Football | 9/19/2026 5:19:00 PM
CORTLAND, NY - Cortland quarterback Mike Rescigno (Arlington) ran for 179 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries and completed 14-of-22 passes for 241 yards and two scores as the nationally ranked Red Dragons defeated visiting Hartwick, 55-3, in the Empire 8 opener for both teams.
Rescigno's 179 rushing yards are the second-highest single-game total by a quarterback in school history. Tyler Hughes ran for 203 yards versus William Paterson in 2013.
Cortland (3-0, 1-0 Empire 8), ranked 21st nationally by the AFCA and 23rd by D3football.com, led 20-0 at halftime and blew the game open with 21 points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth. The Red Dragons nearly posted their second consecutive shutout before Hartwick (1-2, 0-1 Empire 8) got on the board with a Landon Smith 31-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Cortland finished the day with a 547-96 advantage in total offense, including a 300-10 mark on the ground. Ethan Gallo (Minisink/Minisink Valley) rushed 12 times for 61 yards and two touchdowns, while Lucas Singleton (Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem North) ran for a score and caught a TD pass. Jayson Zeva (East Northport/St. John the Baptist) added a TD catch and Josh Kama (Farmingdale) ran for Cortland's final TD.
Memphis Ferguson (Whitesboro) led Cortland with six tackles, five solo, and a pass breakup. He had two tackles for loss. Aidan Lochner (Ravena/Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk) finished with five tackles. Shane Reilly (Lake Grove/Sachem North) and Joe Galea (Cross River/John Jay) each intercepted a pass, and Galea, Joe Russo (Hasbrouck Heights, NJ) and James Davenport (Poughquag/Arlington) registered one sack apiece. Gavin Dandrea (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue) averaged 48.5 yards on two punts.
For Hartwick, Ty'Lyn Blackwell-Williams was held to 6-of-21 passing for 35 yards. Braden Moreau was 5-of-10 passing for 51 yards in the fourth quarter. Nicholas Massaregli caught five passes. Joseph Algieri finished with nine tackles, followed by Lincoln Lynch with eight stops. Billy O'Connor forced a fumble on a sack for a turnover, and Tyler Slomka intercepted a pass.
Cortland led 7-0 after one quarter after Gallo scored on a 6-yard run to cap the Red Dragons' opening drive. The Red Dragons needed only two plays to cover 61 yards early in the second to take a 14-0 lead - Rescigno ran for 30 yards, followed by a 31-yard TD pass to Zeva. Singleton's 19-yard TD catch with 6:51 left in the half capped a 96-yard scoring drive which took only six plays to give Cortland a 20-0 halftime lead. The big play in that drive was a Singleton 25-yard reception.
Cortland scored touchdowns on all five of its full drives in the second half. Gallo's 8-yard TD run made it 27-0 on the opening drive of the third quarter. Rescigno broke off a 60-yard TD run with six minutes left in the third, and Singleton ran in from 14 yards out with 1:52 remaining in the quarter. Rescigno's 44-yard TD run with 13:29 remaining made it 48-0, and Kama scored on a 2-yard run with 9:17 left.
Cortland will host Morrisville next Saturday at 1 p.m. in an Empire 8 matchup.