SUNY CORTLAND FOOTBALL NOTES
Cortland Red Dragons (4-0, 2-0 Empire 8) vs. Utica University Pioneers (3-1, 1-0 Empire 8)
Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024; 1 p.m.; Charles A. Gaetano Stadium; Utica, N.Y.

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THE MATCHUP: Cortland, ranked second nationally in Division III, travels to Utica University for a key Empire 8 contest. The Red Dragons have won 16 straight games dating back to last September and have posted 21 consecutive league victories since their final league contest of 2019. Utica enters the game 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference. The Pioneers are a combined 22-5 overall and 10-3 in E8 play since the start of the 2022 season.
                                                   
THE SERIES: Cortland is 10-1 lifetime versus Utica. The Red Dragons won decisively the last four times the teams met with a 56-3 win at home last year, a 48-21 win at Utica in 2023, and 45-0 and 44-12 victories at home in 2021 and 2019, respectively. The previous four games in the series were much tighter. Cortland won by seven points in Utica in 2018, by one point at home in 2017, and by seven points in overtime at home in 2015, while Utica won, 24-13, at home in 2016. The schools also faced each other during the first three years that Utica played a full varsity schedule from 2001-03.
 
Last year, Cortland surged to a 42-0 halftime lead and the Red Dragons, ranked 17th nationally at the time, defeated the previously unbeaten Pioneers. Cortland outgained Utica in total offense, 552-120, including a 323 to minus-5 advantage in the first half. Jaden AlfanoStJohn ran 14 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns and Ashton  Capone rushed 18 times for 88 yards and two scores. Zac Boyes completed 12-of-15 passes for 182 yards and two TDs and ran 10 times for 86 yards and a score. Jack Winey made 15 tackles, seven solo. Jimmy Polito led Utica with nine carries for 37 yards. Brett Fuller was held to 10-of-28 passing for 69 yards. Eli Douglas recorded 15 tackles.
 
CORTLAND CAPSULE: Cortland posted its second shutout of the season with a 41-0 league win versus Morrisville at home last Saturday. Zac Boyes completed 20-of-31 passes for 229 yards and three touchdowns and ran seven times for 41 yards and a score. Jaden AlfanoStJohn earned a spot on the D3football.com National Team of the Week after catching eight passes for 133 yards and two scores. Ethan Gallo ran for 126 yards and caught four passes, Tyson Taylor finished with seven rushes for 60 yards and a TD and Jayson Zeva caught a TD pass. Mike Baloga, the Empire 8 Co-Special Teams Player of the Week, made 36-yard and 32-yard field goals along with all five of his PAT kicks.
 
Jaden Martinez led the defense with 12 tackles, including a sack, along with a forced fumble. Jack Winey had 10 tackles and a pass breakup and Ellis Einbinder recorded seven tackles and a breakup. Ryan Isom broke up two passes and Max Llewellyn registered seven tackles.
 
Boyes is 61-of-83 passing (73.5 pct.) for 882 yards with nine touchdowns and no interceptions. Zeva has a team-high 21 receptions covering 251 yards with three TDs and AlfanoStJohn has 18 receptions for a team-high 352 yards and five scores. Gallo averages 102.3 rushing yards per game with nine touchdowns - three each in Cortland's first three games. Boyes averages 49.8 rushing yards per contest with three scores. Martinez leads the Red Dragons with 36 tackles, followed by Winey with 29 and Einbinder with 19. Nick Lardaro has a team-best 4.5 tackles for loss and Nazair Jean-Lubin is the team leader with three pass breakups.
 
Baloga is 28-for-30 on PAT kicks and 2-for-2 on field goals this fall. He's averaging 39.3 yards per punt, with three of his six kicks "inside the 20," and he averages 61.2 yards per kickoff with 13 touchbacks in 34 kicks. Ravi Dass Jr. averages 14.3 yards per punt return and AlfanoStJohn averages 38 yards per kickoff return, each with one return touchdown.

