SUNY CORTLAND FOOTBALL NOTES
Cortland Red Dragons (2-1, 2-1 NJAC) vs. Morrisville St. Mustangs (0-3, 0-2 NJAC)
Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011; 7 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 Morrisville State in the Red Dragons' second night home game in school history. The first night game at Cortland featured the same two teams in the 2007 season opener. Cortland, ranked 18th nationally by D3football.com, is 2-1 and is coming off a 31-28 win at Rowan last week. Morrisville is 0-3, but has been very competitive to date. The Mustangs lost their first two games by a combined four points and trailed by seven late in the game before falling 28-14 at The College of New Jersey last Saturday.


THE SERIES: Morrisville has not beaten Cortland in six games, including each of the last five seasons. The series actually began in 1930 with Cortland winning, 12-0, and the teams did not meet again until the Red Dragons won 52-14 at Morrisville in 2006.

In a wild game in 2007, Cortland defeated the Mustangs, 71-7, in the Red Dragons' first-ever home night game. The game was delayed twice by lightning – once at the start and again in the second quarter, for a combined three hours and 13 minutes – and didn't end until 12:46 a.m. Sunday morning. In 2008, Andrew Giuliano rushed for a school single-game record 281 yards and four touchdowns (40, 70, 89 and six yards) in a 51-37 win at Morrisville.

Last season, Cortland won 42-6 at Morrisville as Justin Autera rushed for 141 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries. He scored on a 64-yard run on the game's first play from scrimmage and later found the end zone on 28-yard and 1-yard runs. Dan Pitcher threw TD passes to Kadeem Miller and Matt Kaufmann, and Dorian Myles ran for a 1-yard score to close the scoring. Morrisville's points came on a pair of Juan Rios field goals.

Pitcher finished 17-of-24 passing for 152 yards. Morrisville's Sean Barrett rushed for 74 yards on 13 attempts. Cody Allen paced the Cortland defense with 11 tackles and Tommy Moyon made nine tackles for the Mustangs.


CORTLAND CAPSULE: Cortland rallied from a 21-10 second-quarter deficit to defeat host Rowan, 31-28, last Saturday in a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) contest. Dan Pitcher completed 20-of-29 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns. He set a career high in passing yardage for the second consecutive week. John Babin caught eight passes for 183 yards – the seventh-highest single-game receiving yardage total in school history.

Brian Haber and Mike Humphrey each caught TD passes and Dorian Myles ran for a score. Marc Corrado made all three of his field goal attempts. Linebacker Cody Allen led the defense with 12 tackles and Steven Lenhart recorded 10 stops.

Pitcher is 55-of-92 passing (59.8 percent) this season for 749 yards and seven touchdowns and two interceptions. He leads the NJAC with 249.7 passing yards per game. Babin has 20 receptions for 330 yards and three touchdowns and is the league leader in receptions and receiving yards per contest. Haber shares the team lead with Babin with three touchdown catches – one in each of Cortland's first three games.

Myles, who took over the starting tailback duties after Justin Autera was injured versus Kean, is averaging 68.5 rushing yards per game in two appearances. Allen is the team leader with 22 tackles, followed by Lenhart's 18 and Steve Gruber's 17. Gruber is first on the squad with two sacks and 3.5 total tackles for losses.

Head coach Dan MacNeill is in his 15th season with the Red Dragons. His overall record of 92-53 (.634) 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...MORRISVILLE ST. COLLEGE: Morrisville trailed by seven in the final minutes before falling at The College of New Jersey, 28-14, in an NJAC game last Saturday. The Mustangs drew within 14-7 on a Lemar Johnson 3-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter and their next drive ended on a fumble at the TCNJ 16-yard line.

Trailing 21-7, Morrisville got back to within a score on a 35-yard TD pass from Johnson to Ricky Demers with 1:25 left. TCNJ, however, recovered the ensuing onsides kickoff and added a late touchdown to complete the scoring.

Johnson rushed for 107 yards and a score on 13 carries and completed 16-of-35 passes for 206 yards and a touchdown. James Schoenig and Josh Powell caught four passes apiece. Travis French finished with nine tackles.

