Football | 10/5/2023 3:10:00 PM
SUNY Cortland, ranked 17th nationally by D3football.com and 19th by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), hosts unbeaten Utica University in an Empire 8 showdown from Grady Field in Cortland at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7. The Red Dragons enter the game with a 3-1 overall record. Utica, ranked 22nd by the AFCA and an "others receiving votes" team in the D3football.com poll, is off to a 5-0 start. Both teams won their league openers last weekend, and both programs were 2022 NCAA tournament participants - Cortland as the Empire 8 champion and Utica as an at-large selection.
GAME INFO
Cortland Red Dragons (3-1, 1-0 Empire 8) vs. Utica Pioneers (5-0, 1-0 Empire 8)
Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023; 1 p.m.; Grady Field; Cortland, N.Y.
TICKETS: $6 adults, $5 students with ID
SUNY Cortland students/faculty/staff FREE with ID; Children 12 and under FREE
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PARKING INFORMATION FOR FANS:
Spectators arriving from off campus are asked to park in the Park Center Northwest Lot and/or the Park Center Commuter East Lot
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THE SERIES: Cortland is 9-1 lifetime versus Utica. The Red Dragons won decisively the last three times the teams met with a 48-21 win at Utica last fall and 45-0 and 44-12 victories at home in 2021 and 2019, respectively. The previous four games in the series were much tighter. Cortland won by seven points in Utica in 2018, by one point at home in 2017, and by seven points in overtime at home in 2015, while Utica won, 24-13, at home in 2016. The schools also faced each other during the first three years that Utica played a full varsity schedule from 2001-03.
Last year, Jaden AlfanoStJohn ran for 16 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries and Zac Boyes completed 13-of-18 passes for 211 yards and four touchdowns as Cortland won at Utica in a battle of unbeaten teams. Cole Burgess caught two TD passes, Rashad Tucker and CJ Messina each had a TD reception and Ashton Capone ran for a score. Devin McArthur and Craig Ackerman finished with 12 and 10 tackles, respectively, and Sam Maddi blocked an field-goal attempt on Utica's opening drive.
Utica quarterback Braeden Zenelovic was 16-of-24 passing for 187 yards and a touchdown. Anthony Fasano finished with eight tackles, and Jamel Smith and Terrance Toussaint each intercepted a pass.
CORTLAND CAPSULE: Zac Boyes, the Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Week and the D3football.com National Team of the Week quarterback, completed 22-of-29 passes for 294 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 111 yards and two scores as Cortland opened Empire 8 play with a 52-15 win at Morrisville. Ashton Capone finished with 125 yards rushing, JJ Laap caught seven passes for 120 yards and a score and Cole Burgess ended with six receptions for 35 yards and a touchdown. CJ Messina caught a 70-yard TD pass on Cortland's first play from scrimmage and Andrew Tarpey caught a TD pass in the fourth quarter. Jack Winey led the Red Dragons with seven tackles and Luke Winslow intercepted a pass.
The Cortland offensive line, led by starters Kevin Whalen, Aidan Glynn, Ryan Bitka, Jack McGrath and Cody Aikey, helped Cortland finish with 659 yards of total offense - the third-highest total in school history. The Red Dragons ran 52 times for 341 yards, and nine of the team's 11 rushing yards lost were the result of taking a knee three times inside the Morrisville 20-yard line to end the game.
Boyes is 67-of-98 (68.4 percent) passing for 1,172 yards and 14 touchdowns with just one interception and has rushed for 170 yards and two touchdowns through four games. Jaden AlfanoStJohn and Capone each have four rushing touchdowns and Burgess and Laap each have caught five TD passes. Burgess leads the team with 22 receptions and Laap has caught 21 passes. Winey is the team leader with 37 tackles, followed by Ryan Isom with 18 and Matt Lotter, Jaden Martinez and Winslow with 17 apiece. Winslow has two interceptions and Nick Lardaro paces the team with three sacks. Mike Baloga is 26-of-26 on his PAT kicks and Patrick Luby averages 37.5 yards per punt.
Curt Fitzpatrick was named Cortland's head coach in February 2020 and enters the game with an 23-4 (.852) overall record. In his two-plus seasons on the field, after the 2020 season was canceled, he's led the Red Dragons to a pair of Empire 8 titles. In 2021, he guided the Red Dragons to an 11-1 season, the Empire 8 crown (6-0 record), and the NCAA second round. In 2022, Cortland finished 9-2 (6-0 in league play) and the NCAA first round. Fitzpatrick and his assistants were named the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year in both 2021 and 2022.
