ITHACA, N.Y. – Sophomore Francesco Pileggi drilled the game-winning 32-yard field goal with three seconds left in the fourth quarter as the Union College football team remained unbeaten in Liberty League play with a massive 19-14 victory over Ithaca College in a battle of conference unbeatens on Saturday afternoon at Butterfield Stadium.
The win keeps Union (5-2, 4-0 Liberty League) atop the conference standings along with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and improves the team's winning streak to five games with three league matchups remaining on the schedule.
Pileggi's kick was the culmination of a game-winning eight-play, 60-yard drive that started at the 25-yard line with 1:51 left after the Bombers had just tied the game. Two runs by senior Patch Flanagan earned the first first down of the drive, and a huge 32-yard completion to junior Owen Corrigan set Union up at the 26-yard line with 18 seconds on the clock. Classmate Michael Dinardo followed with a key run to get to the 15-yard line, and Pileggi knocked it through from 32 yards out.
To put an exclamation point on the win, Union forced a safety on Ithaca's last-chance kickoff return to account for the final score and clinch the team's second-ever victory at Butterfield.
Flanagan finished the game 18-for-31 with 260 yards and one touchdown, while also rushing 14 times for 50 yards. Corrigan caught three passes for 46 yards and a score and junior Joe Curran led the team with 84 receiving yards on two crucial catches. Senior DJ Wright also scored a touchdown on the ground for the visitors.
The defensive unit had another stellar outing, recording five sacks and seven tackles for loss. Junior Lucas Coleman and sophomore John Droggitis led the way with nine tackles apiece, with Coleman also breaking up two passes. Junior Jordan Black had two TFLs and 1.5 sacks while senior Matt Mitchell and junior Daniel O'Leary both had a full sack as well for the visitors.
After the teams exchanged punts to start the day, Union responded with a 19-play, 80-yard drive that took over nine minutes off the clock and opened the scoring. The visitors converted a pair of third downs and two fourth downs during the extended drive, including coming back from 3rd-and-20 and 2nd-and-18 holes along the way. The big play was a 37-yard catch by Curran on 4th-and-3 to set Union up at the two, with Wright eventually finishing off the drive with the score.
The visitors forced punts on Ithaca's next three possessions, followed by a missed field goal and a turnover-on-downs that allowed Union to take a 7-0 lead into halftime.
The Bombers went 52 yards in 11 plays to even the score on the first drive of the third quarter, but Union immediately responded to take back the lead with a nine-play, 75-yard march. Curran had another huge catch on the drive, a 47-yard strike that again brought the Garnet Chargers inside the five-yard line. After an incompletion and rush for no gain, Flanagan found Corrigan in the back of the end zone for the three-yard touchdown.
Union had a massive defensive stand on the next drive, denying Ithaca four times after the Bombers had first-and-goal from the three-yard line. After rushes of one yard and no yards on the first two downs, Mitchell had a huge pass breakup on third down to set up 4th-and-2, where O'Leary and sophomore Dominic Mazzuca combined to stop Michael Reed behind the line.
Union got to midfield before punting on the next drive and Ithaca managed to go 88 yards to tie the score with 1:56 on the clock, but the visitors still had plenty of time to march back the other way for the deciding score.
Union will return home next Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup with Hilbert College.
Pileggi's Field Goal Lifts Union Past Ithaca, 19-14
/seasons/2025/boxscores/20251025_kb9b.xml
2025
Union
19
Ithaca
14
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union (5-2) | 7 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 19 |
| Ithaca (5-2) | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
Oct 25, 2025