Football | 1/11/2024 5:29:22 PM
The Empire 8 Conference is celebrating the league’s 25th Anniversary season in 2023-24, honoring student-athletes, teams, coaches and administrators who have played a key role in the league’s success over the last 25 years. Empire 8 Football is no exception, as several individuals and teams have excelled at the conference, national and regional levels.
Ithaca College won outright or earned a share of the first four E8 Football Championships in 2002 as the top team in the regular season en route to a league-high seven league titles. St. John Fisher University has won six Empire 8 Co-Championships, the last coming in 2016. SUNY Cortland has won the last three Empire 8 Championships, all in out-right fashion and have five E8 crowns since joining in 2015. SUNY Brockport won three league titles in a row from 2017-2019, while Alfred University has three league championships. Salisbury University won back-to-back Empire 8 Championships in 2011 and 2012, while Springfield College won its lone league title as co-champs in 2006 and Hartwick College was an E8 Co-Champion in 2007.
St. John Fisher head coach Paul Vosburgh holds the E8 record with 158 coaching wins in addition to six Empire 8 titles. Ithaca’s Mike Welch won 131 games and league-record totals seven E8 titles and four Coach of the Year honors from 1999-2016. Dave Murray of Alfred university won 103 games and three Coach of the Year accolades, while Sherman Wood of Salisbury was 34-13 with two titles and two Coach of the Year honors from 2011-14.
Most recently, Jason Mangone of Brockport has recorded a 69-23 mark, .750 winning percentage, three E8 titles and three E8 Coach of the Year awards from 2015-2023. Cortland head coach Curt Fitzpatrick, who also served as a player at St. John Fisher in the early 2000s and head coach at SUNY Morrisville from 2015-19, has led SUNY Cortland to a 34-4 record, three straight Empire 8 Championships, three consecutive Coach of the Year honors and a NCAA Division III National Championship in 2023.
Fitzpatrick was the AFCA and D3football.com National Coach of the Year in 2023, while Mangone was the AFCA Division III Coach of the Year in 2017.
SUNY Cortland won the NCAA Division III Championship in 2023, becoming the first Empire 8 team to win a national title. Prior to this season, SUNY Brockport (2017) and St. John Fisher (2006) were the lone two football programs to advance to the NCAA National Semifinals. There have been several Empire 8 programs who have advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals.
The Empire 8 has had several student-athletes earn All-American honors and a few who have earned multiple All-America accolades, including first team AFCA selections, linebacker AJ Licata (2016 and 2017) and defensive lineman Don Miller (2009 and 2010) of Alfred. Most recently in 2023, Zac Boyes, Cole Burgess and Cody Aikey of Cortland were named Associated Press First Team All-Americans.
Below we are honoring members of the Empire 8 Football 25th Anniversary Team. Recipients were chosen by the league office and were named either a Player of the Year, AFCA or D3football.com All-American or earned All-Empire 8 first team honors at least three times in their collegiate careers.
Empire 8 Football 25th Anniversary Team - Offense
Tim Bailey, QB, St. John Fisher
Andrew Benkwitt, QB, Utica
Jason Boltus, QB, Hartwick
Zac Boyes, QB, SUNY Cortland
Tyler Fenti, QB, St. John Fisher
Josh Felicetti, QB, Ithaca
Bill Flatow, QB, SUNY Morrisville
Joe Germinerio, QB, SUNY Brockport
Dan Griffin, QB, Salisbury
Tyler Johnson, QB, Alfred
Dan Pincelli, QB, Hartwick
Brees Segala, QB, SUNY Cortland
Chris Sharpe, QB, Springfield
Jaden AlfanoStJohn, RB, SUNY Cortland
Dan Andrews, RB, SUNY Brockport
Lindy Crea, RB/All-Purpose, Hartwick
Maleke Fuentes, RB/All-Purpose, Alfred
Vinson Hendrix, RB, Alfred
Jason Meyers, RB, St. John Fisher
Jesse Raynor, RB/P, Alfred
Mark Robinson, RB, St. John Fisher
Nas Smith, RB, Alfred
Tariq Ahmad, OL, Ithaca
Cody Aikey, OL, SUNY Cortland
Darius Arrington, OL, Frostburg State
Michael Bailey, OL, SUNY Cortland
Corey Balcerzak, OL, St. John Fisher
Adan Barrientos, OL, SUNY Brockport
