THE MATCHUP:  Cortland, ranked 10th nationally in the latest D3football.com poll, travels to Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa., for a non-league contest.
 
THE SERIES: Cortland and Lycoming are meeting for the first time. 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's other Landmark Conference opponent will be Susquehanna, which will travel to Cortland next weekend. Cortland has faced only two current Landmark Conference schools previously in football. 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 opened its 2023 campaign at home last Saturday with a 42-13 win over then-10th-ranked Delaware Valley. Cortland, ranked 17th at the time (now 10th), snapped DelVal's 28-game regular-season winning streak. The Red Dragons rushed for 279 yards - the most allowed by the Aggies in 10 years - led by Jaden AlfanoStJohn, who finished with 27 carries for 169 yards and a touchdown. Ashton Capone ran 11 times for 56 yards and two scores and Tyson Taylor carried the ball 10 times in the fourth quarter for 57 yards and a touchdown.
 
Cortland's defense forced three-and-outs on each of DelVal's first three possessions, leading to three first-quarter Red Dragon touchdown drives and a 21-0 lead after one period. JJ Laap caught a 19-yard TD pass, Cole Burgess caught a 12-yard TD pass and Capone ran for a 1-yard score to account for those points. Ryan Isom and Jack Winey led the defense with seven tackles apiece and Luke Winslow finished with five tackles, an interception and a pass breakup.
 
Curt Fitzpatrick was named Cortland's head coach in February 2020 and enters the game with an 21-3 (.875) 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...LYCOMING COLLEGE:  Lycoming opened the season last Saturday with a 42-21 non-league road loss to Widener University. Quasim Benson ran seven times for 56 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown. Dawson Debebe caught six passes for 152 yards - the Warriors' first 150-yard receiving game since 2015 - and Will Fish completed 11-of-35 passes for 188 yards and a touchdowns but was intercepted three times.
 
Jordan Rhinehart led the Lycoming defense with seven tackles and three pass breakups. Austin Rowley and Hunter Campbell also totaled seven tackles each, with Rowley adding an interception.

After a long history in the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC), Lycoming accepted an invitation to become a member of the Landmark Conference for the 2023-24 season. The Landmark Conference is sponsoring football for the first time in 2023 and now offers 23 sports.
 
Mike Clark has been Lycoming's head coach since 2008. His combined record of 80-64 (.556) includes eight wins each in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2021. He led the Warriors to MAC titles in 2008 and 2013. Clark served as an assistant coach at Lycoming in 1998 and 1999; the 1998 squad finished 10-1 and advanced to the NCAA second round and the 1999 squad went 9-1 and lost in the NCAA opening round. Also Lycoming's Director of Athletics since 2012, Clark played four seasons for the Warriors from 1989-1992. His teams were a combined 40-5-1 with four NCAA appearances, including a national runner-up showing in 1990. Greg Roskos, Cortland's former associate head coach and offensive coordinator and 11-year member of the Red Dragon staff from 2009-19, is in his first season as Lycoming's offensive coordinator this fall.
 
NOTEBOOK:
 
* JJ Laap became the 19th player in school history to reach the career 100-reception mark after catching three passes last weekend versus Delaware Valley. In 32 career games since 2019, Laap has caught 100 passes for 1,877 yards and 19 touchdowns. Cole Burgess is closing in on the 100-catch plateau - he's recorded 97 receptions for 1,820 yards and 20 touchdowns in 30 career games from 2018-19 and 2022-23.
 
* Jaden AlfanoStJohn has 1,950 career rushing yards through 21 games as a Red Dragon, 50 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 169 yards last Saturday versus Delaware Valley. 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.
 
* Cortland did not punt in its game versus Delaware Valley last weekend. The Red Dragons' 12 possessions included six touchdowns, one interception in the end zone, three turnovers on downs inside the DelVal 35-yard line, and two shortened possessions at the end of each half. Cortland did not punt in three of its games last fall (home versus Wittenberg, at Buffalo State and Utica). The last time prior to 2022 that the Red Dragons didn't punt was during a 67-6 win at Wilkes in the second game of the 1991 season.
 
* Six of Patrick Luby's seven kickoffs last weekend 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.
 

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)
 
 
SCHEDULES/RESULTS:

CORTLAND (1-0)