Alfred, Ithaca and Utica Stay Perfect on Season
UTICA 20, Frostburg 12
The Utica College football team improved to 3-0 for the third time in program-history on Saturday as the Pioneers fended off visiting Frostburg State, 20-12, in Empire 8 Conference action at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. Freshman running back
J'Von Evans punched in two first quarter touchdowns and the UC defense stood its ground, allowing just nine second half points in the victory.
Sophomore linebacker
Juwan Wilson ed the Pioneers with 14 tackles (13 solo) and he also broke up one pass, while
Brandon Burnham added eight tackles for UC. Wilson has 14 tackles in each of the last two games and he leads the team with 36 this season.
Utica quarterback
Will Kassar rushed the ball 13 times for a team-best 70 yards and he also tallied his team-best fourth touchdown of the season to put the Pioneers on top 20-6 with just seconds to go in the third quarter of play. Kassar now has a team-high 175 yards rushing through three games.
Frostburg quarterback Ken Emmons, who carried the ball 19 times for 43 yards, scored a fourth quarter rushing touchdown to bring the Bobcats to within eight points, 20-12, with 8:35 to go but the ensuing extra point attempt failed, leaving the visitors behind one score and a two point conversion.
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ALFRED 29, Buffalo State 21
The visiting Alfred University football team scored 23 unanswered points in the second and third quarters and held a potent Buff State offense to 288 yards, nearly half its average output, in a 29-21 victory Saturday afternoon.
Alfred opened the scoring with a long opening drive, going 75 yards in 15 plays. The drive, which consumed 9:20, ended with a 13-yard TD pass from sophomore quarterback
Tyler Johnson to sophomore wide receiver
Brendan Buisch with 5:40 left in the opening frame. The PAT failed and AU led 6-0.
Buff State answered with a touchdown on its ensuing drive and the Bengals held a 7-6 lead after one period. The Saxons then scored 23 unanswered points, beginning with a 13-yard interception return for a TD by sophomore defensive end
Zack Bacon with 5:42 left in the second that gave AU a 13-7 advantage. A 38-yard field goal by freshman
Trevor Monk with 27 seconds left in the half gave the Saxons a 16-7 lead at intermission.
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ITHACA 42, Hartwick 7
The 19th-ranked Ithaca College football team began conference play with a 42-7 win over Hartwick on Saturday at Butterfield Stadium. Ithaca scored four touchdowns in the second half to pull away in a convincing win. Hartwick's only score came on its last drive of the game. Ithaca is 2-0 on the season and 1-0 in the Empire 8. Hartwick fell to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
Ithaca led 14-0 at halftime on a pair of touchdowns by
Ben Cary. The fullback / tight end caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from
Tom Dempsey with 3:03 remaining in the first quarter. He added a 23-yard catch-and-run touchdown in the second quarter with 11:47 left. Cary ran in for a score in the third quarter from 2 yards out. He became the first Ithaca player to score three touchdowns in the same game since Tom Bergerstock scored three times at Utica in the 2009 season.
With the 14-0 halftime lead, Ithaca received the second-half kickoff and went up by three scores. After an 8-yard pass from
Tom Dempsey to
Chris Bauer, freshman running back
Tristan Brown broke through the right side and went down the sideline for a 67-yard touchdown. Brown finished the game with 129 yards on 14 carries.
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