Football | 11/26/2024 11:27:00 PM
CORTLAND, NY - Cortland hosts Endicott College in the second round of the 40-team NCAA Division III tournament at noon on Saturday, Nov. 30 from Grady Field. Cortland (10-0) is ranked second nationally by both D3football.com and the AFCA and is fourth in the Division III NCAA Power Index (NPI). The defending national champion Red Dragons earned a bye into the second round. Endicott (10-1) is ranked 10th nationally by D3football.com and 11th by the AFCA, and the Gulls are 21st in the NPI. Endicott advanced to the second round with a 44-0 home win versus Alfred State last Saturday. The winner will face either Springfield or UMass Dartmouth in the third round on Dec. 7.
SUNY CORTLAND FOOTBALL NOTES
Cortland Red Dragons (10-0) vs. Endicott College Gulls (10-1)
NCAA Division III Tournament - Second Round
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024; Noon; Grady Field; Cortland, N.Y.
TICKETS: $10 adults, $5 Children 12 and under, Military, Senior Citizens
(SUNY Cortland students, faculty and staff admitted free, with college ID, courtesy of SUNY Cortland Athletics)
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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 and Endicott have met twice previously, both in the NCAA tournament. Last year, Cortland won at Endicott, 23-17, in the NCAA opening round, and in 2010 the Red Dragons won at home over the Gulls, 49-35, also in the first round. The teams have two common opponents this fall - Endicott won Sept. 14 at Ithaca, 13-7, and home versus Hilbert, 58-0, the following week. Cortland opened with a 76-0 win at Hilbert and won at home against Ithaca, 28-17, to close the regular season.
In last year's NCAA matchup, Cortland held on for the 23-17 win after Endicott's final drive ended at the Cortland 11-yard line when a pass to the end zone sailed high as time expired. Jaden AlfanoStJohn led Cortland with 157 rushing yards and a touchdown on 26 carries and Mike Baloga made all three of his field goals. Zac Boyes was 14-of-24 passing for 162 yards and Jack Winey finished with six tackles. Endicott's Clayton Marengi completed 17-of-28 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns and Shane Aylward caught five passes for 119 yards and two scores. Ismar Kandic registered 11 tackles, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.
CORTLAND CAPSULE: Cortland finished the regular season with a 10-0 record, marking just the third time in program history that the Red Dragons posted a 10-0 mark. The previous occurrences were in 1988 and 2021. The Red Dragons enter the NCAA playoffs with a 22-game winning streak dating back to September 2023. Cortland won its last 12 games a year ago, including five NCAA contests.
Two-time Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Year Zac Boyes has completed 176-of-249 passes (70.7 percent) for 2,529 yards and 25 touchdowns with just one interception and has run for 512 yards and six scores. Ethan Gallo averages 104.5 rushing yards per game and has scored 20 touchdowns. Jaden AlfanoStJohn, who made the move from running back to wide receiver this season, has caught 47 passes for 933 yards and 12 scores in addition to three rushing touchdowns and one kickoff return TD. The Red Dragon starting offensive line, led by first team All-Empire 8 selections Cody Aikey, Ryan Bitka and Aidan Glynn, has helped the program average 50.5 points and 530.4 yards of total offense per game.
Jaden Martinez leads the team with 78 tackles, including three sacks and three forced fumbles. Jack Winey has 68 tackles, Ellis Einbinder has 51 stops and three interceptions, and Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year Nick Lardaro leads the team with 3.5 sacks and 9.5 total tackles for loss. Empire 8 Special Teams Player of the Year Mike Baloga is 61-of-63 on PAT kicks and 7-of-8 on field goal attempts, and he also averages 39.9 yards per punt.
Curt Fitzpatrick was named SUNY Cortland's football head coach in February 2020 and is in his fifth year at the school and fourth season on the field in 2024. His record at Cortland is 44-4 (.917), highlighted by a 14-1 season and a storybook run to the 2023 NCAA Division III title. Fitzpatrick was named both the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and the D3football.com Division III National Coach of the Year, and the AFCA Region 1 and D3football.com Region 2 Coach of the Year, and he repeated as AFCA Regional Coach of the Year this fall. Fitzpatrick has led Cortland to four Empire 8 titles from 2021-24, each with an undefeated record. He and his assistants were named the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year in each of those four seasons.
