ENDICOTT -- Different week, same story.

Union-Endicott running back Jordan Thomas raced for 187 yards and three touchdowns Saturday night at Ty Cobb Stadium to help the Tigers advance to the Section 4 Class AA championship game with a 38-15 semifinal win over Ithaca.

Second-seeded Union-Endicott (6-3) will meet top-seeded Binghamton (7-2) for the sectional championship on Friday night at Vestal. The Patriots advanced by beating Horseheads 55-3 on Friday.

Thomas, who will play at Rutgers next fall, raced for 236 yards and three touchdowns in the Tigers' 23-0 win over Ithaca on Oct. 17.

"(Thomas) feels good," Union-Endicott coach Shane Hurd said of Thomas' late-season success. "You go through the normal seasonal stuff with the shoulders, and sometimes he doesn't hit those extra yards. It seems like he's seeing the holes much better and the offensive line is really gelling."

After both teams failed on fouth-down conversions to start the game, the Tigers got the ball back and on the first play of their second possession, the Little Red defense was pointing as if a U-E player moved before the snap. That little hesitation was all Thomas needed, as took his second handoff of the night into the end zone from 68 yards out.

Union-Endicott had a few breathless moments when Thomas was shaken up on Ithaca's ensuing possession. However, he jogged off the field and, when the Tigers got the ball back, he took his next carry for a 54-yard touchdown off left tackle to put the Tigers up 14-0 with 3:26 left in the opening quarter.

Ithaca (6-3) cut U-E's lead in half on a nine-yard Riley Lasda touchdown reception from Scott Boettger. But it was a play at the end of the half that put the game out of reach.

With U-E leading 17-7 following a 23-yard field goal by Brandon Diorio, the Tigers turned the ball over with 44 seconds left on another failed fourth-down conversion. Ithaca took over on its own 35 yard-line and decided to try to get some offense going.

But on the first play, Union-Endicott's Anthony Yammarino intercepted his second pass of the night. That turnover set up a 15-yard Mario Carroll-to-Pete Roma touchdown strike just inside the near pylon with 14 seconds left to give U-E a 17-points halftime cushion.

"We could have chosen to run the clock out but I felt confident we could get down the field and score some points," Ithaca coach Ed Redmond said. "We threw the ball and the ball bounced off (one of our kids). It's a decision you make as a coach to go down and get some points. It just didn't work out."

In their earlier meeting earlier this season, Binghamton edged Union-Endicott, 18-13. Hurd said the key for the Tigers will be stopping the Patriots' spread attack.

"We're fired up to be playing in the 10th week of the season," Hurd said. "It's a great rivalry we have for Binghamton and a mutual respect as far as getting on the field."