SUNY CORTLAND FOOTBALL NOTES
Cortland Red Dragons (1-4, 1-2 NJAC) vs. Southern Virginia Univ. Knights (0-5, 0-2 NJAC)
Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014; 1 p.m.; SUNY Cortland Stadium Complex; Cortland, N.Y.
TICKETS: $6 adults, $5 students with ID ($1 discount for fans with Price Chopper AdvantEdge card)
SUNY Cortland students/faculty/staff Free with ID; Children 12 and under Free

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THE MATCHUP: Cortland hosts Southern Virginia University in a matchup of the oldest and newest football-only affiliate members of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). Cortland joined the NJAC as its first football-only school in 2000 and Southern Virginia became a league member this season. The game is a "Route 81 rivalry," albeit it a long-distance once. Southern Virginia is located in Buena Vista, Va., right off Interstate 81, more than 460 miles from Cortland.

 
THE SERIES: Cortland and Southern Virginia are meeting for the first time.  The game is likely also the last between the schools, at least for the foreseeable future. Cortland is leaving the NJAC after this season and will play in the Empire 8 in 2005, while Southern Virginia will remain as an NJAC affiliate member.

 
CORTLAND CAPSULE: Cortland earned its first victory of the season last Saturday with a 24-14 win at The College of New Jersey. John Grassi completed 25-of-41 passes for 243 yards and a touchdown. Layton Lassiter and Lou Buschi each ran for scores and Jon Mannix caught a 47-yard TD pass, while Shane Cronin made a 35-yard field goal. Josh Riley and Jack Delahunty each caught seven passes.
 
Andrew Tolosi finished with 10 tackles, 1.5 for losses, and a fumble recovery. Jake Ceresna registered a sack and three total tackles for losses among his seven tackles and also broke up two passes. Chandler Williams and Julian Santiago each intercepted passes, with Williams also totaling six solo tackles and two pass breakups.
 
Grassi is 106-of-184 (57.6 percent) passing for 1,151 yards and five touchdowns and six interceptions in five games, while backup QB Buschi has thrown for two scores and has one rushing TD. Mannix paces the receiving corps with 30 catches for 244 yards and two touchdowns and Delahunty has 25 receptions for 320 yards and two scores. Dylan Peebles leads the team in scoring with six touchdowns – five rushing and one on a kickoff return.
 
Five Red Dragons average six or more tackles per game, led by Matt Ambrose's 43 total tackles in five games. Tolosi has 40 stops and five pass breakups and Troy Beddoe has 34 tackles. Ceresna leads the team with 10.5 tackles for loss, including three sacks, among his 33 tackles and Gabe Ostrow has made 30 tackles, seven for losses.
 
Head coach Dan MacNeill is in his 18th season with the Red Dragons. His overall record of 115-65 (.639) ranks him first at Cortland in career victories and winning percentage. He won NJAC Coach of the Year honors in both 2008 and 2012, and also was 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 five NCAA playoff appearances (1997, 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2012) and seven ECAC bowl games. His teams have finished at least tied for first in the NJAC six times (2005-08, 2010, 2012), including outright NJAC titles in 2008 and 2012. 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 (now FCS) 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...SOUTHERN VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY: Southern Virginia lost last Saturday to Montclair State, 35-15, in the first official football game played at The Fields, SVU's home field. The Knights drew within 14-8 on Mitch Stevenson's 20-yard TD pass to Chris Harper with 22 seconds left in the first half, but allowed a 60-yard TD pass on the next play from scrimmage and trailed 21-8 at halftime. The Knights closed the game's scoring on a 15-yard TD pass from Bryan Phillips to Austin Hekking.
 
Stevenson completed 12-of-28 passes for 131 yards and Phillips was 3-for-6 for 50 yards. Kyler Harris caught four passes for 55 yards. Matthew Gregory led the defense with 12 tackles, 2.5 for losses, and a fumble recovery and Robert Robbins made 11 tackles and forced a fumble.
 
