Oct 05, 2019
CORTLAND, N.Y. – Cortland gained 576 yards in total offense, including three touchdown passes of more than 45 yards, as the Red Dragons opened Empire 8 play with a 44-12 win over visiting Utica College.
Brett Segala (Webster/Webster Schroeder) completed 16-of-25 passes for 278 yards and four touchdowns. Two Red Dragon receivers surpassed the 100-yard mark – Cole Burgess (Greenwich) caught eight passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns and Angelo Foster (Newburgh/Newburgh Free Academy) made three catches for 110 yards and two scores. Burgess' TD catches covered 47 and 13 yards and Foster had scoring grabs of 55 and 51 yards.
Cortland (4-0, 1-0 Empire 8) finished with 298 rushing yards on 55 carries, led by Zach Tripodi's (New Fairfield, CT) 24 carries for 125 yards. Tyrell Plaza (Richmond Hill/Bayside) added 16 rushes for 84 yards and a score and Tai-sean Dodd (Riviera Beach, FL/Roy C. Ketcham (NY)) carried six times in the fourth quarter for 61 yards.
Dylan Dubuque (East Greenbush/Columbia) led the Cortland defense with eight tackles and an interception. Ifeanyi Emeh (Brooklyn/Xavier) had seven tackles and Evans Riviere (Woodberry Forest, VA) ended with six tackles, five solo, and two pass breakups.
Utica (2-2, 0-1 Empire 8) finished with 328 passing yards but was held to 47 net rushing yards on 25 attempts. Logan Wilcox completed 15-of-36 passes for 255 yards and Ryan Van Galen came off the bench to connect on 5-of-7 passes for 73 yards on the Pioneers' final drive of the game. Keegan Wright caught six passes for 97 yards. Jamarious Morgan and Brad Dougherty each rushed for 33 yards, with Morgan scoring once. Maki Medici made both of his field goal attempts.
Three Utica players finished with double-figure tackles. Kwasi Addo had 12 tackles, followed by Anthony Beaubrun with 11 and Robert Diaz-Judson with 10.
Utica led 3-0 after the game's opening series with a 13-play, 66-yard scoring drive capped by Medici's 28-yard field goal. Cortland quickly responded with four plays covering 69 yards, the final 55 when Segala found Foster wide open behind the secondary for a touchdown and a 7-3 lead.
Burgess caught a 47-yard TD pass less than four minutes into the second quarter to extend the lead to 14-3. Earlier in that possession Segala was intercepted on a 3rd-and-24 pass from his own 26-yard line, but Utica was flagged for roughing the passer to give Cortland a first down, and the Red Dragons scored four plays later.
Later in the second Utica opened a possession with a 43-yard Wright reception to the Cortland 2-yard line. Wilcox fumbled and lost two yards on first down, and an apparent Morgan TD run on second down was called back due to a hold. The Pioneers missed on two passes into the end zone and had to settle for Medici's 31-yard field goal that cut Cortland's lead to 14-6.
Cortland strung together an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive near the end of the half. Plaza ran for a combined 24 yards over the last four plays, capped by a 1-yard touchdown with 1:23 remaining, and the Red Dragons led 21-6 at halftime.
Cortland basically put the game away with two touchdowns in the first 10 minutes of the third quarter. Segala's 13-yard TD pass to Burgess finished off a 13-play, 75-yard drive to open the half, and on the Red Dragons' next series Foster broke free and turned about a 10-yard reception into a 51-yard touchdown and a 35-6 lead.
Segala scored Cortland's final touchdown on a 4-yard run with 3:25 left in the game. Utica drove eight plays late in the game, capped by Morgan's 1-yard TD run with 1:25 left, to make it 42-12. Foster, however, blocked the extra point and Stone Murray (Latham/Shaker) grabbed the loose ball at about the Cortland 30-yard line and ran 70 yards for a two-point defensive conversion. The play was Cortland's first defensive two-point score since Phil Bossman returned a blocked PAT kick at Brockport in November 2011.
Cortland held a 32:57-27:03 advantage in time of possession and converted 6-of-11 third-down opportunities compared to 3-of-14 success for Utica. The game was somewhat marred by a combined 207 yards of assessed penalties – 14 penalties for 138 yards for Cortland and six penalties for 69 yards for Utica.
Cortland will travel to Morrisville State next Saturday for a 5:30 p.m. league game.