SUNY CORTLAND FOOTBALL NOTES
Cortland (5-0, 5-0 NJAC) vs. Rowan University (4-1, 3-1 NJAC)
Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010; 12 p.m.; Coach Richard Wackar Stadium; Glassboro, N.J.
Game broadcast live on WXHC, Homer (101.5 FM and www.wxhc.com)

Follow the game online:

WXHC Radio Broadcast
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Rowan Campus TV Video

THE MATCHUP: Cortland, ranked first nationally in Div. III in scoring defense and second in total defense, faces its toughest test of the season, to date, as it travels to Rowan University for a key New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) showdown. The Red Dragons have shut out their last three opponents and have allowed only 3.8 points and 194.6 yards per game during a 5-0 start. Rowan is 4-1 overall and 3-1 in league play, with its lone loss coming at unbeaten Montclair State.

THE SERIES: Rowan leads the overall series between the two schools 10-6-1, but Cortland has won the last three meetings. After Cortland won a pair of lopsided games versus then-Glassboro State in 1964 and 1965, the teams did not meet again until tying 14-14 at Cortland in the 1995 season. The Red Dragons and Profs have played every year since, and the matchups became league contests when Cortland joined the NJAC in 2000.

Rowan was 5-0-1 versus Cortland from 1995-2000, a stretch in which the Profs advanced to the national championship game four times (1995, 96, 98, 99). Cortland broke the streak with a 32-31 home win over the Profs in 2001 in the final game played on Davis Field, scoring twice in the last two minutes to overcome a 31-19 deficit. Rowan won the next five games, including overtime decisions at Cortland in 2003 (34-31) and at home in 2006 (14-7), as well as a 34-33 home verdict in 2004. Cortland entered the 2006 game 8-0 and ranked fifth nationally.

Cortland won 17-6 at home in 2007 and earned its first road win over the Profs since 1964 with a 27-20 triumph in 2008. Last season, Cortland's 24-14 home win proved to be a Pyrrhic victory as starting quarterback Dan Pitcher suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury late in the contest. Pitcher completed 14-of-27 passes for 192 yards, including touchdown throws to Eric Hajnos and Wayne Wheeler. Cortland also scored on a Marc Corrado 21-yard field goal and a Dom Sair 2-yard run. Defensive end Bryan Wiley led the defense with 15 tackles, three for losses, and Cody Allen made 11 tackles.

Rowan scored on a Ryan Leafey 15-yard run in the first quarter to tie the game at 7-7 and on a 34-yard run by quarterback Tim Hagerty in the second quarter that knotted the game at 14-14. Corrado's field goal on the last play of the half put Cortland up for good. Leafey rushed for 124 yards on 21 carries, while Kevin Taylor and Andrew Yezzi each recorded 10 tackles.

CORTLAND CAPSULE: Cortland posted its third straight shutout and sophomore tailback Justin Autera rushed for 163 yards and three touchdowns as the Red Dragons defeated visiting Brockport, 35-0, last Saturday. Autera scored on runs of one, 22 and two yards, all in the first quarter, to give Cortland a 21-0 lead. Bill Smith – a starter at both fullback and linebacker – rushed for a 16-yard TD in the third quarter and made 10 tackles. Anthony Giuliano capped the scoring in the third with an 18-yard TD reception from Dan Pitcher.

Cortland held the Golden Eagles to 222 yards of total offense, including 52 net rushing yards. The Red Dragons recorded eight sacks, led by defensive end Matt Kaufmann's 3.5 sacks. Linebacker Cody Allen had a team-high 13 tackles, and his first-quarter interception set up a scoring drive.

Autera leads the 5-0 Red Dragons with 106.4 rushing yards per game. He's scored 13 touchdowns – 10 rushing, two receiving and one on a kickoff return. Pitcher is 60-of-100 passing for 825 yards and eight touchdowns with three interceptions. Giuliano leads the team with 21 receptions for 422 yards and five scores, followed by Autera's 11 catches. Allen is the team leader with 45 tackles and Kaufmann has 5.5 of the team's 20 sacks. Cornerback Joe Lopez has intercepted three passes.

Head coach Dan MacNeill is in his 14th season with the Red Dragons. His overall record of 92-50 (.648) ranks him second at Cortland in career victories and first in winning percentage. He was the NJAC Coach of the Year and a finalist for Liberty Mutual National Div. III Coach of the Year honors in 2008 after leading the Red Dragons to the league title (9-0 league mark) and the NCAA quarterfinals.

