SUNY CORTLAND FOOTBALL NOTES
Cortland Red Dragons (0-0) vs. Grove City Wolverines (0-0)
Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025; Noon; Grady Field; Cortland, N.Y.


TICKETS SOLD ONLINE ONLY AT:  www.cortlandreddragons.com/tickets
($6 Adults; $5 Senior citizens (65+), Youth ages 5-17 and Veterans; Free for SUNY Cortland students/faculty/staff with college ID)


PDF version (includes 2-deep, dress roster and pronunciations)

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PARKING INFORMATION FOR FANS:
Spectators arriving from off campus are asked to park in the Park Center Northwest Lot and/or the Park Center Commuter East Lot
Stadium Parking Information Page
 

THE MATCHUP: The Tom Blumenauer Era for Cortland football begins at Grady Field as the Red Dragons' new head coach leads his squad versus Grove City College in a non-league matchup of nationally ranked teams. Cortland opens the season ranked 10th nationally by the website D3football.com and 11th by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). Grove City is ranked 23rd in both polls.
 
THE SERIES: Cortland and Grove City have met once previously, with Cortland edging the Wolverines, 25-24, in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Division III playoffs in Cortland. The win was one of two 1-point victories by the Red Dragons during their national championship run. Jaden  AlfanoStJohn ran for a 1-yard touchdown with 1:23 remaining and Cortland trailing by seven, and Zac  Boyes connected with Omari  Kendrick on a 2-point conversion pass to give the Red Dragons the lead. Grove City missed a potential game-winning 37-yard field goal with six seconds remaining.
 
Cortland converted two fourth-down situations on its winning drive. Quarterback Zac  Boyes ran for six yards on 4th-and-5 from the Cortland 48-yard line, and he completed a 24-yard pass to Cole Burgess on 4th-and-15 from the Red Dragon 49-yard line. Boyes finished 19-of-28 passing for 263 yards and a touchdown and ran for 50 yards and a score. JJ Laap caught eight passes for 111 yards and Jack  Winey made 16 tackles. For Grove City, Logan Pfeuffer was 18-of-30 passing for 197 yards and three touchdowns and Nico Flati ran 25 times for 116 yards. Gabe Dunlap and Jack Jollie each recorded 11 tackles and Ben Bladel finished with two sacks among his six total tackles.
 
CORTLAND CAPSULE: Cortland finished the 2024 season with an 11-1 record, including its fourth straight Empire 8 title with a 7-0 mark. The Red Dragons went 10-0 in the regular season, earned an NCAA tournament first-round bye and defeated Endicott in the second round before losing to Springfield in the third round to tie for ninth nationally.
 
Following the season, head coach Curt Fitzpatrick left to become head coach at Division I FCS Colgate University, and in February Tom Blumenauer was hired as the Red Dragons' head coach after three seasons as head coach at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania. Cortland was a combined 45-5 in four seasons from 2021-24.
 
Cortland's offense features the top two running backs from last season, Ethan Gallo and Tyson Taylor, along with starting wide receiver Jayson Zeva and starting offensive linemen Aidan Glynn, Jayden Lont and Nate Graser. Gallo, a D3football.com preseason All-American, rushed for 1,159 yards and tied the school single-season record with 22 touchdowns last fall, while Taylor rushed for 310 yards and three scores. Zeva registered a team-high 57 receptions for 816 yards and seven touchdowns.
 
Also back is receiver Joe Iadevaio, a preseason All-American who missed the entire 2024 season due to injury. In 2023 he caught 37 passes for 462 yards and six touchdowns, including two scores in Cortland's 38-37 win over North Central in the national championship game. Sam Cotton only played two games last season due to injury but in those contests, at Brockport and home versus Ithaca, he caught a combined 14 passes for 165 yards and a score.
 
With the loss of All-America quarterback Zac  Boyes, who set numerous school records, the Red Dragons will likely turn to a quarterback with no previous varsity experience. Junior Craig Galea and sophomore Mike Rescigno are currently battling for the top signalcaller spot.

The Red Dragon defense is led by cornerback Nazair Jean-Lubin, a third team D3football.com All-American last fall after totaling four interceptions and six pass breakups. Safety Anthony Luciano is the team's leading returning tackler with 49 stops a year ago. Ravi Dass Jr. has returned three punts for touchdowns over his first two seasons. He's scheduled to return kickoffs along with Taylor in addition to his punt return duties. Newcomers will battle for Cortland's kicking duties to replace Mike  Baloga, who is a student assistant coach this fall. Robert Crehan was a kicker and punter the last two seasons at William Paterson University and is joined in the kicking ranks by freshmen Gavin Dandrea and Cole Callard.
 
