SPRINGFIELD, OHIO – Cortland's defense scored twice and also registered a key goal-line stand early in the fourth quarter as the Red Dragons defeated host Wittenberg University, 38-16, in Curt Fitzpatrick's debut as Cortland's head coach.
 
Cortland held the Tigers to 268 yards of total offense, including minus-three yards rushing. The Red Dragons finished with 403 yards of offense. Senior Brees Segala (Webster/Webster Schroeder), making his first start as Cortland's quarterback, completed 20-of-29 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns. Junior Ashton Capone (Saratoga Springs), seeing his first action as a Red Dragon, rushed for 142 yards on 29 carries and junior JJ Laap (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) caught six passes for 119 yards and a touchdown.
 
Cortland scored on the game's first play from scrimmage when Wittenberg quarterback Collin Brown threw a backwards pass that Bryce Anderson couldn't haul in near the Wittenberg 20-yard line. Neither team was able to grab possession until Red Dragon linebacker Dylan Dubuque (East Greenbush/Columbia) fell on the ball in the end zone for a touchdown with just 12 seconds elapsed in the game.
 
Wittenberg quickly tied the game at 7-7 on a 75-yard pass from Brown to Jake Saus with 13:59 left in the quarter. Later in the first quarter, Cortland drove from its own 42-yard line to the Tigers' 15 before settling for a Nick Guglielmo (Staten Island/St. Peter's) 32-yard field goal to take a 10-7 lead.
 
Early in the second quarter, Cortland faced a 4th-and-4 from the Tigers' 28-yard line. Segala tossed a deep pass into the end zone that Jake Quosig (Half Moon Bay, CA) controlled for a touchdown to put the Red Dragons ahead 17-7. Midway through the second, long snapper Dennis DeBellis (Suffern) forced a fumble on a punt return that was recovered by Devin McArthur (Saratoga Springs) at the Wittenberg 32-yard line. Eight plays later, Segala ran five yards for a score and Cortland led 24-7 at halftime.
 
Wittenberg used its second long scoring pass of the game to draw closer less than five minutes into the third quarter when Brown connected with Sam Kayser for a 58-yard touchdown strike. On the Tigers' next possession, however, Christian Legagneur (Brentwood/St. John the Baptist) intercepted a pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown and Cortland led 31-14.
 
The hosts, however, began to mount a comeback in the fourth. A wild punt snap by Cortland led to a Wittenberg safety with 13:04 left and reduced the Red Dragons' lead to 15. The Tigers then drove deep into Red Dragon territory and had 1st-and-goal at the 4-yard line. Quarterback Bobby Froehlich's 3-yard run made it 2nd-and-goal at the 1-yard line, which it remained after a Cortland offside penalty on the next play. The Cortland defense, however, dug deep and forced a 1-yard loss on second down. A third-down pass attempt sailed high, and on fourth down Paul Imperiale (East Meadow) batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage to give Cortland the ball.
 
After a penalty following the stop, Cortland started its ensuing drive on its 1-yard line but proceeded to mount a 10-play, 99-yard scoring drive to seal the victory. Capone ran for five yards on 3rd-and-4 from the Red Dragon seven, and also gained two yards on 3rd-and-2 from the 20. Two plays later Jahon Moore (Hillside, NJ) ran for 13 yards on 2nd-and-10, and two plays after that Segala hit Laap for a 58-yard scoring pass with 6:07 left.
 
Imperiale led Cortland with five tackles, three solo. Nick Lardaro (Smithtown/Smithtown East) recorded 1.5 of Cortland's two sacks. Brown finished 9-of-18 passing for 206 yards and two touchdowns for the hosts, with Saus catching five passes for 140 yards and Kayser four passes for 76 yards. Cortland enjoyed a 39:28-20:32 advantage in time of possession and converted 7-of-16 third down chances, compared to Wittenberg's 1-for-9 rate.
 
Cortland will travel to The College of New Jersey next Saturday at noon for a non-league contest.