SUNY Cortland Fans Celebrate Big Win over Ithaca by Completely Trashing Town

You know it's a party when the cops have to stop arresting people so they can concentrate more on crowd control. 

BuzzFeed's Ryan Broderick spotted a number of social media posts illustrating how a Division III rivalry game can lead to mayhem. Other colleges might toast a job well done when they take a big game, but SUNY Cortland students decided that it was far more appropriate to riot. 

Cortland managed to beat Ithaca College, 28-24, to take their D-III rivalry game affectionately referred to as the Cortaca Jug football game. 

That's when the following happened: 

That's merely a taste of the bedlam, but I should probably provide some details before we head back into the debauchery. 

Syracuse.com's Ken Sturtz reports dozens of people were arrested Saturday in Cortland (N.Y.) before officials had to turn their attention to a more important matter. 

"

Cortland Police Chief Michael Catalano said about 30 people were arrested Saturday, mostly in the city's downtown area.

[...]

Catalano said the crowd got so big that officers had to stop arresting people and focus on controlling the crowd and restoring order.

"

There is something rather terrifying about the thought that somewhere in the realm of 30 arrests wasn't enough to deter fans from engaging in some good ol' fashioned pandemonium. 

OK, back to the rampant chaos pics—watch your head and keep your hands and arms inside the tram, please. 

WSYR reports that an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 people were in the streets. According to CNY Central, some of these partiers were throwing beer cans and chunks of wood at the police trying to control the masses.  

The Syracuse.com report states other agencies, including the New York State Police, were called in to help with the frightening scene. 

Eventually, the antics dissolved into fewer people and were replaced with the sight of garbage festooned as if it was ticker tape. And thankfully, the drunk munchies kicked in, and some of these fans just gave up trashing the place and sauntered off. Or at least that's how the report paints things.

Catie O'Toole, writing for Syracuse.com, reports SUNY Cortland president Erik J. Bitterbaum was in an understandably reprimanding mood, and delivered the following release: 

"

As the president of SUNY Cortland, I would like to personally apologize to the Cortland community for the inexcusable behavior of some of our students related to Saturday's football game with Ithaca College. 

Please be assured that the College will work closely with city officials to implement measures intended to prevent this type of activity from occurring again.

The annual Cortaca game is a time-honored athletic tradition that SUNY Cortland and its alumni take great pride in," Bitterbaum said in the statement. "Unfortunately, as we all saw Saturday, the athletic contest has become secondary to the celebration for some students, guests and visitors to the community. As an institution dedicated to academic and athletic excellence we are determined to turn this destructive culture around.

"

Just hearing the exhaustive numbers of those arrested and the reports of trash and agencies called in to help quell the mayhem would be enough to shock some. But as we all know, we live in a special time when most things are well documented with pictures and video, giving us an altogether more vibrant look at the anarchy.

It's clear that fans took things way too far here, endangering police officers, tipping over cars, smashing televisions and generally acting like the city was their playground. 

Way to act like it was your first rodeo, Cortland fans.

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