Not Separation Saturday? OK, then
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Four top 25 teams face off in what you could call "Separation Saturday" ... wait, what? That name's already been taken? Then let me call it a great weekend of Division III East region football.
No. 11 Ithaca faces off No. 25 St. John Fisher in Rochester while No. 19 Hobart takes on No. 24 RPI in the middle of RPI's campus at '86 Field. Both games look great on paper.
Ithaca has been averaging 40 a game in 3 contests this season, while Fisher beat a resurging U of R Yellowjacket squad 30-10 and plastering the Mount Ida Mustangs 55-0 last week, so both offenses are firing on all eight cylinders. Defensively, Ithaca has only given up 11 a game, while Fisher has outscored its opponents 115-10.
From the other marquee matchup, Hobart has been lucky to skate away with victories the last couple of weeks, beating Dickinson by three in week 1 and NJAC member William Paterson by four in Week 2. RPI has outscored their opponents 61-17, playing a strong Endicott team and holding them to 7 points, and a good Utica team struggling to find their footing right now.
See my predictions at the bottom of the column for these two games.
Predictions, predictions, oh how I love predictions ...
Last week, I said the Brockport-Cortland matchup would be 42-35 or 10-7..... the Red Dragons won 17-10, stopping Brockport on two plays within the 4-yard line. So I'll count that as 1-0 on the season.
Records and milestones
No. 5 Wesley beat Seton Hill 49-13, and Wolverine coach Mike Drass won his 100th game in his 14th season. Drass holds a 100-38-1 record in his tenure at Wesley, and they face independent Huntingdon this Saturday.
Ithaca coach Mike Welch also won his 100th game on Saturday in a rout of Empire 8 foe Hartwick 44-14. In 13 years at his alma mater, Welch has gone 100-35, and they face off against St. John Fisher next week.
Great performances
RPI running back Jay Bernando ran for 135 yards and four touchdowns against the Utica Pioneers. … Union running back Tom Arcidiacono ran for 119 and three touchdowns, beating the Muhlenberg Mules 34-7 as the Dutchmen even their record at 1-1 on the season.
Teams peering over the edge
Alfred improved to 2-0 after a 17-14 win over LL opponent St. Lawrence after blanking formerly No. 25 Thiel 14-0 in Week 2. They run into the buzzsaw that is Springfield this Saturday.
Hey Pride!
Speaking of Springfield, they are also 2-0 after a 27-15 win over Montclair State and a 38-30 win over Union, who was undefeated last season.
Quarterback Chris Sharpe has been the man this season statistically, gaining 375 yards in total offense against Union on the carpet, and then ran for 141 against Montclair State.
Andrew Jackson also had 172 yards and two touchdowns. The Pride are back as a regional power ... bank on it.
Ithaca-Fisher, RPI-Hobart
Lots of banter on the D3football.com message boards has been thrown back and forth
about these two games, but here's my predictions...
Ithaca 35, Fisher 28 in OT
RPI 28, Hobart 17
As a postscript to this column, Alfred's Julio Fuentes suffered a neck injury blocking on a kickoff return against Thiel. At last check, Fuentes, a sophomore, was in a hospital in Rochester, but things were looking up.
According to a news release on the school's Web site, he was in "guarded condition" earlier this week.
Donations for medical expenses only can be sent to Friends of Saxon Athletics, in care of University Relations, Alfred University, Alfred, N.Y. 14802.
Additional information can be obtained by calling the Office of Alumni and Community Relations at (607) 871-2144.