A new football member of the NJAC this season, Southern Virginia opened the season with three non-league losses before traveling to Kean for its conference debut. The Knights lost to the Cougars in overtime, 28-27, when Kean blocked a PAT kick after a potential Southern Virginia tying touchdown. SVU had tied the game at 21-21 on a 9-yard TD pass from Stevenson to Michael Kilstrom with 11 seconds left in regulation.

Stevenson has completed 79-of-166 passes (47.6 percent) for 1,020 yards and eight touchdowns but has been picked off 11 times. Harris is the team's top receiver with 21 catches for 340 yards and Jerry Washington has rushed for 244 yards and three scores. Gregory paces the defense with 50 tackles, two interceptions and two blocked kicks and Colter Evans has 48 tackles, 30 solo.
 
Southern Virginia is currently a provisional NCAA Div. III member and competed as an independent member of the National Athletic Intercollegiate Association (NAIA) from 2003-11. The school was founded in 1867 and renewed in 1996, and it holds the unique reputation of being the only liberal arts university in a Latter-day Saint environment.
 
Jason Walker is in his first season as SVU's head coach. He served the past four seasons as a defensive graduate assistant at Brigham Young University in Utah. Prior to BYU, Walker served as the defensive coordinator and special teams coach at Sky View High School in Smithfield, Utah, and had previous experience coaching the defensive secondary and special teams at Ben Lomond High School in Ogden, Utah. Walker played collegiate football for two seasons at Snow College followed by two seasons at Utah State University, and he is a Utah State graduate.
 
 
NOTEBOOK:
 
* Sophomore tight end Josh Riley was chosen to the D3football.com National Team of the Week for his performance at The College of New Jersey last Saturday. Riley caught a team-high seven passes for 86 yards, including a 21-yard reception to the TCNJ 5-yard line that set up Cortland's second touchdown. Riley ranks third on the team with 21 catches for 241 yards in five games.
 
* Cortland and Southern Virginia rank first and third, respectively, in the NJAC in passing offense. The Red Dragons average 267.8 yards per game through the air and the Knights average 225.6 yards per game.
 
* Cortland has scored on 80 percent of its Red Zone (20-yard line or closer) trips (16-of-20) through five games this fall with 10 TDs and six field goals. Last year, the Red Dragons were successful on 88.2 percent of their Red Zone appearances (30-of-34) with 22 TDs. From 2000-13, Cortland scored on at least 80 percent of its Red Zone trips in only five of 14 seasons. Here's a look at Cortland's year-by-year red-zone success rate (including overall scoring rate and touchdown scoring rate) since 2000:
 
2014 (current): 16-of-20 (.800), 10 TD, 6 FG (.500 TD%)
2013: 30-of-34 (.882), 22 TD, 8 FG (.647 TD%)
2012: 39-of-51 (.765), 23 TD, 16 FG (.451 TD%)
2011: 45-of-61 (.738), 40 TD, 5 FG (.656 TD%)
2010: 40-of-58 (.690), 30 TD, 10 FG (.517 TD%)
2009: 30-of-41 (.732), 26 TD, 4 FG (.634 TD%)
2008: 41-of-50 (.820), 32 TD, 9 FG (.640 TD%)
2007: 37-of-45 (.822), 27 TD, 10 FG (.600 TD%)
2006: 38-of-47 (.809), 28 TD, 10 FG (.596 TD%)
2005: 33-of-46 (.717), 24 TD, 9 FG (.522 TD%)
2004: 20-of-31 (.645), 16 TD, 4 FG (.516 TD%)
2003: 33-of-44 (.750), 24 TD, 9 FG (.545 TD%)
2002: 42-of-54 (.778), 33 TD, 9 FG (.611 TD%)
2001: 30-of-37 (.811), 27 TD, 3 FG (.730 TD%)
2000: 28-of-37 (.757), 17 TD, 11 FG (.459 TD%)
 
 
* Cortland is in its 15th and final season as a football-only member of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) in 2014. The program will join the Empire 8 as a football-only member in 2015. 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 was joined by Western Connecticut State, Buffalo State, Brockport and Morrisville. However, Buffalo State left for the Empire 8 in 2012, Western Connecticut joined the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) for football only in 2013, and Brockport begins its first year in the Empire 8 this fall. Morrisville will make the move with Cortland to the Empire 8 in 2015.
 
