Alfred, Fisher, Hartwick and Salisbury Win E8 Opener
Alfred 39, Buffalo 33 (2OT)
Buffalo State (2-3/0-2) erased a 20-point deficit and after a wild play was an extra point away from winning in overtime, but the Bengals could not convert the kick and Alfred (3-1/1-0) escaped with a 39-33 victory in double-overtime in an Empire 8 game today at Merrill Field.
After Alfred scored on a 1-yard run by Austin Dwyer in the first overtime, Buffalo State appeared to lose the game when Alfred's Seiji Hinton came up with an interception in the end zone. Hinton did not down the ball however, and as he ran out of the end zone to celebrate, he dropped the ball. An alert
Rich Pete(Utica/TR Proctor) recovered the fumble in the end zone, and set the Bengals up to win the game with the extra point. For the second time in as many tries, however, the Bengals had the kicked blocked, and the game continued to a second overtime.
After Buffalo State turned the ball over on downs in the second overtime, the Saxons finished the game with Dwyer's fourth touchdown of the game from 4 yards out.
FULL STORY
St. John Fisher 38, Frostburg 35
The nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College football program won its Empire 8 Conference season-opener for the 10
th straight year on Saturday, as the Cardinals rallied in the fourth quarter to earn a 38-35 win over visiting Frostburg State University on Saturday at Fisher's Growney Stadium.
With the win, Fisher, ranked No. 19 in both the latest D3football.com and AFCA poll, improves to 4-0 for the third time in the last four years, while Frostburg falls to 1-3.
Fisher's
Ryan Kramer totaled 293 all-purposes yards, including 187 on five kickoff returns. Fisher enjoyed great field position throughout the day with five of its six touchdown-drives starting inside Bobcat territory.
Fisher enjoyed a 31-20 lead going into the fourth quarter, but the Bobcats rallied, marching 70 yards on nine plays with Antonio Wood scoring on a 12-yard pass from Ken Emmons with 12:32 left. Just 1:16 later – after Fisher lost a fumble at its own 40 – the Bobcats came right back and made it 35-31 with Mike Fourth scoring on a six-yard run.
Kramer returned the ensuing kickoff to the Frostburg 41 and after seven consecutive rushes,
Cody Miller scored his third touchdown of the day on a nine-yard run with 7:48 left. Frostburg had two more possessions to take the lead or tie the game, but the Fisher defense hung tough and didn't allow the Bobcats into Fisher territory.
FULL STORY
Hartwick 21, Ithaca 9
The Hartwick defense had five takeaways and four sacks while holding Ithaca to just 46 yards rushing on the day as the Hawks defeated the Bombers 21-9 on Saturday afternoon at Wright Stadium. The win is the first over IC since 2007 and is Hartwick's first Empire 8 victory since 2010. 'Wick is also 4-0 for the first time since 2009.
Hartwick led 21-0 in the third quarter after defensive tackle
Jason Brown picked up a fumble by Bomber qu
arterback Phil Neumann and rumbled 16 yards to the endzone. The defense had three interceptions in the game with Dante Crump picking off two IC passes and Jared Morrow getting one. FULL STORY
Salisbury 34, Utica 0
The Salisbury University football team opened Empire 8 Athletic Conference play with a resounding 34-0 win Saturday afternoon at Utica College.
The Salisbury defense stole the show, pitching its first shutout since a 69-0 win against Alfred University on Oct. 15, 2011 and the program's seventh shutout in the past 16 seasons. Utica was limited to 250 yards of total offense in the game.
Junior quarterback Joey Jones paced the offense, rushing for 59 yards and a score and passing for two more touchdowns, while sophomore Jerome Johnsonrushed for 139 yards.
Salisbury (2-2, 1-0 Empire 8) took the game's opening kickoff and saw Johnson return the kick 48 yards to the Utica 46-yard line and it didn't take long for the Sea Gulls to strike. It took just seven plays before Johnson ran in from 19 yards out on fourth-and-two. The point-after try failed, but Salisbury grabbed the 6-0 lead, which would be good enough for the Sea Gull defense. FULL STORY