Curt Fitzpatrick was named SUNY Cortland's football head coach in February 2020 and entered his fifth year at the school and fourth season on the field in 2024. His record at Cortland is 38-4 (.905), highlighted by a 14-1 season and a storybook run to the 2023 NCAA Division III title. Fitzpatrick was named both the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and the D3football.com Division III National Coach of the Year, and the AFCA Region 1 and D3football.com Region 2 Coach of the Year. Fitzpatrick has led Cortland to three Empire 8 titles from 2021-23, each with a 6-0 regular-season record. He and his assistants were named the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year in each of those three seasons.
 
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...UTICA UNIVERSITY:  Utica began Empire 8 play last Saturday with a dominating 65-7 win at Hartwick. The Pioneers led 56-0 at halftime. Brett Fuller completed 12-of-16 passes for 265 yards and five touchdowns and Matthew Pallouras was 9-for-11 for 107 yards and a score. Fuller connected on TD passes of 65, 51, 30, 28 and 13 yards. Bryce Palmer caught four passes for 101 yards and two scores and Matt Brantley ran nine times for 52 yards and a TD. Utica also scored on an Eli Douglas 85-yard interception return, a Gabriel Zawolo 56-yard punt return and a Freddie Callo 24-yard field goal.
 
Through four games, Fuller is 63-of-109 passing (57.8 pct.) for 731 yards and 10 touchdowns with two interceptions. Brantley averages 114.8 rushing yards per game and has four touchdowns and Palmer has caught 11 passes for 207 yards and three scores. Darius Johnson paces the team with 31 tackles, followed by Norman Booth with 26 stops along with two forced fumbles. John Stroughn has four sacks and Douglas leads the team with three interceptions and three breakups.
 
Callo has made 3-of-4 field goals, with a long of 31 yards, and 18-of-20 PAT kicks. He also averages 42.1 yards per punt, with seven of his 16 kicks pinning opponents inside the 20-yard line. Zawolo averages 9.6 yards per punt return and 19.9 yards per kickoff return.
 
Blaise Faggiano is in his 17th season as Utica's head coach. His overall record with the Pioneers is 88-75 (.540), including a 10-2 record and the program's first-ever NCAA tournament appearance in 2022. Utica won at Susquehanna in the NCAA opening round that season before losing at Mount Union in the second round. Faggiano's Utica squads also posted a 9-2 record last year, capped by a win at Hobart in the ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl, 7-4 marks and ECAC bowl game appearances in 2014, 2016 and 2018, and a 6-5 record and an ECAC bowl game in 2021. Prior to his arrival at Utica, Faggiano spent nine seasons as defensive coordinator at St. John Fisher. He's a 1993 Ithaca alumnus, and as a player he helped the Bombers win the 1991 NCAA Division III title.

NOTEBOOK:
 
* Cortland has broken the school record for scoring average each of the last three years, averaging 41.4 points per game in 2021, 45.1 points per contest in 2022 and 46.2 points per game last fall. The Red Dragons are averaging 56.8 points per game this fall. Cortland has scored 227 points - the highest four-game total to start a season in school history. The previous record was 205 points in 2022, followed by 204 points in 1991 and 203 points in 2021.
 
* Zac Boyes has attempted 186 straight passes without an interception - his last 103 attempts a year ago plus his 83 attempts this fall. Boyes set the school record last year with 194 straight pass attempts without an interception. After being picked in the 2023 season opener versus Delaware Valley, he wasn't intercepted again until throwing two picks at Ithaca and two in the NCAA second round versus Grove City.
 
* Cortland's current 16-game winning streak is one of only two active double-figure win streaks in Division III - Carnegie Mellon has won 12 straight games. The Red Dragons' 21-game Empire 8 winning streak is currently the fourth-longest conference run - Mount Union has won 61 straight games in the Ohio Athletic Conference, Aurora has won 42 straight in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference and North Central has won 36 straight in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.
 
