BROCKPORT, N.Y. – Jaden Alfanostjohn (Westhampton/Westhampton Beach) ran for 119 yards and three scores and Joshua Cordero (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) and Rashad Tucker (Freeport) registered a touchdown each on defense and special teams, respectively, as the Red Dragons defeated host Brockport, 42-24, in an Empire 8 contest.
Cortland, ranked 10th nationally by the AFCA and 13th by D3football.com, improved to 5-0 overall and 2-0 in league play. The Red Dragons have won 15 straight regular-season games dating back to the start of last season. Brockport fell to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in Empire 8 play.
Cortland struck quickly, scoring on the game's second play from scrimmage. Will Ruckert (Lindenhurst) deflected a pass as he rushed the quarterback and, after one Red Dragon player briefly got his hands on the ball, Cordero completed the interception and ran in 35 yards for the score. Cordero, who entered the game as the Division III national leader in interceptions per game, has now picked off six passes this fall, returning three for touchdowns.
Brockport's next drive resulted in an interception by Anthony Dennison (South Huntington/Walt Whitman), but the Golden Eagles turned their third possession into a 12-play, 65-yard drive that culminated in an 11-yard TD pass from Todd Simonds to James Altenburg to tie the game early in the second quarter. Tucker returned the ensuing kickoff 48 yards to the Brockport 39-yard line, and seven plays later Alfanostjohn ran for a 1-yard TD on 4th-and-goal to give Cortland a 14-7 lead.
The Golden Eagles mounted a 66-yard drive that stalled at the Cortland 9-yard line, leading to Noah Panepinto's 26-yard field goal. Tucker then returned the next kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown to put Cortland up 21-10. It initially appeared that the return would be negated by a Cortland blocking penalty, but the officials discussed the situation and picked up the flag.
Cortland started its next drive on its own 24-yard line. A 34-yard pass from Zac Boyes (Buffalo/Kenmore West) to CJ Messina (Sayville) on 3rd-and-7 advanced the ball to the Brockport 39-yard line, and Alfanostjohn broke free for a 21-yard rush on the next play. Boyes then ran for eight yards and Alfanostjohn for three, and Boyes completed the drive with a 7-yard TD run with 1:51 left in the half. Cortland led, 28-10, at halftime despite possessing the ball for only 9:22 of the first 30 minutes.
Brockport held Cortland on its first drive of the third quarter and the Golden Eagles mounted a 60-yard scoring drive, capped by a Rashad Law 10-yard run, to close within 28-17. The Red Dragons, however, answered with a 97-yard touchdown drive on its next series. The big play of the drive was a 56-yard connection from Boyes to Cole Burgess (Greenwich) to the Brockport 23-yard line, and Alfanostjohn eventually plunged in from a yard out to give Cortland a 35-17 lead.
The hosts got back within 11 points on a Law 1-yard TD run with 14:57 left in the fourth to close out a 10-play, 75-yard drive. After the teams traded possessions, Cortland started on its own 34-yard line with 9:14 left and methodically marched 66 yards on 13 plays while chewing up 8:23 of game time. Alfanostjohn ran for 54 yards on 10 carries during that stretch, including a 10-yard run to paydirt with 56 seconds left. Cortland possessed the ball for 11:41 in the final quarter to close the Brockport time of possession lead to 32:24-27:36.
Boyes was 11-of-15 passing for 170 yards and ran for 30 yards and a score. Alfanostjohn averaged 4.6 yards per carry on his 26 attempts, while Burgess and Messina each caught four passes. Ty Kolar (Sayville) led the Red Dragons with 10 tackles, eight solo, followed by Zack Thuesen (New Fairfield, CT) and Craig Ackerman (Seaford) with eight stops each.
Law led Brockport's offense with 147 rushing yards and two scores on 25 carries. Two Golden Eagle quarterbacks – Simonds and Chris McGuire - completed only a combined 4-of-8 passes for 79 yards. Ben Robinson and Ben Damiani each registered seven tackles.
Cortland hosts Hartwick next Saturday at 1 p.m. in league play.
Cortland Stays Perfect with 42-24 Win at Brockport
/seasons/2022/boxscores/20221008_093r.xml
2022
Cortland
42
Brockport
24
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 17 Cortland (5-0) | 7 | 21 | 7 | 7 | 42 |
| Brockport (3-2) | 0 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 24 |
Oct 08, 2022