spike the ball, because the play happened on fourth down with the clock expired and it would’ve been the last play of the game. So he had to try and make something of it, which pretty much never works. (Remember Tony Romo?)
Hinton ended up scrambling around, chased by Ithaca linemen -- with some help from a block-like thing by his kicker -- and ended up delivering a game-winning touchdown pass to Jon Mannix. It should be noted Hinton isn’t a QB, but rather a linebacker/punter.
So in a few seconds, the Red Dragons went from attempting to tie the game, to an almost certain loss, to a win over their bitter rivals. Pretty incredible.
Lest you think this upstate New York rivalry isn’t serious: more than 30 students were arrested while celebrating Cortland’s win to take the Cortaca Jug last year. The Red Dragons have now won five straight, and we’d imagine there’s some partying at Cortland tonight.
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