A week earlier, the Mustangs nearly upset nationally ranked Montclair State at home. Morrisville scored a touchdown with 21 seconds left to pull within a point of the Red Hawks, but a two-point conversion rush failed and the Mustangs lost 20-19. Morrisville also lost a tight game in its season opener to visiting Hartwick, 14-11.

For the season, Johnson is 35-of-71 passing (49.3 percent) for 419 yards and three touchdowns. He is also the leading rusher with 47.7 yards per game and two touchdowns. Powell tops the team with 12 catches for 161 yards and two scores. Linebacker Enrique Robinson has made a team-high 28 tackles, 2.5 for losses, and safety Jeremy Stewart has totaled 20 tackles.

Head coach Terry Dow is in his 15th season as Morrisville's head coach. His overall record of 66-79 (.455) includes a 57-36 record, three conference and two regional titles in nine junior college seasons. The Mustangs have faced Division III varsity competition since 2006 and joined the NJAC in 2008. Morrisville became an active NCAA Div. III member in 2009.


NOTEBOOK:

* Graduate student quarterback Dan Pitcher and freshman cornerback Andrew Tolosi were both recognized by the NJAC for their performances at Rowan last week. Pitcher earned NJAC Offensive Player of the Week honors after connecting on 20-of-29 passes for a career-high 315 yards. Tolosi, who entered in the first quarter for injured starter D.J. Romano, finished with eight tackles and a pass breakup and was chosen as the NJAC Defensive Rookie of the Week.

* Senior linebacker Cody Allen was chosen to the D3football.com national Team of the Week for his effort at Rowan. He made a team-high 12 tackles, six solo, as Cortland limited the Profs to 67 net rushing yards on 32 carries.

* Sophomore wide receiver John Babin has 20 receptions this season – the most by a Cortland player through three games since Anthony Falco opened the 1997 season with 20 catches in three games. Steve Ellis holds the school record for single-season receptions with 68 in 1994 (the total does not include four catches he made in an ECAC playoff game that year since the NCAA did not begin recognizing stats from postseason games in their records until 2002). Ellis started the 1994 season with 25 catches through three games, including 10 in the opener at Mansfield and 11 the next week at Montclair St.

* The Red Dragons have totaled seven sacks over their first three games. 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 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).


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

Cody Allen, Sr., Linebacker
D3football.com Team of the Week (Sept. 24 at Rowan)

John Babin, So., Wide Receiver
NJAC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 3 vs. Buffalo St.)

Pete Furey, Jr., Punter
NJAC Special Teams Player of the Week (Sept. 3 vs. Buffalo St.)

Dan Pitcher, Gr., Quarterback
NJAC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 24 at Rowan)

Andrew Tolosi, Fr., Cornerback
NJAC Defensive Rookie of the Week (Sept. 24 at Rowan)



SCHEDULES/RESULTS:


CORTLAND (2-1, 2-1 NJAC)

Sept. 3      * BUFFALO ST.                         W 28-12
Sept. 17    * KEAN (NJ)                             L 16-21
Sept. 24    * at Rowan (NJ)                        W 31-28
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

MORRISVILLE ST. (0-3, 0-2 NJAC)

Sept. 3         HARTWICK                                L 11-14
Sept. 17     * MONTCLAIR ST. (NJ)                  L 19-20
Sept. 24     * at The College of New Jersey      L 14-28
Oct. 1         * at Cortland                               7:00
Oct. 8         * WESTERN CONNECTICUT ST.     12:00
Oct. 15       * ROWAN (NJ)                             12:00
Oct. 22       * at Kean (NJ)                             12:00
Oct. 29       * at William Paterson (NJ)             12:00
Nov. 5         * BUFFALO ST.                             12:00
Nov. 12       * at Brockport                              1:00

* NJAC game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS

CORTLAND vs. MORRISVILLE ST. – SERIES RECORD
(Cortland leads 5-0)

Year            Winner                    Score             Site
1930            Cortland                  12-0                ???
2006            Cortland                  52-14              Morrisville
2007            Cortland                  71-7                Cortland
2008            Cortland                  51-37              Morrisville
2009            Cortland                  26-17 **          Cortland
2010            Cortland                  42-6                Morrisville


** win later vacated due to NCAA secondary violation