Drew Davidson, OL, Ithaca
Brian Dewey, OL, Springfield
Ryan DiFlavio, OL, Alfred
Adam Feit, OL, Springfield
Caleb Ferdillus, OL, SUNY Brockport
Brenna Fortune, OL, St. John Fisher
Chris Gray, OL, Ithaca
Adam Grossman, OL, Ithaca
Connor Hill, OL, SUNY Cortland
Russell Howard, OL, SUNY Cortland
Zach Hunnewell, OL, Utica
Luke Lodini, OL, SUNY Brockport
Sean Murphy, OL, Alfred
Zach Morgan, OL, Alfred
Mark Sanchez, OL, SUNY Brockport
Joe Scalice, OL, Ithaca
John Schultz, OL, St. John Fisher
Alex Smith, OL, Salisbury
David Sylvester, OL, Alfred
James Thomas, OL, St. John Fisher
Greg Balcavage, TE, Hartwick
Ben Cary, TE/FB, Ithaca
Vince Dargush, TE, Ithaca
Chris Harmon, TE, St. John Fisher
Conor Mulkeen, TE, Ithaca
Jared Prugar, TE, Ithaca
Ben Weverbergh, TE, Ithaca
Anthony Acevedo, WR, Utica
Cole Burgess, WR/KR, SUNY Cortland
Noah Fehrenbach, WR, St. John Fisher
Ryan Johnson, WR, Hartwick
JJ Laap, WR, SUNY Cortland
Jared Manzer, WR, Alfred
Jeremy Meier, WR, Utica
Nate Palmer, WR, Utica
Jack Phelan, WR, Hartwick
Koree Reed, WR, Hartwick
Ryan Soule, WR, Hartwick
Ryan Thon, WR, Alfred
Empire 8 Football 25th Anniversary Team – Defense
Tarik Bennett, DL, SUNY Brockport
Austin Dean, DL, SUNY Brockport
Josh Greenwood, DL, SUNY Brockport
Brad Keem, DL, St. John Fisher
Nick Lardaro, DL, SUNY Cortland
Dan Luce, DL, St. John Fisher
Don Miller, DL, Alfred
Mike Raplee, DL, Alfred
Alex Shafiro, DL, Ithaca
Devin Smith, DL, SUNY Cortland
John Stroughn, DL, Utica
Ben Tomaino, DL, Hartwick
Jimmie Warren, DL, Utica
Nick Woodman, DL, Utica
Marquis Artis, LB, Buffalo State
Brenton Brady, LB, Alfred
Nick Clark, LB, Alfred
Jose Colon, LB, Ithaca
Dylan Dubuque, LB/Special Teams, SUNY Cortland
Andy Episcopo, LB, St. John Fisher
Mike Fox, LB, St. John Fisher
Gene Lang, LB, St. John Fisher
A.J. LiCata, LB, Alfred
Nick Milgate, LB, Alfred
Ernesto Mitchell, LB, SUNY Morrisville
Matt Scalise, LB, Ithaca
Robert Truman, LB, Ithaca
Alex West, LB, SUNY Brockport
Jack Winey, LB, SUNY Cortland
Ron Amato, DB, Ithaca
Rashad Baker, DB, SUNY Brockport
Raylens Boutin, DB/Returner, SUNY Brockport
Andre Carter, DB, Salisbury
Jason Chier, DB/Returner, Ithaca
Joshua Cordero, DB, SUNY Cortland
Raeqwon Greer, DB, Alfred
Alaan Montgomery, DB, SUNY Brockport
Jake O’Connell, DB, SUNY Brockport
Troy Sant, DB, St. John Fisher
Kory Schramm, DB, Hartwick
Steve Stepnick, DB, St. John Fisher
Charlie Stevens, DB, Ithaca
Dave Vosburgh, DB, St. John Fisher
Empire 8 Football 25th Anniversary Team – Special Teams
Travis Alvarez, Special Teams, SUNY Cortland
Dan Appley, Special Teams, SUNY Cortland
Ben Atwood, P, Utica
Will Bean, K, St. John Fisher
Brian Bicher, P, Ithaca
Kelly Gordon, Returner, Ithaca
Kyle Hamby, K/P, Salisbury
Patrick Luby, K/P, SUNY Cortland
Maki Medici, K/P, Utica
Nick Mongelli, K, SUNY Cortland
Trevor Monk, P, Alfred
Brian Renzi, K, SUNY Brockport
Andrew Rogowski, P, Ithaca
Dan Ruffrage, Returner, Ithaca
Jordan Schemm, Returner, Ithaca
Tysean Sizer, Returner, St. John Fisher
Jake Smith, Special Teams, SUNY Cortland
Thomas Woodburn, K, Utica
Founded in 1999, the Empire 8 has developed into one of the premier NCAA Division III athletic conferences, both on the field and in the classroom. The conference has created and implemented innovative and groundbreaking sportsmanship programming over this time, many of our which have received great publicity, including features in USA Today, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The NCAA News, and various athletic profession publications. The Empire 8 has also been highly influential in helping to shape the Division III landscape, passing many legislative proposals along with individuals who hold leadership roles at the national level.
Feature stories and series’ celebrating the league’s 25th anniversary will be highlighted on the conference's website and social media platforms throughout the 2023-24 season, starting in September. The conference will also be using the #E825 and #E8Anniversary hashtags on its Twitter and Instagram platforms as a way for fans to follow along throughout the year.
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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