Southern Virginia joined the NJAC as a football affiliate member this fall. The Knights are currently a provisional NCAA Div. III member and competed as an independent member of the National Athletic Intercollegiate Association (NAIA) from 2003-11. In addition, the NJAC will welcome Salisbury University and Frostburg State University (both currently in the Empire 8), along with Wesley College and Christopher Newport University, as football-only members in 2015.
 
Cortland has finished at least tied for first in the NJAC six of the last nine years (2005-08, 2010, 2012). The Red Dragons were outright league champions in 2008 and 2012, and won a tiebreaker to earn the league's NCAA automatic bid in 2010.
 
Cortland's Weekly Award Winners (game date/opponent in parentheses)
 
Jake Ceresna, Defensive End
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Sept. 27 at Morrisville St.)
 
John Grassi, Quarterback
NJAC Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 6 at Buffalo St.)
 
Dylan Peebles, Kick Returner
NJAC Special Teams Player of the Week (Sept. 27 at Morrisville St.)
ECAC Div. III Southeast Special Teams Player of the Week (Sept. 27 at Morrisville St.)
 
Josh Riley, Tight End
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Oct. 11 at TCNJ)
 
 
* Cortland ranks in the top 40 nationally in Division III in the following team and individual categories:
 
15th, Kickoff Returns, 25.1 yds./return
18th, Tackles for Loss, 9.0/game
 
Dylan Peebles, 9th, Kickoff Returns, 32.1 yds./return
Jake Ceresna, 16th, Tackles for Loss, 2.1/game
Shane Cronin, 21st, Field Goals, 1.2/game
Dylan Peebles, 23rd, All-Purpose Yards, 161.4 yds./game
Gabe Ostrow, 36th, Forced Fumbles, 0.4/game
 
(Southern Virginia, as a provisional Div. III school, is not included in the NCAA statistical rankings.)
 
SCHEDULES/RESULTS:

CORTLAND (1-4, 1-2 NJAC)

Sept. 6           at Buffalo State...................................... L 48-51 (OT)
Sept. 13          BROCKPORT...................................... L 14-17
Sept. 27         * at Morrisville St.................................. L 31-38
Oct. 4            * ROWAN (NJ)...................................... L 14-38
Oct. 11            * at College of New Jersey.................. W 24-14
Oct. 18           * SOUTHERN VIRGINIA...................... 1:00
Oct. 25          * at Kean (NJ)....................................... 1:00
Nov. 1             * MONTCLAIR ST. (NJ)...................... 1:00
Nov. 8            * at William Paterson (NJ)................... 12:00
Nov. 15          ITHACA............................................... 12:00
 
* NJAC game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS
 
SOUTHERN VIRGINIA (0-5, 0-2 NJAC)

Sept. 6           at Methodist (NC)................................. L 21-36
Sept. 20         Guilford (NC) (at Salem, VA)...............  L 27-35
Sept 27          at Wesley (DE)...................................... L 7-47
Oct. 4            * at Kean (NJ)........................................ L 27-28 (OT)
Oct. 11            * MONTCLAIR ST. (NJ)....................... L 15-35
Oct. 18           * at Cortland......................................... 1:00
Oct. 25          * MORRISVILLE ST.............................. 12:00
Nov. 1             * at Rowan (NJ).................................... 1:00
Nov. 8            * COLLEGE of NEW JERSEY.............. 12:00
Nov. 15          * WILLIAM PATERSON (NJ)................ 12:00
 
* NJAC game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS
 
 
CORTLAND vs. SOUTHERN VIRGINIA – SERIES RECORD
 
First meeting in 2014