SUNY CORTLAND FOOTBALL NOTES
Cortland Red Dragons (1-0, 1-0 NJAC) vs. Kean University Cougars (1-0, 0-0 NJAC)
Saturday, Sept. 17, 2011; 1 p.m.; SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex; Cortland, N.Y.
Game broadcast live on WXHC, Homer (101.5 FM and www.wxhc.com)
TICKETS: $6 adults, $5 students with ID (SUNY Cortland students free with ID), Children 12 and under Free

Follow the game online:
WXHC Radio Broadcast
Live Stats


THE MATCHUP: Cortland hosts Kean University in a key early-season showdown of New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) teams ranked in the top 20 nationally. Cortland, ranked 11th by D3football.com, was idle last week after opening the season with a league win over Buffalo State Sept. 3. Kean (pronounced KANE) moved into 18th in the polls after its impressive 31-28 upset win versus third-ranked Wesley College of Delaware at home last Saturday.

THE SERIES: Cortland leads the overall series between the schools 14-1, including a 24-12 win at Kean in last season's opening game. Justin Autera scored three touchdowns to lead the Red Dragons. He returned the game's opening kickoff 85 yards for a score, caught an 18-yard TD pass and ran 12 yards to paydirt.

Marc Corrado hit a 33-yard field goal and made all three of his PAT attempts. Kean trailed 17-0 after one quarter but rallied to within five on Thomas D'Ambrisi TD passes to Louis Haynes and Jason Gwaltney. Kean outgained Cortland 325-299 in total offensive yards. Cody Allen led Cortland with 10 tackles and Jerelle Peay made 11 tackles for the Cougars.

Kean's lone victory in the series was a 24-10 win at Cortland in 2009. The teams have played every year since 1996, starting with non-league contests before Cortland joined the NJAC in 2000.

CORTLAND CAPSULE: Cortland rallied from a 12-7 third-quarter deficit to defeat visiting Buffalo State, 28-12, two weeks ago at home. Dan Pitcher threw three touchdown passes – two to sophomore wide receiver John Babin and one to senior tight end Brian Haber. Junior tailback Justin Autera capped the scoring with a 10-yard TD run late in the game.

Babin finished with five catches for 86 yards and was named the NJAC Offensive Player of the Week for the week ending Sept. 4. Mike Humphrey made four catches for 42 yards and Pitcher finished with 169 passing yards. Autera ran 20 times for 82 yards. Junior linebacker Chris Bright paced the defense with nine tackles and a fumble recovery. Steven Lenhart finished with eight tackles and a pass breakup and Bill Smith had seven tackles and a forced fumble.

Junior punter Pete Furey earned NJAC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. He averaged 38.1 yards per kick, pinned the Bengals inside the 20-yard line twice and had two other punts either downed or fair caught exactly at the 20-yard line. Furey also started at cornerback and registered four tackles and two pass breakups.

Cortland was outgained 296-250 in total offense, but came up big defensively when it mattered most. The Red Dragons held the Bengals to 0-for-13 on third-down conversion attempts – the first time Cortland has denied an opponent a first down on every third-down play since Brockport went 0-for-14 at Cortland in October of 1989. Buffalo State held a 222-77 advantage in the first half, but Cortland gained 173 yards to the Bengals' 74 over the final 30 minutes.

Head coach Dan MacNeill is in his 15th season with the Red Dragons. His overall record of 91-52 (.636) 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 and the NCAA quarterfinals.

MacNeill has guided Cortland to the NCAA playoffs in 1997, 2005, 2008 and 2010. 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...KEAN UNIVERSITY: Thomas D'Ambrisi threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Denehy with 1:18 remaining to give Kean a 31-28 victory over nationally third-ranked Wesley College at home last Saturday. The win avenged a 48-10 loss to the Wolverines in 2010 and propelled the Cougars into the 18th spot in the newest D3football.com rankings. Wesley lost in the regular season for the first time since the 2008 season opener.

D'Ambrisi completed 21-of-36 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns and no interceptions. Denehy finished with six receptions for 69 yards, Chris Suozzo made five catches for 54 yards and Lester Smith caught two TD passes – a 24-yard grab in the second quarter and a 50-yard score in the fourth quarter. Billy Daniels made a 28-yard field goal and all four of his PAT kicks. He also averaged 35.8 yards per punt on six attempts.

