Race

Cortland prepares to host Ithaca in heated annual Cortaca rivalry game

A man tried to swing an ax at a police officer.

Someone jumped off a rooftop.

Some dragged furniture out of homes and set it on fire.

Welcome to Cortaca 2013.

Last year, the annual central New York Division III rivalry football game between SUNY Cortland and Ithaca College, played in Ithaca last year, became an afterthought. The parties took center stage in Cortland, where 80 people were arrested, but only 19 of them were Cortland students, Cortland Police Lieutenant David Guerrera said.



More than 4,000 people piled onto Clayton Avenue, a street with off-campus student housing, and aimlessly threw beer cans and bottles.

“To me, that’s disturbing because there’s only one result out of that,” Cortland senior Avery Giordonello said. “And that’s someone getting hurt.”

When Ithaca (7-2, 6-2 Empire 8) travels to Cortland (4-5, 4-3 New Jersey Athletic) on Saturday at noon for the 56th annual Cortaca Jug contest. Cortland has won the last four years in a row, but Ithaca holds a 34-21 edge in the Jug series. The City of Cortland Police Department will have prepared reinforcements on Saturday.

Members of the Cortland Police have gone door to door in off-campus, primarily student neighborhoods to discuss what will and won’t be tolerated for Cortaca. Underage drinking laws will be more closely enforced, Guerrera said.

For past Cortacas, banners hung from these houses saying things like “Blackout or back out” and “Win or lose, we still booze.” And though the partying has gained extra attention, the game is still one of the biggest rivalry matchups in the Division III football.

“Over the years, more and more and more people simply come for the partying outside of the football game,” said Guerrera, who will be working his 23rd Cortaca weekend.

The Cortland County Sheriff Department and New York State Police will assist patrolling on Saturday, because the crowd is just too large for the Cortland Police Department to handle on its own, Guerrera said.

Cortland senior Andrea Dippolito said she was embarrassed by what happened last year. Students that live in dorms are allowed to have a maximum of one guest, but she still thinks that is not a strong enough stand.
Each of the two schools has about 7,000 students and when visitors come on gameday, she said, the campus population essentially doubles and recklessness breaks out. Visitors don’t have anything to lose and don’t mind trashing someone else’s city.

“I wish we could do it without having so many people from out of town come for it,” Dippolito said. “It’s a thing that’s between Cortland and Ithaca and that’s what it should be limited to.”

While the city of Cortland is responding to last year’s craziness, Ithaca students are experiencing something different.

“It’s been somewhat of a mystery as to how the activities will be handled here in Ithaca given that it never got out of control here last year,” Ithaca sophomore Olivia Oppenheim said in an email.

Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer’s son, Wolfgang, is a sophomore backup quarterback for Ithaca. If the Bombers go 0-10, but beat Cortland in the last game, it’s a successful season, Wolfgang Shafer said. Cortland has won the last four Cortaca games.

Wolfgang Shafer wakes up around 8 a.m. every gameday and drives with his roommate Austin DeGrazia to Hal’s Deli. Normally the Ithaca campus would be empty and quiet. During Cortaca, people are outside tossing a football, tailgating and blasting music.

“Driving back up the hill, we just looked at each other like, ‘Man, this thing’s for real,’” Shafer said.

For Ithaca and Cortland, it’s the one day of the year that students can feel like they go to a big Division I school. The smell of tailgating saturates the campuses as students eat breakfast and drink beer simultaneously.

Throughout the day, Ithaca students roam the streets saying, “It’s a great day to be a Bomber” and “Happy Cortaca,” Ithaca senior Claire Farrell said.

This year’s game is at Cortland, but the game will be shown at Ithaca’s campus center. The parties in Ithaca will still occur, but the camaraderie across the campus is what makes it special for Farrell.

With everyone uniting against the other school, pride reaches a peak.

In past years, students made shirts that said “F*ck Cortland” and “F*ck Ithaca.” At the game, Ithaca students try to mock Cortland by chanting “safety school.” Cortland fans would respond by making fun of Ithaca’s more expensive tuition.

“I don’t like kids from Ithaca strictly because they’re from Ithaca,” Cortland senior D.J. Willmott said. “I’ve never met anyone from Ithaca. I just don’t like them because of the Cortaca rivalry.”





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