MacNeill has guided Cortland to eight postseason berths – NCAA showings in 1997, 2005 and 2008 and ECAC appearances in 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2009. His 2008 squad was honored with the Lambert Meadowlands Trophy and the ECAC Div. III Team of the Year awards. MacNeill is a 1979 Cortland alumnus and played linebacker and defensive tackle from 1975-78. An assistant coach at Division I-AA Villanova University from 1984-1996, MacNeill is Cortland's 11th head coach since the school's modern era of football began in 1924. MacNeill served as linebackers coach at Villanova and was the team's defensive coordinator from 1988-96.

A LOOK AT...ROWAN UNIVERSITY: Tim Hagerty's 15-yard TD pass to running back Keith Corcoran with two seconds remaining gave Rowan a come-from-behind 21-17 win over visiting Kean last weekend. The Profs' winning drive started on their own 20-yard line with 38 seconds left after Kean had scored a touchdown to take a 17-13 lead. Hagerty hit Justin Long on a 6-yard pass on 3rd-and-6, followed by a 55-yard bomb to Marcus Lee and the winning throw to Corcoran.

The NJAC Offensive Player of the Week, Hagerty completed 14-of-23 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns. Corcoran ran for 115 yards on 23 carries and Kevin DelleDonne caught four passes for 104 yards and a score. Rocky Aliberti finished with 11 tackles and an interception and Jerome Gordon had nine tackles.

The Profs opened the season with a 24-17 home win over Lycoming College – the Warriors' lone loss in five games this fall. After dropping a 26-7 decision at defending NJAC champion Montclair, Rowan has bounced back to defeat William Paterson, Buffalo State and Kean in league play.

Hagerty is 36-of-65 passing (55.4 percent) for 564 yards and three touchdowns. Corcoran averages 71.4 rushing yards per game and Long has 14 catches for 156 yards. Lee leads the team in receiving yards (252) and TD catches (2). Antonio Regabuto is 8-of-9 on PAT kicks and 4-of-8 on field goals for 20 points, while Aliberti averages 36.2 yards per punt on 34 kicks.

Dean Hammel's 36 tackles lead the Profs, followed by Jerome Gordon's 33 stops. Matt Hoffman is tied for ninth nationally in Div. III with 2.0 tackles for losses per game and is 11th nationally with 1.3 sacks per contest.

Ninth-year head coach Jay Accorsi has an overall record of 70-24 (.745) and is a three-time NJAC Coach of the Year. He took over the head coaching reins in 2002 after serving as an assistant with the Profs for nine seasons. He led Rowan to an 11-2 record, including three NCAA victories, before a national semifinal loss at eventual champion Mount Union in 2005, and a 9-3 record and two NCAA victories in 2006. His teams also won an NCAA game in 2002 and two NCAA contests in 2004. Accorsi was a four-year running back at Nichols College (Mass.), graduating in 1985.

NOTEBOOK:

* Cortland's three consecutive shutouts are one shy of a school record, set four previous times. The last time the Red Dragons blanked four straight opponents was in 1989. That squad finished the season with six shutouts, which tied an NCAA Div. III record that held until Mount Union shut out seven opponents in 2007.

Cortland's previous four-shutout streaks were:

1989: 17-0 Hobart; 25-0 Buffalo St.; 21-0 Western Conn. St.; 49-0 Brockport (ended in 24-6 win vs. Albany)

1937: 28-0 Stroudsburg; 33-0 Bergen; 6-0 Slippery Rock; 25-0 Cornell JV (ended first game of 1938 – 21-7 loss to Western Maryland)

1935: 31-0 Colgate JV; 32-0 Oswego; 39-0 Stroudsburg; 31-0 Arnold (ended in 39-6 win vs. Syracuse JV)

1925: 2-0 Slippery Rock; 13-0 St. Bonaventure; 7-0 Colgate Frosh; 0-0 Stroudsburg (ended in 6-3 win vs. Mansfield)

* In the latest NCAA Div. III statistics, Cortland is ranked first nationally in scoring defense and second in both total defense and kickoff returns. Individually, Justin Autera is tied for second in scoring at 15.6 points per game. Here's a look at the team and individual categories in which Cortland ranks among the top 25 nationally:

TEAM:
1st, Scoring Defense – 3.8 points/game
2nd, Total Defense – 194.6 yards/game
2nd, Kickoff Returns – 31.7 yards/return
7th, Rushing Defense – 50.6 yards/game
7th, Sacks – 4.0 sacks/game
Tied 22nd, Turnover Margin - +1.4 turnovers/game
25th, Rushing Offense – 223.2 yards/game
25th, Pass Defense – 144.0 yards/game

INDIVIDUAL:
Justin Autera, tied 2nd, Scoring – 15.6 points/game
Matt Kaufmann, tied 18th, Sacks – 1.1 sacks/game
Justin Autera, 20th, All-Purpose Running – 171.2 yards/game
Justin Autera, 22nd, Punt Returns – 14.7 yards/return

* Dan Pitcher has thrown at least one TD pass in seven consecutive games – all five games this season and the two games he played in last year (Morrisville and Rowan). Since the mid 1960s, only two players have enjoyed a longer streak of games with a TD pass. J.J. Tutwiler threw TD passes in nine straight games in 2001 and current assistant coach Alex Smith tossed TD passes in eight straight games in 2005. Pitcher's streak of seven games is tied with three others – Ray Miles (2007), Rob Hale (1996-97) and Rich Keefer (1988).

