Football | 10/18/2025 8:01:00 PM
CORTLAND, NY - Cortland scored 35 second-quarter points to take a 42-3 halftime lead and the Red Dragons defeated visiting Alfred University, 65-12, in an Empire 8 contest in front of a Family Weekend crowd of 6,381. Cortland, ranked 17th nationally by the AFCA and 23rd by D3football.com, improved to 5-1 overall and 4-0 in league play. The Red Dragons will travel to St. John Fisher next Saturday in a matchup of conference unbeaten teams. The Cardinals are also 5-1 overall and are 3-0 in the league.
Red Dragon quarterback Mike Rescigno (Arlington) ran 11 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns, including a 60-yard scoring run, and he completed 11-of-17 passes for 159 yards and four touchdowns. He reached the 100-yard rushing mark for the fifth consecutive game. Ethan Gallo (Minisink/Minisink Valley) rushed 11 times for 59 yards and a score and caught two passes for nine yards and a touchdown.
Jacque LaPrarie (Smithtown/Smithtown West) caught two touchdown passes among his three receptions and tight end Dylan Kiely (Wading River/Shoreham-Wading River) registered his first collegiate touchdown catch. Max Barone (Wading River/Shoreham-Wading River) ran for a TD, and Sam Cotton (Fulton/G. Ray Bodley) ended with four receptions for 63 yards.
Cortland finished with 439 yards of total offense - 266 rushing and 173 passing. Craig Galea (Cross River/John Jay) completed 3-of-5 passes for 14 yards in the fourth quarter.
The Red Dragon defense limited Alfred to 124 yards of total offense, including 10 rushing yards on 28 attempts. Cortland finished the game with five sacks for minus-32 yards. Gavin Guers (Schuylkill Haven, PA/Blue Mountain) ended with 1.5 sacks, Aidan Lochner (Ravena/Ravena-Coyemans-Selkirk) and Joe Galea (Cross River/John Jay) posted one sack apiece, and George Gjelaj (Bedford/Byram Hills) and Anthony Luciano (Loudonville/Shaker) had a half sack each.
Alex Gecaj (Putnam Valley) recorded a sack with a tackle in the end zone in the fourth quarter. Jayden Locke (Uniondale/Erasmus Hall) had a 14-yard interception return for a TD, also in the fourth. Matt Lotter (Fredonia) led the Red Dragons with six tackles and a forced fumble, Memphis Ferguson (Whitesboro) forced two fumbles, and Nazair Jean-Lubin (Loudonville/Shaker) registered five tackles and two pass breakups.
Alfred kicker Dominic Bronco provided all of the Saxons' scoring by connecting on all four of his field goal attempts. He made a 23-yarder in the first quarter, 43-yard and 22-yard kicks in the third quarter, and a 42-yarder in the fourth.
Chris Kelly was 13-of-27 passing for 116 yards. Jack Buchsbaum caught eight passes for 77 yards, and Tommy Nyquist ran 10 times for 36 yards and caught three passes for 20 yards. TJ Marsh led the Saxons on defense with 17 tackles, seven solo, along with a forced fumble. Thomas Welch and Michael Davis each totaled 11 tackles, with Welch also intercepting a pass.
Alfred turned a Cortland fumble in the game's first seven minutes into a Bronco 23-yard field goal and an early 3-0 lead. Cortland took the lead later in the quarter on a 19-yard TD pass from Rescigno to LaPrarie. The Red Dragons' second-quarter outburst featured a Rescigno 1-yard scoring run, a Kiely 4-yard TD catch, a 32-yard LaPrarie scoring reception and a pair of Gallo touchdowns on a 27-yard run and 6-yard reception.
Rescigno surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark with his 60-yard score with 5:45 left in the third quarter. Barone had a potential 65-yard TD run nullified by offsetting penalties early in the fourth quarter, but he later found paydirt from nine yards out for Cortland's final touchdown.