* 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, 2022 and 2023 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, Morrisville and Brockport - at one point played in the NJAC. Cortland and Morrisville are affiliate members of the E8 in football only. Brockport moved from affiliate to full-time status in the league in 2024. Alfred, Hartwick, St. John Fisher and Utica also are full conference members. Hilbert joined the Empire 8 as an affiliate football member in 2024 but will be moving to the Liberty League in 2025, and Alfred State will join the league as an affiliate football member in 2025.

* Cortland and Utica rank in the top 40 nationally in Division III in the following team and individual categories:
 
CORTLAND:
 
3rd, Third Down Conversion Percentage Defense, 21.4 pct.
3rd, First Downs Defense, 40
3rd, Kickoff Returns, 31.5 yds./return
4th, Scoring Offense, 56.8 pts./game
6th, Punt Return Defense, -1.0 yds./return
6th, Tackles for Loss Allowed, 2.8/game
8th, Third Down Conversion Percentage, 54.1 pct.
9th, Rushing Offense, 255.5 yds./game
9th, Total Offense, 517.8 yds./game
10th, Total Defense, 208.5 yds./game
10th, Team Passing Efficiency, 190.6 rating
10th, Turnovers Lost, 3
11th, Completion Percentage, 70.6 pct.
11th, Passes Had Intercepted, 1
14th, Sacks Allowed, 0.5/game
15th, Fumbles Recovered, 5
17th, Scoring Defense, 11.3 pts./game
17th, Blocked Punts, 1
19th, First Downs Offense, 112
21st, Rushing Defense, 68.0 yds./game
25th, Passing Yards Allowed, 140.5 yds./game
31st, Punt Returns, 14.3 yds./return
37th, Turnover Margin, plus-1.0/game
39th, Red Zone Offense, 90.0 pct.
 
Ethan Gallo, 2nd, Rushing TDs, 9
Ravi Dass Jr., 2nd, Punt Return TDs, 1
Ethan Gallo, 2nd, Total TDs, 9
Ethan Gallo, 3rd, Scoring, 13.5 pts./game
Jaden AlfanoStJohn, 3rd, Kickoff Return TDs, 1
Jaden AlfanoStJohn, 4th, Kickoff Returns, 38.0 yds./return
Zac Boyes, 4th, Passing Efficiency, 198.5 rating
Max Llewellyn, 6th, Fumbles Recovered, 2
Zac Boyes, 9th, Completion Percentage, 73.5 pct.
Zac Boyes, 9th, Yards per Pass Attempt, 10.6 yds./attempt
Jaden Martinez, 10th, Forced Fumbles, 0.5/game
Ravi Dass Jr., 13th, Punt Returns, 14.3 yds./return
Jaden AlfanoStJohn, 14th, All Purpose Yards, 154.8 yds./game
Jaden AlfanoStJohn, 24th, Scoring, 10.5 pts./game
Jaden AlfanoStJohn, 25th, Receiving TDs, 5
Ethan Gallo, 29th, Rushing Yards, 102.3 yds./game
Jaden AlfanoStJohn, 30th, Total TDs, 7
Zac Boyes, 31st, Total Offense, 270.3 yds./game
Zac Boyes, 34th, Points Responsible For, 18.0 pts./game

UTICA:
 
6th, Defensive TDs, 3
10th, Net Punting, 40.9 net yds./punt
14th, Kickoff Return Defense, 13.3 yds./return
24th, Turnover Margin, plus-1.3/game
26th, Team Passing Efficiency Defense, 101.7 opponent rating
31st, Rushing Defense, 79.5 yds./game
32nd, Scoring Offense, 40.3 pts./game
36th, Passes Intercepted, 6
36th, Turnovers Gained, 10
37th, Blocked Kicks, 2
38th, Third Down Conversion Percentage, 47.4 pct.
40th, Fumbles Recovered, 4
 