Fitzpatrick previously served as head coach at Morrisville for seven seasons from 2013-19 and guided the Mustangs to four winning seasons and three postseason ECAC bowl games. He served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Utica College from 2008-12. A 2004 graduate of St. John Fisher, Fitzpatrick was a four-year letterman and a standout quarterback for the Cardinals who served as a team captain. In his final season, he earned Empire 8 all-conference honors and set school passing records in touchdowns (30) and yards (2,366) while leading the program to a 10-2 overall record and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance. He returned to his hometown of Fulton, N.Y., to coach quarterbacks and wide receivers at Fulton High School in 2005 and he served as quarterbacks coach at St. John Fisher for two seasons from 2006-07. During those two years the Cardinals went a combined 23-4, won two Empire 8 crowns, and advanced to the NCAA semifinals (2006) and quarterfinals (2007).
A LOOK AT...UTICA UNIVERSITY: Utica began its Empire 8 schedule last Saturday with a convincing 48-7 win over visiting Hartwick. The Pioneers finished with a 218-61 advantage in rushing yardage and a 373-250 edge in total yards. Brett Fuller was nearly perfect through the air, completing 18-of-19 passes for 137 yards. James Salles rushed 13 times for 102 yards and two touchdowns and Peyton Ausfeld caught five passes for 64 yards.
Doug Simmons led the defense with seven tackles, an interception and a forced fumble. Eli Douglas and Cam Provenzano also intercepted passes. Corey Lichtman made 40-yard and 31-yard field goals.
Matt Brantley and Salles average 66.5 and 56.2 rushing yards per game, respectively, for the season. Fuller is 104-of-145 passing (71.7 percent) for 1,143 yards and nine touchdowns with five interceptions. Joey Nare is the Pioneers' leading receiver with 21 catches for 277 yards and a score, followed by Ausfeld with 18 receptions for 273 yards and two touchdowns. Anthony Fasano has registered a team-high 37 tackles and Anthony Novello has made 33 stops. Simmons' 29 tackles include a team-high 4.5 sacks. Lichtman is 22-for-23 on PAT kicks and 4-for-7 on field-goal attempts.
Blaise Faggiano is in his 16th season as Utica's head coach. His overall record with the Pioneers is 81-72 (.529), including a 10-2 record and the program's first-ever NCAA tournament appearance last season. Utica won at Susquehanna in the NCAA opening round before losing at Mount Union in the second round. Faggiano's Utica squads also posted 7-4 marks and ECAC bowl game appearances in 2014, 2016 and 2018 and a 6-5 record and an ECAC bowl game in 2021. Prior to his arrival at Utica, Faggiano spent nine seasons as defensive coordinator at St. John Fisher. He's a 1993 Ithaca alumnus, and as a player he helped the Bombers win the 1991 NCAA Division III title.
NOTEBOOK:
* SUNY Cortland football's home field has officially been renamed the
James J. Grady '50, M '61 Field at the SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex — or
Grady Field, for short — as part of a historic million-dollar gift from
Chris Grady '79 to the university in honor of his father. The gift was announced in the fall of 2022 and the formal naming ceremony will occur during halftime of Saturday's game. Grady's gift will help support SUNY Cortland Athletics and also will establish the
Christopher J. Grady '79 Scholarship, for business economics students, and the
Terry Bedell Grady '80 Scholarship, for physical education students. The scholarships are named after Chris and his wife. Chris' brothers add to the family's legacy at Cortland. Two, Michael and Jimmy, spent time on campus before transferring. A third brother,
Joe Grady '90, transferred to Cortland and was an All-ECAC safety for the Red Dragons when the team finished 11-1 and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in 1988.
* Saturday's game features the third of four opponents this fall who qualified for the 2022 NCAA Division III playoffs. Three of those teams won conference titles last year - Delaware Valley (Middle Atlantic Conference), Susquehanna (Centennial Conference; now a member of the Landmark Conference) and Ithaca (Liberty League). Two of those teams, Delaware Valley and Ithaca, were national quarterfinalists. Empire 8 foe Utica earned an NCAA at-large berth a year ago and advanced to the NCAA second round; the Pioneers' lone regular-season loss came at home to Cortland.
* Zac Boyes nearly became the second player in school history to pass for 300 yards and rush for 100 yards in the same game with his 294-yard passing/111-yard rushing effort at Morrisville last week. The only Red Dragon to accomplish that feat is J.J. Tutwiler, who passed for 338 yards and ran for 118 yards at home versus The College of New Jersey in 2002.
* Boyes currently ranks seventh at Cortland with 43 career touchdown passes and 10th with 4,223 career passing yards. The school records in those categories are 59 TD passes and 6,518 passing yards by Brett Segala from 2016-19. Boyes' five touchdowns passes versus Susquehanna on Sept. 16 tied a school single-game record set by four other players. The most recent to do so prior to Boyes was Dan Pitcher at Brockport in 2011.
