Football | 10/8/2021 2:28:49 PM
SUNY Cortland (4-0), ranked 18th nationally in Division III by the AFCA and 19th by D3football.com, hosts SUNY Brockport (3-1), who is receiving votes in both polls in an early but crucial Empire 8 matchup from the SUNY Cortland Football Complex at noon on Saturday, Oct. 9. The teams were Empire 8 co-champions in 2019, with Brockport earning the league's NCAA automatic bid by virtue of its overtime win in Cortland. Both teams won their league openers on the road last weekend. Brockport has won the last three Empire 8 Championships.
THE SERIES: Cortland and Brockport are meeting for the 72nd time. The teams have played every season since 1948, except for the 1950 season (the 2020 season was canceled). Cortland leads the overall series 49-20-2, but Brockport has won six of the last seven meetings after Cortland won five straight from 2008-12.
In 2019 at Cortland, Brockport quarterback Jason Hellwig ran for the winning 11-yard touchdown in the first overtime to complete Brockport's comeback from a 23-0 first-half deficit as the Golden Eagles defeated the Red Dragons, 32-26.
CORTLAND CAPSULE: Cortland opened its Empire 8 schedule with a 58-7 win at Morrisville State last Saturday. The Red Dragons, now 4-0 on the season, scored on each of their first eight possessions and finished with a 518-83 advantage in total offensive yardage.
Brees Segala completed 17-of-25 passes for 181 yards and three touchdowns before being replaced early in the third quarter. Cortland rushed for 309 yards, led by
Jaden Alfanostjohn with 77 yards and two scores on just eight carries and
Dom Gombetto with 76 yards and a TD on 17 attempts.
Derek Cruz,
JJ Laap,
Trevor Ash and
Ky'Sawn Veale each caught TD passes, with Veale's coming from backup quarterback
Zac Boyes.
Cortland held a 40:31-19:29 time of possession advantage and limited the Mustangs to four first downs.
Will Ruckert and
Dylan Dubuque each made four tackles and
Mark Noel returned an interception 39 yards to help set up a score.
Through four games, Segala has completed 73-of-105 passes (69.5 percent) for 973 yards and 12 touchdowns with just one interception. Laap leads the team with 23 receptions for 390 yards and four touchdowns and Cruz has caught 20 passes for 197 yards and two scores. Ash shares the team lead with Laap with four TD receptions.
Justin Wheeler paces the defense with 25 tackles, followed by
Paul Imperiale with 16.
Nick Lardaro has registered 3.5 sacks and
Christian Legagneur has two interceptions.
Liam Casey averages 39.2 yards per punt, with seven of his 12 kicks pinning teams inside the 20, and
Nick Guglielmo is 20-of-22 on PAT kicks and has made both of his field goals.
A LOOK AT...SUNY BROCKPORT: Brockport improved to 3-1 with a 34-7 win at St. John Fisher last Saturday for its fourth straight victory in the annual Courage Bowl between the schools. The rivalry game, which originated in 2005, benefits Camp Good Days and Special Times, an organization that has served children with cancer and their families for more than four decades.
Jala Coad earned Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Week honors after rushing 45 times for 240 yards and three touchdowns. In the process, he eclipsed the career 2,000-yard rushing mark; he's currently at 2,106 career yards with 22 touchdowns. Imhotep Cromer caught seven passes for 88 yards and Jack Cheshire completed 13-of-27 passes for 127 yards. The Brockport defense limited the Cardinals to minus-2 rushing yards and 171 yards of total offense. Ben Damiani made eight tackles and Andrew Covais recorded seven stops. Alaan Montgomery intercepted two passes, while Lawrence Jenkins made three tackles and returned an interception 72 yards for a score to earn Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Week honors.
Coad is averaging 139.3 rushing yards per game with six touchdowns. He averages more than 28 rushing attempts per game. Cromer leads the Golden Eagles with 34 catches for 388 yards and Cheshire is 77-of-145 (53.1 percent) through the air for 697 yards and three scores. Damiani and Josh Greenwood lead Brockport with 25 and 23 tackles, respectively. Greenwood has registered a team-best two sacks and Montgomery has picked off three passes. Nate Wigent is 4-for-5 on field goal attempts, with a long kick of 43 yards, and has made 9-of-10 PAT kicks.
NOTEBOOK:
* Brockport and Cortland enter the game as two of the top defensive teams nationally in Division III. Brockport ranks third nationally in total defense, allowing 162.5 yards/game, and is first in rushing defense (21.2 yds./game) and team passing efficiency defense (66.5 opponent rating). The Golden Eagles are 11th nationally in scoring defense (9.2 points/game) and second with 11 interceptions. Similarly, Cortland is ranked sixth in total defense, allowing 183.5 yards/game, 12th in scoring defense (9.5 points/game), 10th in rushing defense (46.8 yds./game) and 14th in passing defense (136.8 yds./game).
* Cortland and Brockport are both ranked in the top six nationally in time of possession per game. The Golden Eagles are fourth at 35:35 per game, while Cortland is sixth at 35:03 per game. One of the main reasons for this is each team's ability to stop the opposition on third down. Brockport ranks second nationally in third down conversion percentage defenses at 18.3 percent, while Cortland is fourth at 19.1 percent.
* Cortland is averaging 50.8 points per game through four games. Cortland's 203 points this season are its highest total through four games since 1991, when the Red Dragons scored 204 points over its first four contests. The school record for scoring average in a season is 39.3 points per game in 2018.
* Cortland is tied for first nationally in Division III with four defensive touchdowns. Last week at Morrisville marked the first game this season when Cortland's defensive didn't score a touchdown, although the Red Dragons came close when
Mark Noel returned an interception 39 yards before being tackled at the 5-yard line.
Dylan Dubuque has scored two of Cortland's three defensive touchdowns – a fumble recovery in the end zone at Wittenberg and an 11-yard interception return at TCNJ.
Christian Legagneur returned an interception 25 yards for a score at Wittenberg and
Stone Murray returned an interception 61 yards for a score versus Buffalo State. The school record for most defensive touchdowns by one player in a season is three by Chuck Eich in 2003.
* Cortland has scored on 19 of its 21 trips (90.5 percent) into the red zone (at or inside the opponents' 20-yard line) this season with 16 touchdowns and three field goals. Cortland has allowed its opponents inside the red zone only five times through four games, resulting in three scores (one touchdown, two field goals), an interception and a turnover on downs.
* Brockport ranks fourth in the nation in time of possession with an average TOP of 35:35 per contest this season. An excellent ground game and one of the top defenses in the country leads to this accolade. Brockport also ranks third nationally in total defense, allowing just 162.5 yards per contest.