* Justin Autera's 13 touchdowns through Cortland's first five games is the fastest scoring start in school history. Tailback Omar Darling scored 12 touchdowns through the first five games of the 1997 season and finished the regular season with 17 touchdowns (he also scored a touchdown in the NCAA playoffs vs. TCNJ). The school single-season touchdown record is 22 by tailback Andrew Giuliano (brother of current senior captain Anthony Giuliano) in 2008. Those 22 touchdowns include one score in NCAA action (all postseason games started counting toward season records in 2002, per an NCAA rule change).

* Cortland is in its 11th season as a football-only member of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). The Red Dragons compete in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) in most other sports. Cortland was the first non-New Jersey school to join the NJAC, starting in 2000, and has been joined by Western Connecticut St., Buffalo St., Brockport and Morrisville. Cortland is 38-5 (.884) in NJAC play since 2005 and 55-17 (.764) overall.

Cortland's Weekly Award Winners (game date/opponent in parentheses)

Justin Autera, So., Running Back/Kick Returner
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Sept. 11 at Kean) (KR)
NJAC Special Teams Player of the Week (Sept. 11 at Kean)
ECAC South Honorable Mention (Sept. 11 at Kean)
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Sept. 18 vs. Buffalo St.) (RB)
NJAC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 18 vs. Buffalo St.)

Anthony Giuliano, Sr., Wide Receiver
NJAC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 25 at Western Conn. St.)

Joe Lopez, Sr., Cornerback
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Sept. 11 at Kean)
NJAC Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 11 at Kean)
ECAC South Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 11 at Kean)

Connor Tompkins, Jr., Defensive End
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Sept. 18 vs. Buffalo St.)

SCHEDULES/RESULTS:

CORTLAND (5-0, 5-0 NJAC)

Sept. 11   * at Kean (NJ)                           W 24-12
Sept. 18   * BUFFALO ST.                           W 35-7
Sept. 25   * at Western Connecticut St.       W 45-0
Oct. 2       * at The College of New Jersey   W 37-0
Oct. 9       * BROCKPORT                           W 35-0
Oct. 16     * at Rowan (NJ)                         12:00
Oct. 23     * at Morrisville St.                      1:00
Oct. 30     * MONTCLAIR ST. (NJ)                1:00
Nov. 6      * WILLIAM PATERSON (NJ)          1:00
Nov. 13        ITHACA                                 12:00

* NJAC game (HOME GAMES IN CAPS)

ROWAN (4-1, 3-1 NJAC)

Sept. 4        LYCOMING (PA)                      W 24-17
Sept. 18   * at Montclair St. (NJ)                L 7-26
Sept. 25   * WILLIAM PATERSON (NJ)         W 12-7
Oct. 2       * at Buffalo St.                          W 24-7
Oct. 9       * KEAN (NJ)                              W 21-17
Oct. 16     * CORTLAND                              12:00
Oct. 23     * at Brockport                            1:00
Oct. 30     * MORRISVILLE ST.                     1:30
Nov. 6      * WESTERN CONNECTICUT ST.     12:00
Nov. 13     * at The College of New Jersey    12:00

* NJAC game (HOME GAMES IN CAPS)



CORTLAND vs. ROWAN – SERIES RECORD
(Rowan leads 10-6-1)

Year   Winner     Score        Site
1964  Cortland   41-0          Rowan
1965  Cortland   60-0          Cortland
1995  Tie           14-14        Cortland
1996  Rowan     47-17         Rowan
1997  Rowan     41-6           Cortland
1998  Rowan     41-34         Rowan
1999  Rowan     30-9          Cortland
2000  Rowan     45-10         Rowan
2001  Cortland  32-31         Cortland
2002  Rowan     42-21         Rowan
2003  Rowan     34-31 (OT) Cortland
2004  Rowan     34-33         Rowan
2005  Rowan     24-16         Cortland
2006  Rowan     14-7 (OT)    Rowan
2007  Cortland   17-6           Cortland
2008  Cortland   27-20         Rowan
2009  Cortland   24-14         Cortland

NOTE: Rowan was formerly Glassboro State until 1992