Gabriel Zawolo, 2nd, Punt Return TDs, 1
Eli Douglas, 7th, Interceptions, 0.8/game
Norman Booth, 10th, Forced Fumbles, 0.5/game
Matt Brantley, 14th, Rushing, 114.8 yds./game
Freddie Callo, 15th, Punting, 42.1 yds./punt
Freddie Callo, 20th, Field Goal Percentage, 75.0 pct.
Matt Brantley, 23rd, Rush Yards per Carry, 6.8 yds./attempt
John Stroughn, 24th, Sacks, 1.0/game
Eli Douglas, 34th, Passes Defended (INTs plus Breakups), 1.5/game
Gabriel Zawolo, 37th, Punt Returns, 9.6 yds./return
 
2024 Cortland Weekly Award Winners (game date/opponent in parentheses)
 
Jaden AlfanoStJohn, Sr., Wide Receiver/Kick Returner
D3football.com National Team of the Week (kick returner) (Sept. 21 at Susquehanna)
Empire 8 Special Teams Player of the Week (Sept. 21 at Susquehanna)
D3football.com National Team of the Week (wide receiver) (Oct. 5 vs. Morrisville)
 
Mike Baloga, Sr., Kicker/Punter
Empire 8 Co-Special Teams Player of the Week (Oct. 5 vs. Morrisville)
 
Zac Boyes, Sr., Quarterback
Empire 8 Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 14 vs. Lycoming)
 
Ravi Dass Jr., Kick/Punt Returner
Empire 8 Special Teams Player of the Week (Sept. 7 at Hilbert)
 
Offensive Line (Kevin Whalen, Aidan Glynn, Ryan Bitka, Jayden Lont, Cody Aikey)
D3football.com National Team of the Week (Sept. 14 vs. Lycoming)


SCHEDULES/RESULTS:

CORTLAND (4-0, 2-0 Empire 8)

Sept. 7            * at Hilbert............................................... W 76-0
Sept. 14          LYCOMING (PA).................................... W 70-7
Sept. 21          at Susquehanna (PA)............................. W 40-38
Oct. 5             * MORRISVILLE...................................... W 41-0
Oct. 12            * at Utica..................................................1:00
Oct. 19           * at Alfred................................................ 1:00
Oct. 26           * ST. JOHN FISHER................................ 1:00
Nov. 2            * HARTWICK........................................... 1:00
Nov. 9            * at Brockport........................................... 12:00
Nov. 16           ITHACA.................................................. 12:00

* Empire 8 game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS

UTICA (3-1, 1-0 Empire 8)

Sept. 6           UNION................................................... W 41-26
Sept. 14          at Moravian (PA).................................... L 13-18
Sept. 21          LYCOMING (PA).................................... W 42-17
Oct. 5             * at Hartwick........................................... W 65-7
Oct. 12            * CORTLAND........................................ 1:00
Oct. 19           * at Morrisville........................................ 12:00
Oct. 26           * ALFRED.............................................. 1:00
Nov. 2            * BROCKPORT...................................... 12:00
Nov. 9            * at Hilbert............................................... 2:00
Nov. 16           * at St. John Fisher................................. 1:00
 
* Empire 8 game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS

CORTLAND vs. UTICA – SERIES RECORD
(Cortland leads 10-1)
 
Year             Winner···························· Score                       Site
2001             Cortland··························· 45-8                         Utica
2002             Cortland··························· 58-12                       Cortland
2003             Cortland··························· 43-7                         Utica
2015             Cortland··························· 47-40 (OT)               Cortland
2016             Utica··································24-13                       Utica
2017             Cortland··························· 24-23                       Cortland
2018             Cortland··························· 45-38                       Utica
2019             Cortland··························· 44-12                       Cortland
2021             Cortland··························· 45-0                         Cortland
2022             Cortland··························· 48-21                       Utica
2023             Cortland............................56-3                         Cortland

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