Senior linebacker Bekim Bujari made 10 tackles, five solo, and earned NJAC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Freshman linebacker Matt Clerk was named the NJAC Defensive Rookie of the Week. He blocked a punt that set up an early Kean touchdown and forced a fumble on Wesley's final drive to preserve the victory. Junior Nick Graff also blocked a punt, which he returned six yards for a touchdown to give Kean a 17-6 advantage. The lead changed hands four times in second half.

Senior safety Jamahl Williams was one of the NJAC's top defensive players in 2010. He tied Cortland's Joe Lopez for the league lead with eight interceptions, broke up five passes, forced two fumbles and recovered two fumbles.

Dan Garrett took over as Kean's head coach in 2006 after three years as the team's defensive coordinator. He has an overall record of 34-20 (.630) in five-plus seasons and has led the Cougars to ECAC Bowl appearances in 2009 (9-2 final record), 2008 (7-4) and 2006 (7-4). Garrett graduated in 1997 from Montclair State, where he was a first team All-NJAC linebacker and defensive end in 1995 and 1996 and recorded more than 200 career tackles. He served as an assistant coach with the Red Hawks for six years, including four as defensive coordinator from 1999-2002.

NOTEBOOK:

* The Red Dragons totaled four sacks in its season opener vs. Buffalo State. Cortland has recorded at least 30 sacks each of the last 10 seasons, including 31 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 looks to open the season 2-0 for the sixth time in the last seven years. The only year since 2005 when the Red Dragons did not begin 2-0 was in 2007 when they lost their second game of the season at Brockport.

* Cortland is in its 12th 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 of their other sports. Cortland was the first non-New Jersey school to join the NJAC for football, starting in the 2000 season, and has since been joined by Western Connecticut State, Buffalo State, Brockport and Morrisville. Cortland has finished at least tied for first in the NJAC five of the last six years (2005-08, 2010).


SCHEDULES/RESULTS:

CORTLAND (1-0, 1-0 NJAC)

Sept. 3      * BUFFALO ST.                         W 28-12
Sept. 17    * KEAN (NJ)                             1:00
Sept. 24    * at Rowan (NJ)                        1:00
Oct. 1        * MORRISVILLE ST.                   7:00
Oct. 8        * at Montclair St. (NJ)               1:00
Oct. 15      * at Western Connecticut St.      12:00
Oct. 22      * WILLIAM PATERSON (NJ)         1:00
Oct. 29      * THE COLLEGE of NEW JERSEY  1:00
Nov. 5        * at Brockport                           1:00
Nov. 12         at Ithaca                               12:00

* NJAC game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS


KEAN (1-0, 0-0 NJAC)

Sept. 10        WESLEY (DE)                           W 31-28
Sept. 17      * at Cortland                             1:00
Sept. 24      * at Western Connecticut St.       12:00
Sept. 30      * THE COLLEGE of NEW JERSEY   7:00
Oct. 8          * BUFFALO ST.                          1:00
Oct. 15        * at Brockport                           1:00
Oct. 22        * MORRISVILLE ST.                   12:00
Oct. 29        * ROWAN (NJ)                          1:00
Nov. 5          * at William Paterson (NJ)         1:00
Nov. 12        * at Montclair St. (NJ)               7:00

* NJAC game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS


CORTLAND vs. KEAN – SERIES RECORD (Cortland leads 14-1)

Year                  Winner                   Score                  Site
1996                  Cortland                  31-10                  Cortland
1997                  Cortland                  47-21                  Kean
1998                  Cortland                  53-27                  Cortland
1999                  Cortland                  26-13                  Kean
2000                  Cortland                  48-0                    Cortland
2001                  Cortland                  37-20                  Kean
2002                  Cortland                  35-14                  Cortland
2003                  Cortland                  23-20                  Kean
2004                  Cortland                  49-17                  Cortland
2005                  Cortland                  27-6                    Kean
2006                  Cortland                  24-14                  Cortland
2007                  Cortland                  35-14                  Kean
2008                  Cortland                  32-28                  Kean
2009                  Kean                       24-10                  Cortland
2010                  Cortland                  24-12                  Kean