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...ENDICOTT COLLEGE: Endicott won the Conference of New England (formerly Commonwealth Coast Conference) title with a 5-0 mark and earned its fourth straight NCAA tournament berth. The Gulls' lone loss was a 35-27 setback at currently nationally fourth-ranked and unbeaten Hardin-Simmons in Texas in early October. Endicott's 44-0 home win last weekend versus Alfred State was the program's first-ever NCAA playoff victory.
Quarterback Clayton Marengi earned conference Offensive Player of the Year honors for the second straight season. He's 159-of-243 passing (65.4 percent) for 1,934 yards and 23 touchdowns with only one interception and has rushed for 566 yards and nine touchdowns. Yavier Cosme-Diaz has run for 576 yards and seven scores. Three receivers each have more than 30 catches. Adam Goodfellow leads the Gulls with 37 catches for 663 yards and nine scores, followed by Shane Aylward with 33 catches for 375 yards and four TDs and Kennedy Charles with 31 grabs for 378 yards and three TDs. Tackle Charlie Kulhay was named the conference's Offensive Lineman of the Year.
Conference of New England Defensive Player of the Year Hector Johnson has a team-high five sacks among his 42 total tackles. Matthew Licciardi is the team leader with 56 tackles and Zachariah Twardosky has totaled 52 tackles and a team-best four interceptions. Joe Tirrell and Matthew Whelan each have 51 tackles. Michael Bartley has made 4-of-6 field goals and 25-of-29 PAT kicks and Ryan Smith averages 39.6 yards per punt.
Paul McGonagle is in his seventh year as Endicott's head coach. His overall record of 53-13 (.803) with the Gulls includes 10-1 seasons in both 2022 and 2023 and a 9-2 mark in 2019 in addition to this year's 10-1 campaign. He's led Endicott to league titles each of the last four seasons and earned conference Coach of the Year honors in each of those campaigns. His 20-plus years of coaching experience includes being an assistant at Assumption College from 2013-17 and head coach at Fitchburg State from 2007-10, plus prior stops at Stony Brook, Bentley, Bucknell, Eastern Kentucky and Northeastern. McGonagle graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1999. He was an offensive lineman and tight end for the Wildcats.
NOTEBOOK:
* Cortland is making its 13th NCAA tournament appearance and fourth straight - the first time the program has qualified for the NCAA playoffs four consecutive seasons. In addition to Cortland's national championship last year, the Red Dragons advanced to the national quarterfinals in 1988 (1-1 record in a 16-team tournament) and in 2008 (2-1 record in a 32-team field). Cortland also finished 1-1 in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2021 to tie for ninth place, and went 0-1 in 1989, 1990, 1997, 2005 and 2022. Cortland is 12-11 overall in NCAA play - 8-3 at home, 3-8 on the road and 1-0 on a neutral field (last year's title game). Cortland had not won an NCAA road game until winning on enemy turf three times last year (Endicott, Alma, Randolph-Macon).
* Cortland's current 22-game winning streak is the longest active streak by a team on any NCAA football level. The next-longest streaks are 13 each by Hope (Division III) and St. John's (Minn.) (Division III), 12 each by Salisbury (Division III), Oregon (FBS) and Montana State (FCS), and 11 by Kutztown (Division II).
* Cortland's 26-game Empire 8 win streak, dating back to 2019, is currently the fourth-longest on any NCAA level behind three other Division III schools - Mount Union (67), Aurora (47) and North Central (42), tied with Wartburg (26).
* Cortland's 22-game winning streak is a school record for longest unbeaten streak. Cortland went 17 straight games without a loss between 1932-34. Cortland was 11-0-6 during that stretch, going 4-0-3 in 1932, 5-0-2 in 1933 and 2-0-1 in its first three games of 1934 before losing to Ithaca, 7-0.
* Cortland is 6-5 all-time in overtime games, with the last a 32-26 home loss to Brockport in 2019. All 11 games were decided in the first extra session, and all occurred in the regular season.
* Cortland has broken the school record for scoring average each of the last three years, averaging 41.4 points per game in 2021, 45.1 points per contest in 2022 and 46.2 points per game last fall. The Red Dragons are averaging 50.5 points per game this fall, including 59 or more four times and at least 40 eight times. Cortland ranks sixth nationally in scoring offense behind North Central (57.1), Illinois College (55.4), UMass Dartmouth (54.2), DePauw (52.8) and Salisbury (51.8).