* JJ Laap and Cole Burgess are two of only seven players in school history to catch at least 20 career touchdown passes and are two of eight Red Dragons to reach the career 2,000-yard receiving mark. Laap has caught 118 passes for 2,386 yards and 23 touchdowns in 35 games, while Burgess has 113 receptions for 2,061 yards and 24 touchdowns in 33 games. John Babin holds the school career records for TD catches (30) and reception yardage (2,635) from 2010-11, 13-14, and Jon Mannix is the Cortland leader with 188 career receptions from 2012-16.
* Jaden AlfanoStJohn ranks eighth at Cortland with 2,114 career rushing yards through 24 games. He's the second Red Dragon to reach the 2,000-yard mark in his junior season. Dave Cook's career-record 3,455 rushing yards from 1981-84 included 2,302 yards through his first three years. AlfanoStJohn has scored 31 touchdowns in his career (29 rushing, two receiving), and his 186 career points is tied for sixth in school history. The only two players to score at least 200 career points at Cortland are Cook (268) and Omar Darling (222 from 1994-95, 97-98).
* Of Patrick Luby's 31 kickoffs this season, 21 of them (67.7 percent) have resulted in touchbacks. Last season, Luby registered 36 touchbacks among his 77 kickoffs - the 46.7 percent touchback rate was the best by a Cortland kicker since touchback totals were first tracked in 2006.
* Cortland has scored at least 35 points in each of its first four games for only the second time in school history. The previous occurrence was two years ago in 2021 when the Red Dragons opened with 38 points at Wittenberg, 49 points at TCNJ, 58 points versus Buffalo State and 58 points at Morrisville. The next game, that season, saw Cortland score 31 points in a home win versus Brockport.
* Cortland and Utica rank in the top 40 nationally in Division III in the following team and individual categories:
CORTLAND:
3rd, Team Passing Efficiency, 212.7 rating
5th, Total Offense, 540.8 yds./game
7th, Passing Yards per Completion, 17.1 yds./completion
8th, Scoring, 47.8 pts./game
10th, Passes Had Intercepted, 1
16th, Kickoff Return Defense, 14.7 yds./return
17th, Rushing Offense, 228.2 yds./game
17th, Tackles for Loss Allowed, 3.5/game
19th, Completion Percentage, 68.9 pct.
19th, Third Down Conversion Percentage Defense, 27.1 pct.
19th, Blocked Punts, 1
25th, Third Down Conversion Percentage, 51.1 pct.
26th, First Downs Defense, 58
27th, Passing Offense, 312.5 yds./game
34th, First Downs Offense, 105
35th, Turnovers Lost, 4
37th, Time of Possession, 32:53/game
Zac Boyes, 2nd, Passing Efficiency, 213.9 rating
Zac Boyes, 2nd, Yards per Pass Attempt, 12.0 yds./attempt
Zac Boyes, 5th, Passing Yards per Completion, 17.5 yds./completion
JJ Laap, 5th, Receiving Yards, 138.0 yds./game
JJ Laap, 5th, Yards per Reception, 26.3 yds./catch
Zac Boyes, 8th, Points Responsible For, 24.0 pts./game
Rashad Tucker, 10th, Kickoff Returns, 30.4 yds./return
Zac Boyes, 14th, Passing Touchdowns, 14
Zac Boyes, 15th, Total Offense, 335.5 yds./game
Zac Boyes, 19th, Passing Yards, 293.0 yds./game
Zac Boyes, 25th, Completion Percentage, 68.4 pct.
Cole Burgess, 35th, Receiving Touchdowns, 5
JJ Laap, 35th, Receiving Touchdowns, 5
UTICA:
4th, Completion Percentage, 72.0 pct.
19th, Team Tackles for Loss, 8.4/game
19th, Blocked Punts, 1
24th, First Downs Offense, 110
30th, Rushing Defense, 79.0 yds./game
35th, Kickoff Returns, 23.7 yds./return
39th, Sacks, 2.8/game
40th, Total Defense, 284.6 yds./game
40th, Sacks Allowed, 1.0/game
(Utica is one of 26 undefeated teams in Division III)
Brett Fuller, 10th, Completion Percentage, 71.7 pct.
Peyton Ausfeld, 13th, Kickoff Returns, 29.8 yds./return
Sam Florio, 20th, Rushing Touchdowns, 6
Brett Fuller, 39th, Completions, 20.8/game
CORTLAND vs. UTICA – SERIES RECORD
(Cortland leads 9-1)
Year Winner···························· Score Site
2001 Cortland··························· 45-8 Utica
2002 Cortland··························· 58-12 Cortland
2003 Cortland··························· 43-7 Utica
2015 Cortland··························· 47-40 (OT) Cortland
2016 Utica··································24-13 Utica
2017 Cortland··························· 24-23 Cortland
2018 Cortland··························· 45-38 Utica
2019 Cortland··························· 44-12 Cortland
2021 Cortland··························· 45-0 Cortland
2022 Cortland··························· 48-21 Utica
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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