Blumenauer led Franklin & Marshall to a combined 21-11 record, including an 11-8 record in the competitive Centennial Conference, over the past three seasons. The Diplomats won postseason bowl games versus Delaware Valley in 2024 and King's (Pa.) in 2023. Prior to F&M, "Coach Blu" served as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Williams College for six years from 2016-21, and his prior coaching stops include Bowdoin in 2015, Endicott in 2014 and St. Lawrence from 2010-13.
 
A 2007 Ithaca College graduate, Blumenauer played outside linebacker and free safety for the Bombers for two seasons from 2005-06. He was a two-time All-Empire 8 selection and was named to the 2006 Football Gazette All-East Region team. He's a native of Brentwood, N.Y., and was a football and wrestling standout at Brentwood High School.
 
A LOOK AT...GROVE CITY COLLEGE:  Grove City finished last season with a 9-1 regular-season record, all in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play, to share the league title with Washington & Jefferson and Carnegie Mellon. The Wolverines lost at eventual national semifinalist Johns Hopkins, 17-14, in the NCAA second round after earning a first round bye. In 2023, Grove City won the PAC title outright with a 10-0 league mark and won at Susquehanna in the NCAA first round before losing at Cortland.
 
The Wolverines return eight starters from a defense that allowed only 11.5 points and 232 yards of total offense per game last season. Two-time All-America linebacker Ben Bladel is Grove City's all-time leader with 34 sacks and 59 total tackles for loss. He posted 10.5 sacks and 22.5 total tackles for loss last year and set school records in 2023 with 17 sacks and 24.5 tackles for loss. Linebacker Jack Jollie earned all-league honors each of the last two seasons. He finished with 68 tackles last year and led the team with 91 stops in 2023.
 
Linebacker Caleb Brubaker led Grove City last year with 74 tackles and linebacker Boden Davidson finished with 29 tackles. Brubaker and Davidson shared the team lead with five interceptions apiece. Cornerback Dominic DiNinno recorded 39 tackles and five pass breakups. Other returning defensive starters are defensive end Jordan Karczewski, cornerback Noah Wheeler and free safety Ryan Montgomery.
 
Only two offensive starters return for the Wolverines - wide receiver Daniel Sullivan and offensive tackle Luke Jollie. Sullivan caught 25 passes for 388 yards and three touchdowns last fall. The top two quarterbacks on the depth chart this season each saw action off the bench last year. Ethan Wiley was 17-of-32 passing for 360 yards and three touchdowns in six games and Sutton Ellis completed 5-of-7 passes for 61 yards and a score in five outings. Sullivan also kicked last season and was 47-of-53 on PAT kicks and made 8-of-11 field goals.
 
Andrew DiDonato is in his 10th season as Grove City's head coach. He enters the game with an overall record of 59-32 (.648), including a 55-16 record since the 2018 season. He was named the PAC Coach of the Year in both 2018 and 2023. DiDonato has led the Wolverines to the NCAA playoffs each of the last two seasons along with a 4-0 record in ECAC bowl games (2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022). He is a 2010 Grove City alumnus, where he started 40 games at quarterback for the Wolverines from 2006-09. He also lettered in basketball as a senior and helped the team win a league title and qualify for the NCAA playoffs.

NOTEBOOK:
 
* Cortland's 2025 team captains are senior defensive back Alessandro DeRosa, junior wide receiver Joe Iadevaio, senior linebacker Matt Lotter, senior offensive lineman Jayden Lont and senior tight end Dylan Kiely.
 
* Along with head coach Tom Blumenauer, the Red Dragons feature a number of new coaches on the staff this fall:
 
Leondre Simmon - associate head coach/co-defensive coordinator/safeties
Simmon coached at Franklin & Marshall with Blumenauer from 2022-24 and at Williams from 2016-21. He was a standout wide receiver and defensive back at St. Lawrence, earning All-America cornerback in 2014 and 2015.
 
Jack Mrozinski, Jr. - defensive coordinator/special teams coordinator/recruiting coordinator
Mrozinski was the head coach at Hiram College in Ohio from 2020-24 and defensive coordinator at Salve Regina University from 2017-19. He was a quarterback at Buffalo State, graduating in 2006. Mrozinski's wife, Kaitlyn (Boyes) Mrozinski, is a Cortland alumna and the sister of recently graduated All-America quarterback Zac  Boyes.
 
Eric Bunker - offensive coordinator/quarterbacks
Bunker coached at Brown University from 2019-24 and Bryant University from 2017-18. He's a 2012 graduate of Amherst College, where he earned NESCAC Offensive Player of the Year honors as a running back during his senior season.
 
