Football | 10/4/2025 8:34:00 PM
CORTLAND, NY - Quarterback Mike Rescigno (Arlington) ran 23 times for 137 yards and two touchdowns and completed 11-of-15 passes for 143 yards and a score as Cortland, ranked 20th nationally in Division III by the AFCA and 22nd by D3football.com, defeated visiting Utica, 28-13, in an Empire 8 contest.
Cortland (4-1, 3-0 Empire 8) won its 29th straight Empire 8 game, dating back to late in the 2019 season. Utica fell to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference with the loss.
Sam Cotton (Fulton/G. Ray Bodley) and Jacque LaPrarie (Smithtown/Smithtown West) each caught touchdown passes, with LaPrarie's score coming off a 41-yard pass from Cotton after a handoff. Ethan Gallo (Minisink/Minisink Valley) ran for 49 yards on 10 carries as the Red Dragons finished the game with 210 rushing yards and 184 yards through the air. Rescigno ran for more than 100 yards for the fourth straight game - the first quarterback in school history to accomplish that feat.
Matt Lotter (Fredonia) finished with nine tackles, including 2.5 for loss, and he blocked an extra point kick. Aidan Lochner (Ravena/Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk) and Allen Flore Jr. (Manorville/Eastport-South Manor) each registered an interception and a pass breakup - Flore finished with seven tackles and Lochner had six stops. Aden Wiser (Highland) and George Gjelaj (Bedford/Byram Hills) each had a sack that forced a fumble, both in the third quarter - one resulted in a turnover and the other pushed the Pioneers out of scoring range. Nazair Jean-Lubin (Freeport) broke up three passes, one of which led to Lochner's interception on the game's opening drive to set up Cortland's first score.
Utica quarterback Tyler Szalkowski entered the game ranked first nationally in passing touchdowns (16), third in passing yards (371.3 per game) and sixth in completion percentage (74.3). He finished the game 23-of-44 passing for 339 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions; he was picked only one time through Utica's first four games. Logan Frederick caught nine passes for 135 yards and a TD and Antonio Cianfarani had seven receptions for 112 yards and a score. Eze Frazier rank 13 times for 59 yards.
Utica's defense was led by Isaiah Thomas with 10 tackles and Joseph Gentile with eight stops. Gentile also forced a fumble. Devin Taylor averaged 46.3 yards on three punts.
Cortland drove 38 yards for its first score following Lochner's interception. Cotton completed the drive with a 12-yard scoring catch from Rescigno. Utica tied the game on its ensuing possession with a 7-play, 80-yard drive that featured a Frederick 38-yard catch and ended with Frederick catching a 17-yard scoring pass.
The Red Dragons mounted a 79-yard scoring drive late in the first half. Cotton's 30-yard catch moved the ball to the Utica 28-yard line, and four plays later Rescigno ran in from 15 yards out with 1:46 left before halftime to make it 14-7.
Utica's first drive of the third quarter featured a Frazier 40-yard run to the Cortland 15-yard line on the opening play. Wiser, however, sacked Szalkowski on the next play, forcing a fumble that Utica recovered at the Cortland 28-yard line. Following two incompletions, the Pioneers completed a 16-yard pass on 4th-and-23 and turned the ball over on downs.
Later in the third, Cortland started a drive near midfield, and on the second play Cotton took a handoff from Rescigno, ran right, then threw downfield to LaPrarie, who caught the ball wide open at the 18-yard line and ran in untouched for a score and a 21-7 lead. Utica, however, responded with an 84-yard scoring drive that was capped by a 50-yard TD pass from Szalkowski to Cianfarani with 59 seconds left. Lotter blocked the PAT kick and Cortland led 21-13.
Rescigno ran for 62 of his 143 yards in the fourth quarter to help Cortland secure the win. The Red Dragons' drive following the Utica TD covered 72 yards on two plays. After two completions, the last eight plays were rushes - five by Gallo for a combined 27 yards and three for Rescigno for 15 yards, including a 7-yard run on 3rd-and-6 at the Utica 40-yard line and an 8-yard run to paydirt with 10 minutes remaining.
Utica drove to the Cortland 25-yard line on the next series. A false start penalty on 4th-and-7 moved the ball back from the Cortland 25-yard line to the 30, and Jean-Lubin broke up a pass on the next play to give the ball back to Cortland with 6:01 left. Cortland ate up 4:36 of the clock while moving the ball to the Utica 17-yard line but missed a 35-yard field goal with 1:25 left. Utica drove from its 20-yard line to the Cortland 10-yard line before Flore intercepted a pass in the end zone with 21 seconds remaining.
Cortland is off next week and will host Alfred University on Oct. 18 at 1 p.m.