Some wins are bigger than others.
For Utica, last Saturday’s victory over Ithaca falls into that category. Especially for a relatively young program.
Beating the back-to-back defending conference champion, on homecoming, in a game that is broadcast throughout the state of New York on regional cable television, in overtime with a bench-clearing touchdown pass to end the game – It doesn’t get much more memorable than that.
“I’d like to think for the last few years that our program’s improved enough to earn the respect of our opponents,” Pioneer coach Blaise Faggiano said. “We’ve had some solid wins, but we’ve never had that win that gets you over the hump.”
That hump is being in position to make a serious run at the Empire 8 championship this season. The Pioneers improved to 2-1 in the E8, a conference were you can almost be certain that the champion will not finish the season undefeated. It was the fourth overtime game between conference foes in just the past two weeks. Current leader Cortland State, at 5-0, has had to win in OT each of the past two weeks.
“It’s a great conference,” Faggiano said. “Everyone’s going to beat each other up. There’s no week off. That’s why it so exciting for our kids to be where we’re at right now.”
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