* Cortland's offensive success, in great part, is due to the continuity its enjoyed on the offensive line. This season, center Ryan Bitka, right tackle Cody Aikey and right guard Jayden Lont have each started all 10 games. Left tackle Nate Graser has played in all 10 games, starting the last eight after an injury to Kevin Whalen in Week 2, and left guard Aidan Glynn started the first nine games of the season before missing the final regular-season game due to injury.
Bitka and Aikey have been mainstays on the offensive line during their four seasons at Cortland. Bitka has started the last 45 games; he played in 11 games, starting the last nine, at left guard in 2021, started all 11 games at guard in 2022, started all 15 games at center last year and has started all 10 games at center this year. Aikey has played in 43 games, 41 as a starter (including the last 39), during his career. He played in the final seven games, including starts in five of the last six, in 2021, and started all 11 games in 2022, all 15 contests in 2023 and all 10 games this fall.
* Cortland had 20 players earn a total of 23 Empire 8 all-league honors, including 11 first-team players. Quarterback Zac Boyes repeated as the league's Offensive Player of the Year, defensive end Nick Lardaro was the league's Defensive Player of the Year and kicker/punter Mike Baloga was the Special Teams Player of the Year. Head coach Curt Fitzpatrick and his staff were named the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year for the fourth straight season.
* Zac Boyes is Cortland's career leader in pass completions (629), passing yards (9,600), TD passes (98) and rushing yards by a quarterback (1,788) in 43 games played, including seven as a backup in 2021. Last season he set school single-season marks in completions (271), passing yards (4,020), TD passes (44), pass efficiency rating (198.4) and QB rushing yards (774) in 15 games.
* Zac Boyes had his streak of consecutive pass attempts without an interception end at 291 when he was picked off in the second quarter at Brockport. His streak had covered the entire season to that point, along with his last 103 attempts in 2023. Last season, Boyes set a then-school record of 194 straight pass attempts without an interception - he was picked in the season opener versus Delaware Valley that season and wasn't intercepted again until throwing two picks at Ithaca (and later two versus Grove City in the NCAA second round).
* Ethan Gallo is one of four players in NCAA Division III this season with 20 rushing touchdowns. He shares the national lead with Tyler Echeverry of Mount Union, A.J. Jackson of Lake Forest and Elijah Jules of Wilkes. Gallo's 20 rushing scores are the second-best for a season in school history, trailing only Andrew Giuliano who ran for 22 touchdowns in 2008.
* Three times this season Cortland has trailed early only to tighten up defensively and rally for a victory. In those contests:
Sept. 21 at Susquehanna: Trailed 24-7 in second quarter; won 40-38. Held the River Hawks to 14 points over the final 35 minutes, including a TD with 31 seconds left to create the final margin. (The 17-point comeback matches the largest rally for a victory in school history)
Nov. 9 at Brockport: Trailed 21-7 in second quarter; won 29-28. Held the Golden Eagles to seven points over the final 37 minutes.
Nov. 16 vs. Ithaca: Trailed 14-7 in the first quarter; won 28-17. Held the Bombers to three points over the final 48 minutes.
* Cortland has been a member of the Empire 8 conference since 2015. The Red Dragons won the outright league title and NCAA automatic bid in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 and were co-champions in both 2015 and 2019, earning an NCAA bid in 2015. Cortland also finished second or tied for second in the league in 2017 and 2018. Cortland previously competed in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) for 15 seasons from 2000-14 and finished in at least a tie for first place six times.
Three current Empire 8 members - Cortland, Morrisville and Brockport - at one point played in the NJAC. Cortland and Morrisville are affiliate members of the E8 in football only. Brockport moved from affiliate to full-time status in the league in 2024. Alfred, Hartwick, St. John Fisher and Utica also are full conference members. Hilbert joined the Empire 8 as an affiliate football member in 2024 but will be moving to the Liberty League in 2025, and Alfred State will join the league as an affiliate football member in 2025.
