THE MATCHUP: For the second time this season Cortland hosts a battle of nationally top-25 teams as the 10th-ranked Red Dragons face the 22nd-ranked Susquehanna River Hawks in a non-league matchup. Both teams enter the contest with 2-0 records, and both teams won conference titles last fall. Cortland is the two-time defending Empire 8 champ, while Susquehanna won the Centennial Conference last year but is now a member of the Landmark Conference.
 
THE SERIES: Cortland and Susquehanna are meeting for the first time, although the teams have played in preseason scrimmages in recent years. The teams are meeting through a crossover scheduling agreement between the Empire 8 and Landmark Conferences, which guarantees teams from each league two non-league games (one home, one away) in 2023 and 2024, with the potential of renewal in future seasons. Cortland has faced only two current Landmark Conference schools in football prior to this year. The Red Dragons went 4-1 versus Wilkes from 1987-91 and lost twice to Keystone Academy (now Keystone College) in 1929 and 1930.
 
CORTLAND CAPSULE:  Cortland scored on each of its first nine full possessions and finished with a 595-144 advantage in total offensive yardage in a 62-7 win at Lycoming College last Saturday. Zac Boyes completed 22-of-30 passes for 346 yards and three touchdowns for his fourth career 300-yard passing game. Vin Mazzone was 4-for-6 through the air for 54 yards and a score as Cortland finished with 400 passing yards. JJ Laap caught six passes for 139 yards and a score and Cole Burgess ended with seven receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown. Jaden AlfanoStJohn scored three times - twice rushing and once receiving - and Ashton Capone ran for two scores. Connor Mooney capped the scoring with a 25-yard TD catch from Mazzone in the fourth quarter.
 
Mike Baloga made both of his field goals (38 and 31 yards) and all eight of his PAT kicks. Patrick Luby averaged 41 yards per punt on two kicks and had six kickoffs go for touchbacks. On defense, Jack Winey and Will Ruckert each finished with five tackles. Ruckert, Max Llewellyn and Nick Lardaro each registered a sack.
 
Boyes is 34-of-52 passing (65.4 percent) for 481 yards with five touchdowns and one interception through two games. Burgess has caught 13 passes for 139 yards and two scores and Laap has nine receptions for 182 yards and two touchdowns. AlfanoStJohn averages 101.5 rushing yards per game and has scored four touchdowns, three rushing. Capone has rushed for four scores and averages 60.5 yards per game on the ground. Winey is the team's leader with 12 tackles and Ryan Isom has made 11 stops.
 
Curt Fitzpatrick was named Cortland's head coach in February 2020 and enters the game with an 22-3 (.880) overall record. In his two-plus seasons on the field, after the 2020 season was canceled, he's led the Red Dragons to a pair of Empire 8 titles. In 2021, he guided the Red Dragons to an 11-1 season, the Empire 8 crown (6-0 record), and the NCAA second round. In 2022, Cortland finished 9-2 (6-0 in league play) and the NCAA first round. Fitzpatrick and his assistants were named the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year in both 2021 and 2022.

Fitzpatrick previously served as head coach at Morrisville for seven seasons from 2013-19 and guided the Mustangs to four winning seasons and three postseason ECAC bowl games. He served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Utica College from 2008-12. A 2004 graduate of St. John Fisher, Fitzpatrick was a four-year letterman and a standout quarterback for the Cardinals who served as a team captain. In his final season, he earned Empire 8 all-conference honors and set school passing records in touchdowns (30) and yards (2,366) while leading the program to a 10-2 overall record and an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance. He returned to his hometown of Fulton, N.Y., to coach quarterbacks and wide receivers at Fulton High School in 2005 and he served as quarterbacks coach at St. John Fisher for two seasons from 2006-07. During those two years the Cardinals went a combined 23-4, won two Empire 8 crowns, and advanced to the NCAA semifinals (2006) and quarterfinals (2007).
 
A LOOK AT...SUSQUEHANNA UNIVERSITY:  Susquehanna has won its first two games in contrasting styles, opening the season with a 51-19 victory at Bridgewater College of Virginia and winning last week, 6-5, at Brockport. The River Hawks won at Brockport in a thrilling finish as Josh Ehrlich's 49-yard pass to Kyle Howes to the 1-yard line set up Christian Colasurdo's game-winning 18-yard field goal with two seconds left. Ehrlich completed 14-of-25 passes for 155 yards, and Cameron Noble earned Landmark Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors after recording seven tackles, including a sack, and a forced fumble.
 
Through two games, Ehrlich is 33-of-49 passing (67.4 percent) for 341 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Howes has caught 11 passes for 161 yards and has surpassed the career 1,000-yard receiving plateau. Drew Robinson leads the River Hawks with 14 tackles, followed by Garrett Carter with 13 stops, including two sacks, and Keith Green III with 11 tackles. Colasurdo is 7-for-7 on PAT kicks and has made 2-of-3 field goals. Aaron Kahn averages 34.9 yards per punt.
 
Tom Perkovich is in his ninth year as Susquehanna's head coach in 2023. He's led the program to a combined 53-19 record (.736), including eight or more victories each of the last five seasons. Last fall, the River Hawks finished 10-0 in the regular season overall and 9-0 to win the Centennial Conference title in their final year as a league member before moving to the Landmark Conference. Prior to Susquehanna, Perkovich served as an assistant coach at Muhlenberg from 2006-14 and 2003-04 and as an assistant one year apiece at Colgate (2006) and Holy Cross (2005). He graduated in 2003 from Canisius College, where he was a four-year member of both the football and basketball teams.
 
