Empire 8 Football Goes Undefeated on Opening Day
The Empire 8 Athletic Conference enjoyed a wildly successful opening weekend, as all seven teams in action won their non-conference matchup on Saturday.
Buffalo State, Frostburg, Hartwick, Ithaca, Salisbury, St. John Fisher and Utica were all victorious, while Alfred University had a bye-week. The Hawks, Bombers and Seagulls all had decisive road wins, while the rest of the teams enjoyed their first-weekend success on their home fields.
Empire 8 teams outscored opponents 277-128 on opening day. Ithaca’s defense was in midseason form, cruising to a 24-0 shutout win over Moravian. The Salisbury offense also picked up where it left off in last season’s NCAA quarterfinals with a 40-16 victory over Christopher Newport. Hartwick handled Husson 55-14 in Bangor, Utica cruised past St. Lawrence, 40-7, Frostburg used a big fourth quarter to squeak past Geneva, 56-53, and St. John Fisher held off Thomas Moore, 13-7. Empire 8 newcomer Buffalo State made a statement in week one defeating Cortland 49-31, marking the first win over the Red Dragons in seven years.
Individually, Bengals junior Casey Kacz had a record-setting day as he threw for a school-record 579 yards with five touchdown passes. Utica’s QB Andrew Benkwitt threw for 355 yards, with 136 of those yards going to WR Jeremy Meier. Salisbury star Joe Benedetti (216), Ithaca’s Clay Ardoin (206), Frostburg’s Chuky Iweh (140), Fisher’s QB Ryan Kramer (127) and Buffalo State’s Rich Pete (103) all topped 100 rushing yards. Defensively Utica’s Joe Giametta had 14 tackles and Buffalo State’s Chris Hall had three interceptions.
The Empire 8 will play another slate of non-conferences on Sept. 8. For complete results and coverage of all Empire 8 fall sports - stay tuned to
www.empire8.com and
www.e8stats.com.
Don't forget to become a fan of the Empire 8 on
Facebook and follow
@Empire8 on Twitter.