SUNY CORTLAND FOOTBALL NOTES
NCAA Div. III Tournament – First Round
Cortland (9-1) vs. Endicott College (9-2)
Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010; 12 p.m.; SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex; Cortland, N.Y.
Game broadcast live on WXHC, Homer (101.5 FM and www.wxhc.com)
TICKETS: $8 adults, $4 all students with ID

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Follow the Game Online:
WXHC Broadcast Page
Live Stats
Video (Cortland campus station CSTV)  For a larger screen, paste the following into the "URL" section of your player: rtsp://137.123.223.45/culture.sdp

Interactive NCAA Bracket

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THE MATCHUP: Cortland makes its seventh NCAA Division III tournament appearance in school history and its third since 2005 as the Red Dragons host Endicott College of Massachusetts in a first-round contest. The Red Dragons (9-1) finished as tri-champions of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), along with Montclair State and Rowan, and earned the league's NCAA automatic berth through a league tiebreaker. The Gulls (9-2) won the New England Football Conference (NEFC) title with a 38-35 victory at Maine Maritime in the league's championship game and will be making their first NCAA showing.

Cortland is seeded second and Endicott is seeded seventh in their eight-team bracket of the 32-team national tournament. The winner will face either third-seeded SUNY Maritime or sixth-seeded Alfred University in the second round next Saturday, Nov. 27. The tournament continues through Dec. 18 when the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl will be played in Salem, Va., for the national title.

THE SERIES: Cortland and Endicott are meeting for the first time. Endicott started its varsity program in 2003 and will be facing an NJAC school for the first time. Cortland has played against current NEFC teams in postseason play five previous times. The Red Dragons defeated both Plymouth State and Curry in the 2008 NCAA playoffs at home. Cortland has also won ECAC bowl games versus Plymouth State (1991 at home), Maine Maritime (1994 on the road) and Westfield State (2002 at home).

CORTLAND CAPSULE: Cortland completed a 9-1 regular season with a 20-17 come-from-behind victory over visiting Ithaca College last Saturday in the annual Cortaca Jug game. The Red Dragons trailed 17-3 early in the third quarter before scoring the final 17 points. Sophomore tailback Justin Autera rushed for a Cortaca Jug record 232 yards on 37 carries. He scored twice, including the go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Marc Corrado made both of his field goals.

Cortland is ranked first nationally in scoring defense at 7.8 points per game. The Red Dragons have allowed only 225.5 yards per game in total offense, including 80.8 rushing yards per game. Linebacker Cody Allen leads the team with 96 tackles, 46 solo. Linebacker Bill Smith has made 69 tackles. Cornerback Joe Lopez has registered eight interceptions, tied for a school record, and holds the school record with a current streak of six straight games with a pick.

Autera has rushed for 1,232 yards and 17 touchdowns and has caught 23 passes for 165 yards and two scores. He also scored once on the opening kickoff of the season at Kean. Dan Pitcher is 117-of-213 passing (54.9 percent) for 1,351 yards and 13 touchdowns. Anthony Giuliano has been Pitcher's favorite target with 39 receptions for 632 yards and six TDs.

Corrado is 8-of-12 on field goal attempts, with two makes from 36 yards out, and is 37-of-39 on point-after kicks. Pete Furey averages 35.4 yards per punt. He has pinned opponents inside the 20-yard line 15 times with only three touchbacks.

Head coach Dan MacNeill is in his 14th season with the Red Dragons. His overall record of 96-51 (.653) 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.

Including this season, MacNeill has guided Cortland to nine postseason berths – NCAA showings in 1997, 2005, 2008 and 2010, 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...ENDICOTT COLLEGE: Endicott won its first-ever NEFC title and earned its first NCAA tournament berth with a 38-35 victory last Saturday at Maine Maritime in the league's championship game. The Gulls won the NEFC Boyd Division title with a 6-1 record to earn its spot in the title game versus the Bogan Division champion Mariners.

Phil Konopka completed 27-of-34 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns in the victory. He also rushed for two touchdowns among his three carries. Mike Lane rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown, in addition to catching a scoring pass. He scored the winning TD on a 5-yard run with 58 seconds remaining. Ryan Carino caught 10 passes for 85 yards and Neil Powers made eight catches for 82 yards.

The Gulls trailed 28-17 early in the fourth quarter, but scored twice to take a 31-28 lead. Maine Maritime responded with a TD run at the 3:09 mark, but the Gulls drove 73 yards on nine plays for the winning score. A final completion into the end zone by the hosts was ruled out of bounds as time expired. Peter Bay paced the Endicott defense with eight tackles and Oscar Moore finished with seven tackles and two forced fumbles.

