ITHACA, N.Y. –Wahid Nabi threw for three touchdowns and ran for another to lead Ithaca College to a 28-3 victory over the University of Rochester on Saturday afternoon in central New York State.
 
He threw scoring strikes of four yards to Anrew Vito and seven yards to Will Gladney in the first half. Nabi stretched Ithaca's lead to 21-3 early in the third quarter on a 15-yard TD run, then finished the job with a 54-yard bomb to Billy Tedeschi with 6:41 remaining.
 
The victory keeps Ithaca in the general vicinity of the top of the Liberty League standings. IC improved to 5-2 overall, 2-1 in LL play. Rochester is 1-6 overall, 0-3 in the league. The top team in the League is unbeaten RPI (6-0 overall, 2-0 LL) and that's who comes to Fauver Stadium next Saturday to face Rochester. Ithaca and Hobart are tied for second place at 2-1. St. Lawrence is fourth (1-1), Union fifth (1-2). Rochester is sixth (0-3).
 
In terms of sheer passing yardage, Rochester quarterback Matt Gallagher and Nabi were on equal terms. Gallagher hit 25 of 46 passes for 242 yards. He was intercepted twice and sacked twice. Nabi connected on 20 o 26 throws for 234 yards and the three scores. He was not intercepted and his linemen formed a protective shell that kept him from being sacked.
 
Gallagher spread the ball around: eight men caught his passes. Duncan Stewart hauled in 10 passes for 52 yards. He is the first UR player in three seasons to catch 10 or more passes in a game. Derek Wager had 10 catches vs. WPI in 2015.
 
UR totaled 270 yards in offense. Ithaca rushed for 128 yards. Kendall Anderson led the way with 83 yards on 15 carries. Gladney led IC receivers with seven receptions for 59 yards. Tedeschi, helped by the 54-yard scoring strike, had 77 yards on four catches.
 
Rochester drove for a field goal on its opening possession Stewart returned the kickoff 31 yards to the UR 39. Facing fourth-and-two at the Ithaca 35, Gallagher completed a 13-yard pass to Noah Shinaman to put the ball on the IC 22. Two plays later, he found Sean Mannion out of the backfield for 18 yards down to the five. Two runs and an incompletion brought up fourth-and-goal at the six. Dawson Klinger converted a 23-yard field goal. Itw as his sixth of the season. That's the most for a UR placekicker since Alex Antonucci made eight of eight in 2011.
 
Ithaca answered with a 10-play, 63-yard drive and Nabi's pass to Vito for the go-ahead TD. After Rochester went three-and-out, IC capitalized on a 25-yard punt return by Vito to set up at the Rochester 18. Two runs by Anderson and a seven-yard Nabi-to-Gladney scoring pass made it 14-3 with four minutes left in the opening quarter.
 
Rochester's best opportunity to climb right back into it was disrupted a bit by Mother Nature in the second quarter. Ithaca had the bal on its own 27. Nabi threw a short pass o Gladney who was hit by Robert Dromsky-Reed. He fumbled and Ricky Simcic recovered for Rochester at the IC 26. Gallagher converted a fourth down on 4^th-and-6, hitting Connor Byrne for seven yards to get to the 15. The Yellowjackets called for time facing 3^rd-and-8 midway through the period. A strong storm, accompanied by thunder, sent the teams off the field. When they returned, Gallagher's pass was picked off by Ryan Bronson at the three.
 
The teams swapped possessions. UR drove from the IC 35 down to the 18. Kling'er's 35-yard field goal was blocked by Bronson and recovered by Nick Garone at the 14. That ended the half.
 
Defensively, Caden Cole led UR with 13 tackles (seven primary). Cole McHugh had seven.  The Yellowjackets had five tackles for loss, two by Cole. Ithaca had 12 tackles for loss, two of which were sacks. Garone and Bronson each had INTs.