#TBT: 120 Years of Ithaca Football Wins
October 2, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Ithaca football team has won 61 straight games dating to opening night 2010, a stretch that is the longest active streak in the U.S., second-longest in MHSAA history, longest to take place fully during the MHSAA playoff era, and three wins from cracking the the national all-time top 10 list.
But more than a century before the Yellowjackets began this era of invincibility, they were among those embracing the sport during its infancy in the late 1890s.
Research by the Ithaca Area Historical Society led to the uncovering of the above photo of the 1899 Ithaca High School football team and all but two of the players' names.
The Ithaca program has 376 victories dating back to the start of the 1950 season – and further research that is underway should show the team has well over 500 wins dating to its first team in 1895. Cadillac, with 512 victories, was 10th on Michigan high school football's all-time wins list heading into this season.
For some added perspective: The MHSAA was begun from a preceding organization during the 1924-25 school year. The first MHSAA playoffs were played in 1975. Ithaca's most recent varsity football loss came to Montague in a 2009 Division 6 Semifinal.
Be the Referee: Illegal Football Kick
October 22, 2020
This week, MHSAA officials coordinator Sam Davis presents a "You Make the Call" on the legality of a kicking scenario.
Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.
Below is this week's segment - You Make the Call: Illegal Kick - Listen
Here’s a you-make-the-call situation today. It’s fourth down and a field goal is being attempted – but the holder muffs the snap. With the loose ball rolling around, the kicker swings his leg at it and boots it through the uprights. You make the call – is this legal?
There are only two ways a ball can be legally kicked for points on a play which starts with a snap from center. One is a place kick being held by another player – the other is the rarely seen drop kick.
Had the kicker picked up the ball, dropped it to the ground and kicked it on the bounce through the uprights, the result of the play would have been a field goal. In this instance, though, a 10-yard penalty is assessed from the line of scrimmage for illegal kicking, and the opposing team takes over from that spot.
Past editions
10/15: Toe the Line on Penalty Kicks - Listen
10/8: Disconcerting Acts - Listen
10/1: Ball Hits Soccer Referee - Listen
9/24: Clocking the Ball from the Shotgun - Listen