Lane leads the Gulls this season with 1,203 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on 307 carries. Konopka has connected on 172-of-302 passes (57 percent) for 1,984 yards and 19 scores, and has been intercepted only three times. Carino has 47 receptions for 464 yards, while Taylor Allen leads the team with seven touchdown catches.

Defensive end Kevin Eagan is Endicott's leader with 85 tackles, 18 for losses, in 11 games. He has eight sacks and is tied for second on the team with six pass breakups. Linebacker Craig Lussier has made 78 tackles and linebacker Peter Kallas has totaled 60 tackles.

Dylan Rushe is one of the nation's top placekickers. He ranks sixth nationally with 1.3 field goals made per game. Rushe is 14-of-19 on field goal tries, including 2-of-3 from 40 yards and beyond and 7-of-11 from 30-39 yards, and is a perfect 34-of-34 on point-after kicks. Sean Griffith averages 34.4 yards per punt.

JB Wells has been Endicott's head coach since the program's first varsity season in 2003. He has an eight-year record of 43-36 (.544). In 2005, he led the Gulls to a 7-3 record and a top-10 New England ranking. Prior to his arrival at Endicott, Wells was the assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Illinois Wesleyan University. Wells helped the Titans to the first back-to-back College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championships since 1964-65.

Wells graduated in 1991 from Trinity College (Conn.), where he was a three-year starter and letterwinner at guard and center. He coached two stints at Trinity as offensive line coach (1992-93) and offensive coordinator (1998), as well as serving as the offensive line coach at Bates College (Maine) from 1994-95. Coach Wells also spent an additional two years at the University of Chicago as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator from 1996-97.

NOTEBOOK:

* Cortland completed the regular season ranked first nationally in Div. III in scoring defense. The Red Dragons have allowed only 7.8 points per game. In all, Cortland ranks in the top 25 nationally in the following team and individual categories, through games of Nov. 13:

TEAM:
1st, Scoring Defense, 7.8 points/game
8th, Pass Efficiency Defense, 89.0 opponent rating
9th, Total Defense, 225.5 yards/game
13th, Kickoff Returns, 24.1 yards/return
16th, Turnover Margin, +1.3/game
19th, Rushing Defense, 80.8 yards/game
21st, Sacks, 2.9/game
25th, Pass Defense, 144.7 yards/game

INDIVIDUAL:
Justin Autera, tied 4th, Scoring, 12.0 points/game
Joe Lopez, tied 7th, Interceptions, 0.8/game
Justin Autera, 9th, All-Purpose Running, 177.2 yards/game

Justin Autera, 14th, Punt Returns, 14.6 yards/return
Justin Autera, 16th, Rushing, 123.2 yards/game

* Cornerback Joe Lopez tied a school single-season record with his eighth interception of the season in last week's win versus Ithaca. Lopez has intercepted a pass in each of his last six games, also a school record. Steve Daly intercepted eight passes, including at least one pick in a then school-record four straight games, in 1975. The NCAA Div. III record for most consecutive games with an interception is nine by Brent Sands of Cornell College (Iowa) in 1992.

* Cortland has 21 interceptions as a team this fall. The school record of 24 interceptions was set in 1981, while the 2005 squad recorded 23 interceptions.

* Justin Autera has rushed for 1,232 yards this season – the third-best single-season total in school history. Andrew Giuliano ran for a school-best 1,480 yards in 2008. Gareth Grayson is second on the list with 1,378 yards in 1988, although his total doesn't include two NCAA playoff games in which he rushed for more than 200 yards each. Postseason games were included in school records starting in 2002, per NCAA rules.

* Justin Autera's 20 touchdowns this season (17 rushing, two receiving, one by kickoff return) are the second-highest total in school history. Andrew Giuliano holds the record with 22 touchdowns scored in 2008.

* Dan Pitcher's school-record streak of 11 straight games with at least one touchdown pass ended in last week's win over Ithaca.

* Cortland has tied a school record with nine blocked kicks this season. The 2005 team also blocked nine kicks. Individually, Lou Crispo leads the team with four blocks. Josh Jablonski blocked a school-record six kicks in 2005.

* Cortland has recorded 29 sacks through 10 games. The Red Dragons have recorded at least 30 sacks each of the last nine seasons (2001-09), including 33 last year and 50 or more in both 2005 and 2006. Cortland's 50 sacks in 2006 were the best nationally in Division III. The Red Dragons set a school record with 52 sacks in 2005 (sacks have been officially tracked at Cortland since 1982).