Chyron Brown-Wallace - defensive line
Brown-Wallace coached with Blumenauer at F&M for two seasons from 2023-24 and was a graduate assistant at Rutgers University for two seasons. He was an All-America defensive lineman and Liberty League Defensive Player of the Year at St. Lawrence, graduating in 2017.
 
Mark Sanchez - offensive line
Sanchez coached last season at Lake Forest University in Illinois, helping the program finish 10-0 in the regular season and earn one of the top eight seeds in the NCAA playoffs. A 2018 Brockport graduate, he started at center for four seasons with the Golden Eagles, and in his senior year the program finished 13-1 and advanced to the NCAA semifinals.
 
Matt Scully - outside linebackers
Scully played for Blumenauer at F&M, graduating this past spring. He was an All-Centennial Conference linebacker as both a junior and a senior.
 
Cortland also returns three assistant coaches from last year's staff:
 
Joe Mack - wide receivers
Mack is in his fifth season on the Cortland staff. He coached running backs in 2023 and 2024 and was a student assistant in 2021 and 2022. He was a quarterback at Cortland in 2019 and 2020 and graduated in the spring of 2023.
 
Paul Shaffner - linebackers
Shaffner is in his fourth year with the Red Dragons. He coached the defensive line from 2022-24 before moving to linebackers this season. He was the head coach at Buffalo State from 2004-08 and Glenville State in West Virginia from 2000-04 and was defensive coordinator at Colgate University from 2013-21.
 
Bill Spicer  - tight ends/assistant offensive line
Spicer rejoined the Cortland coaching staff in 2022; his previous stint on the staff came as JV head coach in 1994 and assistant coach in 1995. Spicer was an offensive lineman at Cortland in 1992 and 1993 after transferring from Southern Connecticut State. From 1999-2005 he was head coach at Onondaga Central High School, leading the program to three state titles while coaching future collegiate and NFL stars Mike Hart and Latavius Murray.
 
* Cortland has won its last nine season openers, eight against teams from outside of New York. Last season the Red Dragons set a school single-game scoring record in a 76-0 win at Hilbert, which was an Empire 8 member but is now in the Liberty League (Alfred State joins the Empire 8 this fall). Cortland's previous season openers since 2015 include wins versus Heidelberg in 2015 and 2016, Augustana (Ill.) in 2017, Fitchburg State in 2018 and 2019, Wittenberg in 2021 and 2022, and Delaware Valley in 2023. Cortland's last opening-day loss was a 51-48 overtime setback at Buffalo State in 2014.
 
* Cortland graduated three quarterbacks from last year's team, which interestingly makes wide receiver Sam Cotton the team's leading returning passer. Cotton completed his only pass attempt - a wide receiver option pass for a 42-yard touchdowns at home versus Ithaca.
 
* 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 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 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, Morrisville and new addition Alfred State 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 was an Empire 8 member in 2024 but moved to the Liberty League in 2025.
 
SCHEDULES/RESULTS:

CORTLAND (0-0)

Sept. 6           GROVE CITY (PA)................................ 12:00
Sept. 13          UNION.................................................. 12:00
Sept. 20         * at Hartwick........................................... 3:00
Sept. 27         * at Morrisville........................................ 12:00
Oct. 4             * UTICA.................................................. 1:00
Oct. 18           * ALFRED UNIV. .................................... 1:00
Oct. 25           * at St. John Fisher................................. 1:00
Nov. 1             * at Alfred State...................................... 1:00
Nov. 8            * BROCKPORT....................................... 12:00
Nov. 15           at Ithaca................................................. 12:00

* Empire 8 game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS
 
GROVE CITY (0-0)

Sept. 6           at Cortland........................................... 12:00
Sept. 13          MOUNT UNION (OH)......................... 1:00
Sept. 27         * WASH. & JEFFERSON (PA).............. 7:00
Oct. 4             * at Geneva (PA)................................... 7:30
Oct. 11             * WAYNESBURG (PA)........................ 2:00
Oct. 18           * at Allegheny (PA)................................ 4:00
Oct. 25           * WESTMINSTER (PA)......................... 1:00
Nov. 1             * SAINT VINCENT (PA)........................ 1:00
Nov. 8            * at Case Western Reserve (OH).......... 1:00
Nov. 15           * at Hiram (OH)...................................... 1:00

* Presidents' Athletic Conference game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS
 
CORTLAND vs. GROVE CITY – SERIES HISTORY
(Cortland leads 1-0)

Year   Winner............... Score          Site
2023   Cortland............. 25-24           Cortland (NCAA Second Round)


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