Team Statistical Comparison (Cortland / Endicott):
Scoring Offense (Pts/Game): 50.5 / 38.6
Scoring Defense (Pts/Game): 12.4 / 10.8
Total Offense (Yds/Game): 530.4 / 403.4
Rushing Offense (Yds/Game): 238.0 / 206.6
Passing Offense (Yds/Game): 292.4 / 196.7
Total Defense (Yds/Game): 239.1 / 244.9
Rushing Defense (Yds/Game): 79.9 / 107.3
Passing Defense (Yds/Game): 159.2 / 137.6
Time of Possession/Game: 31.38 / 29:20
Penalties-Yards: 49-509 / 60-592
3rd Down Conversions: 62-106 (58.5%) / 64-131 (48.9%)
4th Down Conversions: 8-13 (61.5%) / 10-20 (50%)
Red Zone Scoring: 59-64 (92.2%) / 45-54 (83.3%)
2024 Cortland Weekly Award Winners (game date/opponent in parentheses)
Jaden AlfanoStJohn, Sr., Wide Receiver/Kick Returner
D3football.com National Team of the Week (kick returner) (Sept. 21 at Susquehanna)
Empire 8 Special Teams Player of the Week (Sept. 21 at Susquehanna)
D3football.com National Team of the Week (wide receiver) (Oct. 5 vs. Morrisville)
Mike Baloga, Sr., Kicker/Punter
Empire 8 Co-Special Teams Player of the Week (Oct. 5 vs. Morrisville)
Empire 8 Special Teams Player of the Week (Oct. 12 at Utica)
Empire 8 Co-Special Teams Player of the Week (Nov. 9 at Brockport)
Zac Boyes, Sr., Quarterback
Empire 8 Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 14 vs. Lycoming)
Empire 8 Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Oct. 26 vs. St. John Fisher)
Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Week (Nov. 9 at Brockport)
Ravi Dass Jr., Kick/Punt Returner
Empire 8 Special Teams Player of the Week (Sept. 7 at Hilbert)
Ellis Einbinder, Jr., Safety
Empire 8 Co-Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 12 at Utica)
Ethan Gallo, So., Running Back
Empire 8 Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Oct. 19 at Alfred)
Empire 8 Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Nov. 16 vs. Ithaca)
Nazair Jean-Lubin, So., Cornerback
Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Week (Nov. 9 at Brockport)
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Nov. 9 at Brockport)
Offensive Line (Kevin Whalen, Aidan Glynn, Ryan Bitka, Jayden Lont, Cody Aikey)
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Sept. 14 vs. Lycoming)
Offensive Line (Nate Graser, Aidan Glynn, Ryan Bitka, Jayden Lont, Cody Aikey)
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Oct. 19 at Alfred)
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Nov. 9 at Brockport)
SCHEDULES/RESULTS:
CORTLAND (10-0)
Sept. 7 * at Hilbert............................................... W 76-0
Sept. 14 LYCOMING (PA).................................... W 70-7
Sept. 21 at Susquehanna (PA)............................. W 40-38
Oct. 5 * MORRISVILLE...................................... W 41-0
Oct. 12 * at Utica.................................................. W 45-7
Oct. 19 * at Alfred................................................ W 59-17
Oct. 26 * ST. JOHN FISHER................................ W 49-0
Nov. 2 * HARTWICK........................................... W 68-10
Nov. 9 * at Brockport........................................... W 29-28
Nov. 16 ITHACA..................................................... W 28-17
* Empire 8 game (7-0) HOME GAMES IN CAPS
ENDICOTT (10-1)
Sept. 7 at St. Lawrence...................................... W 44-13
Sept. 14 at Ithaca.................................................. W 13-7
Sept. 21 HILBERT................................................. W 58-0
Sept. 28 RPI............................................................ W 28-20
Oct. 5 at Hardin-Simmons (TX)........................... L 27-35
Oct. 19 * at Univ. of New England (ME)................ W 39-7
Oct. 26 * at Western New England (MA).............. W 41-7
Nov. 2 * NICHOLS (MA)...................................... W 50-10
Nov. 9 * HUSSON (ME)...................................... W 32-6
Nov. 16 * at Curry (MA)........................................ W 49-14
Nov. 23 # ALFRED STATE..................................... W 44-0
* CNE game (5-0) # NCAA First Round HOME GAMES IN CAPS
CORTLAND vs. ENDICOTT – SERIES RECORD
(Cortland leads 2-0)
Year Winner............... Score Site
2010 # Cortland.......... 49-35 Cortland
2023 # Cortland.......... 23-17 Endicott
# NCAA first round
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
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