* 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 41-6 (.872) in NJAC play since 2005 and 58-18 (.763) overall. The Red Dragons won the league title with a 9-0 record in 2008, and tied for first in the league standings in 2005, 2006 and 2007 (losing the league tiebreaker for an NCAA berth in each of those three years). Cortland finished as tri-champion in 2010 with an 8-1 record and won a league tiebreaker to earn an NCAA automatic berth.

* Cortland shut out three straight opponents earlier this season (Western Conn. St., The College of New Jersey and Brockport), one game shy of the school record. The streak ended late in the first half of a 20-17 loss at Rowan, ending the Red Dragons' scoreless streak at 232 minutes, 18 seconds.

* Senior wide receiver Anthony Giuliano has thrown four passes in his collegiate career, and three have resulted in touchdowns. Two weeks ago, Giuliano threw a 72-yard TD pass versus William Paterson on his first attempt of the season. Last year, he went 2-of-3 with two TD passes. The Giuliano family is now a combined 4-of-5 passing at Cortland with four TDs. Anthony's brother, Andrew, threw one pass in his four-year career as a Red Dragon running back from 2005-08 – a 6-yard TD toss versus Montclair State in 2007.

* Junior Bill Smith is one of the only players in recent Cortland history to start on both offense and defense. Smith is a starting inside linebacker who ranks second on the team with 64 tackles. He is also Cortland's starting fullback with six carries for 79 yards. Smith has scored a touchdown on both sides of the ball this season. He returned a fumble one yard for a TD in a win over Buffalo State and ran for a 16-yard TD in a victory versus Brockport, both at home.

* SUNY Cortland has served as the summer training camp location for the New York Jets in 2009 and 2010, and the Jets are contracted to train at Cortland for at least two more years. Three current Cortland players – Dan Pitcher, Lou Crispo and James Lenhart – worked as interns this past summer with the Jets' strength and conditioning staff.

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.)

Marc Corrado, Jr., Kicker
NJAC Special Teams Player of the Week (Oct. 30 vs. Montclair St.)
NJAC Special Teams Player of the Week (Nov. 16 vs. Ithaca)

Anthony Giuliano, Sr., Wide Receiver
NJAC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 25 at Western Conn. St.)
NJAC Special Teams Player of the Week (Nov. 6 vs. William Paterson)
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Nov. 6 vs. William Paterson)

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.)

Evan Wyler, Sr., Defensive End
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Oct. 16 at Rowan)

SCHEDULES/RESULTS:

CORTLAND (9-1)

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)                        L 17-20
Oct. 23     * at Morrisville St.                    W 42-6
Oct. 30     * MONTCLAIR ST. (NJ)              W 10-9
Nov. 6       * WILLIAM PATERSON (NJ)       W 38-7
Nov. 13        ITHACA                                W 20-17
Nov. 20     # ENDICOTT (MA)                     12:00

* NJAC game (8-1)      # NCAA playoffs
(HOME GAMES IN CAPS)

ENDICOTT (9-2)

Sept. 4         at Framingham St. (MA)            W 33-27 (3 OT)
Sept. 11       RPI                                           L 3-6
Sept. 18       at Fitchburg St. (MA)                 W 56-14
Sept. 25     * at Salve Regina (RI)                 W 29-28
Oct. 2         * CURRY (MA)                            W 28-24
Oct. 9         * NICHOLS (MA)                         W 30-10
Oct. 16       * at Plymouth St. (NH)                 L 3-10
Oct. 23       * at UMass Dartmouth                 W 37-13
Oct. 30       * WESTERN NEW ENGLAND (MA)  W 23-15
Nov. 6         * MASS. INST. of TECH.               W 38-7
Nov. 13       + at Maine Maritime Academy      W 38-35
Nov. 20       # at Cortland 12:00

* NEFC Boyd Div. game (6-1)     + NEFC Champ. game
# NCAA playoffs
(HOME GAMES IN CAPS)

CORTLAND vs. ENDICOTT – SERIES RECORD

First meeting in 2010


CORTLAND NCAA PLAYOFF HISTORY

1988:
First Round – Cortland 32, Hofstra 27 (at Cortland)
Quarterfinals – Ithaca 24, Cortland 17 (at Ithaca)

1989:
First Round – Union 42, Cortland 14 (at Union)

1990:
First Round – Hofstra 35, Cortland 9 (at Hofstra)

1997:
First Round – The College of New Jersey 34, Cortland 30 (at Cortland)

2005:
First Round – Hobart 23, Cortland 22 (at Hobart)

2008:
First Round – Cortland 31, Plymouth St. 14 (at Cortland)
Second Round – Cortland 42, Curry 0 (at Cortland)
Quarterfinals – Mount Union 41, Cortland 14 (at Mount Union)