NOTEBOOK:
 
* Jaden AlfanoStJohn has 1,984 career rushing yards through 22 games as a Red Dragon, 16 yards shy of becoming just the 10th player in school history to reach the 2,000-yard mark. He ran for 757 yards as a freshman in 2021, followed by 1,024 yards last season and 203 yards this fall. AlfanoStJohn can become just the second Cortland player to reach 2,000 rushing yards in his junior season. Dave Cook's career-record 3,455 rushing yards from 1981-84 included 2,302 yards through his first three years. Gareth Grayson rushed for 2,498 yards from 1986-88, but played on the JV team in 1985, while Scott Berent ran for 2,105 yards from 1990-91, but played at Buffalo State in 1988 and on Cortland's JV team in 1989.
 
* JJ Laap and Cole Burgess have become the 19th and 20th players in Cortland history, respectively, to reach the career 100-reception mark. Laap hit the milestone versus Delaware Valley and now has 106 career catches. Burgess passed the century mark at Lycoming and now has 104 career receptions.
 
* Cortland has scored 104 points through its first two games, marking the fifth time in school history that the Red Dragons have reached 100 points prior to their third game. Last year, Cortland scored 111 points through two weeks (48 versus Wittenberg, 63 versus TCNJ). The school record for two-game scoring was 137 points in 1991 (71 versus St. John Fisher, 67 versus Wilkes). Cortland also accomplished the feat in 2018 (108 points) and 2012 (103 points).

* Twelve of Patrick Luby's 17 kickoffs (71 percent) this season have resulted in touchbacks. Last season, Luby registered 36 touchbacks among his 77 kickoffs - the 46.7 percent touchback rate was the best by a Cortland kicker since touchback totals were first tracked in 2006.
 
* Cortland is 6-5 all-time in overtime games, with the last a 32-26 home loss to Brockport in 2019. All 11 games were decided in the first extra session.
 
* Cortland's schedule this fall features four 2022 NCAA tournament qualifiers. In non-league play, Cortland faces three teams that won conference titles last year - Delaware Valley (Middle Atlantic Conference), Susquehanna (Centennial Conference; now a member of the Landmark Conference) and Ithaca (Liberty League). Two of those teams, Delaware Valley and Ithaca, were national quarterfinalists. Empire 8 foe Utica earned an NCAA at-large berth a year ago and advanced to the NCAA second round; the Pioneers' lone regular-season loss came at home to Cortland.
 
* Cortland has been a member of the Empire 8 conference since 2015. The Red Dragons won the outright league title and NCAA automatic bid in both 2021 and 2022 and were co-champions in both 2015 and 2019, earning an NCAA bid in 2015. Cortland also finished second or tied for second in the league in 2017 and 2018. Cortland previously competed in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) for 15 seasons from 2000-14 and finished in at least a tie for first place six times.
 
     Three current Empire 8 members - Cortland, Brockport and Morrisville - at one point played in the NJAC and are affiliate members of the E8 in football only. The other league teams - Alfred, Hartwick, St. John Fisher and Utica - are full conference members, while Brockport will become a full member in the fall of 2024. Also in 2024, Hilbert College will join the Empire 8 as an affiliate football member.
 
 
(NOTE: Our regular feature of listing individual and team top-40 national rankings will begin in two weeks)
 
 
2023 Cortland Weekly Award Winners (game date/opponent in parentheses)
 
Jaden AlfanoStJohn, Running Back
Empire 8 Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 2 vs. Delaware Valley)
 
Mike Baloga, Kicker
D3football National Team of the Week (Sept. 9 at Lycoming)
 
Zac Boyes, Quarterback
Empire 8 Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 9 at Lycoming)
 
  Sept. 2            DELAWARE VALLEY (PA).................... W 42-13
Sept. 9           at Lycoming (PA).................................... W 62-7
Sept. 16          SUSQUEHANNA (PA)........................... 1:00
Sept. 30         * at Morrisville......................................... 1:00
Oct. 7             * UTICA................................................... 1:00
Oct. 14            * ALFRED............................................... 1:00
Oct. 21            * at St. John Fisher................................. 1:00
Oct. 28          * at Hartwick............................................. 2:30
Nov. 4            * BROCKPORT...................................... 12:00
Nov. 11            at Ithaca................................................ 12:00

* Empire 8 game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS
 
SUSQUEHANNA (2-0)
 
Sept. 2            at Bridgewater (VA).............................. W 51-19
Sept. 9           at Brockport............................................ W 6-5
Sept. 16          at Cortland.............................................. 1:00
Sept. 23         WESTERN NEW ENGLAND (MA)......... 1:00
Sept. 30         * CATHOLIC (DC).................................. 1:00
Oct. 7             * at Keystone (PA).................................. 1:00
Oct. 14            * at Juniata (PA).................................... 1:00
Oct. 21            * WILKES (PA)...................................... 1:00
Oct. 28          * at Moravian (PA)................................... 1:00
Nov. 11            * LYCOMING (PA)................................. 1:00
 
* Landmark Conference game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS
 
 
CORTLAND vs. SUSQUEHANNA – SERIES RECORD
 
First meeting in 2023