Football | 10/8/2022 4:38:00 PM
ONEONTA, NY – The Alfred University football team picked up their first conference win of the season in a 21-6 victory over Hartwick College on Saturday afternoon from Wright Stadium.
The Saxons (2-3, 1-0 Empire 8) finished with 272 yards of offense, with 151 coming from the ground game. The defense limited the Hawks (2-3, 0-2 Empire 8) to 1-for-11 on third down in their win.
Max Freeman IV (Painted Post, NY/Corning-Painted Post) finished with 119 rushing yards and a touchdown across 33 attempts.
Jacob Kelsey (Hilton, NY/Hilton) led the Saxons with a team-high seven receptions and 68 receiving yards.
Joe Copp (Minoa, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) stuffed the stat sheet with a team-high 10 tackles, 1.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, and an interception.
"It's always great to get a conference win in the Empire 8," Head Coach
Bob Rankl said. "I know that we could have played a lot cleaner, but at the end of the day we will take the victory and move forward. I was really excited about how our defense stepped up today and we look forward to keeping that momentum going into next week!"
The Hawks were the first to score following a 38-yard field goal in the first quarter. The Saxons quickly retaliated on the following drive, as a 10-play drive was capped off by a 19-yard touchdown rush by Freeman to give AU the 7-3 lead. Following the touchdown, Copp recovered a fumble on the kickoff to give AU the ball back. Hartwick hit a 25-yard field goal in the final minute of the first half, as Alfred University held a 7-6 advantage entering halftime.
In the third quarter, Copp snapped a nine-play drive from Hartwick with an interception. Later in the quarter,
Danny Quinones (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) forced and recovered a fumble near midfield for the Saxons. Alfred University capitalized with a 10-play drive that carried into the fourth quarter with a three-yard touchdown pass coming from
Chris Kelly (Lake Ronkonkoma, NY/Sachem North) to
Darviae Gray (Buffalo, NY/Amherst Central) to extend the lead, 14-6. Just two plays into Hartwick's next drive,
Christopher Cox (Rochester, NY/Pittsford-Sutherland) returned an interception for 32 yards and the touchdown, as the Saxons led 21-6. In the final minutes of the game, a forced fumble by Copp was picked up by
Tim Dahl (Cobleskill, NY/Cobleskill-Richmondville) to end any chance at a potential comeback by the Hawks.
Alfred University will next return home to host St. John Fisher University next Saturday with kickoff slated for 1:00 PM.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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