ONEONTA, N.Y. - The nationally 16th-ranked Cortland football team tied a school record for points in a game as the Red Dragons defeated host Hartwick, 73-7, in an Empire 8 contest.
 
The win sets up a "winner-take-all" home game versus Brockport next Saturday for the Empire 8 title and NCAA automatic berth. Cortland will enter the game with a 7-1 overall record and 5-0 league mark and just the one league game remaining versus Brockport. The Golden Eagles are 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference with two league games left. The other five conference teams have at least two league losses.
 
Cortland's 73 points matches the school record set on two previous occasions, both at home - a 73-6 win over Brockport in 1969 and a 73-7 victory against New Jersey City in 1999.
 
Mike Baloga (New Windsor/Cornwall) tied the school single-game record with 10 made PAT kicks, set in the aforementioned 73-point games by Al Rapp versus Brockport and Nicholas Coursen against New Jersey City. Baloga also broke the school record for consecutive PAT kicks made - he's currently made 77 straight PATs dating back to last season, including 58-for-58 this year. The previous school record was 70 straight PAT kicks by Matthew Mintz spanning the 2005 to 2007 seasons.
 
Cortland outgained Hartwick in total offense, 657-183. Those totals included a 358 to minus-3 advantage on the ground. Cortland didn't punt for the second straight game and the third time this season; the Red Dragons scored on 11 of 13 possessions, with one of the two "failures" occurring when Cortland took a knee three times after reaching the Hartwick 2-yard line to end the game.
 
Cortland struck quickly, taking a 35-0 lead in the first quarter - the Red Dragons' highest-scoring quarter since scoring 35 points in the first period versus Fitchburg State in 2019. Jaden Martinez (Comsewogue) put the Red Dragons on the board with a 21-yard interception return, after an initial pass deflection by Max Llewellyn (Sayville), on just the game's second play from scrimmage. Jaden AlfanoStJohn (Westhampton/Westhampton Beach) and Ashton Capone (Saratoga Springs) ran for 5-yard and 13-yard scores, respectively, over the next nine minutes, followed by a 12-yard TD pass from Zac Boyes (Buffalo/Kenmore West) to JJ Laap (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) and a 24-yard connection from Boyes to Cole Burgess (Greenwich).
 
Cortland extended the lead to 42-0 early in the second when David Romer (East Greenbush/Columbia) blocked a punt that Andrew Tarpey (Sparkill/Tappan Zee) returned 10 yards for a touchdown. Capone's 8-yard TD run with 6:21 left in the half pushed the lead to 49-0, and Baloga's 25-yard field goal on the final play of the stanza gave the Red Dragons a 52-0 halftime lead.
 
Tyson Taylor (Middle Island/Longwood) ran 20 yards for a TD in the third quarter. Hartwick (1-7, 0-4 Empire 8) got on the board on a 37-yard scoring pass from James Sobol to Nate Rath with 14 seconds remaining in the third. Cortland's finished the scoring with a Kyle Stracher (Germantown/Stissing Mountain) 4-yard TD run with 12:10 left and, with 8:05 remaining, a 3-yard Ethan Gallo (Slate Hill/Minisink Valley) TD run - set up by his 67-yard run on the previous play.
 
Boyes was 10-of-11 passing for 206 yards and two scores and Vin Mazzone (Staten Island/St. Peter's) completed 8-of-12 passes for 93 yards. AlfanoStJohn rushed for 93 yards on 10 carries and Taylor had 74 yards on 15 rushes. Burgess caught six passes for 135 yards and a score. Llewellyn and Martinez led the Red Dragons with five tackles each.
 
Sobol was 13-of-27 for 161 yards through the air for the hosts. Rath caught eight passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. Brennan McNeilly led the Hawks with 12 tackles and Randall Dennis had eight stops.