In NJAC matchup, it's science
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Cortland is the unstoppable force, scoring 36 points per game, including 51 against Morrisville and 32 against Kean. They are 26th in the country in points per game and 49th in total offense at almost 400 yards of total offense after four games.
Montclair State is the immovable object, giving up a mere 40 points in its four games, including six to Wilkes and 14 to Brockport.
“It has the makings of a super football game,” said Cortland head coach Dan MacNeill. “We respect where they are and what they’ve done and vice versa.”
Both teams come in on modest winning streaks, with Cortland having won five and Montclair seven dating back to last year.
Montclair State head coach Rick Giancola agreed with MacNeill that the game will be exciting.
“Two good clubs will be going at it,” Giancola said. “It’s a little tougher for us being the visitor, it’s a hostile environment. We’ll have to do what we need to do to come away with a victory.”
To get the offense started, MacNeill will turn to his brother connection, the Giuliano brothers.
Running back Andrew is fourth in the country in rushing yards per game with 162.5 per contest, and wide receiver and special teamer Anthony has been all over the field, making catches and game-changing special teams plays.
“Andrew’s having the year we needed out of him,” MacNeill said. “He has a terrific group of blockers in front of him and it allows us to be a staunch running team. We need to run the ball and stop the run on the other side to be successful.”
Giancola acknowledged the accomplishments of the brother duo, but said that is only one part of the game plan.
“We have to stop the run first,” Giancola said. “We try to hold the line of scrimmage and protect against the pass. If we control the line, get them in second and long, third and long, you have an idea what they might be doing.”
“If they control the line, get into second and medium or second and short, that’s a problem,” he said.
One player who will be trying to control the line and stop the Red Dragons running attack will be D3football.com preseason All-American linebacker Cornell Hunt. MacNeill said that they’ll have to know where Hunt is at all times.
“We’re not looking to go right at him,” said MacNeill. “We’ll try to isolate attacks on the angle. He’s a pretty imposing guy.”
Giancola said that Hunt is the type of player who make others around him better.
“Cornell is a very active player with good instinct. He’s always in a good position to make a play, run or pass,” Giancola said. “He brings everybody up a notch.”
But MacNeill is also concern with the rest of the Montclair defense, ranked No. 9 in the nation in total defense and first in total defense and scoring defense in the NJAC.
“We need to find a way to score. Ultimately, that’s what it’s about,” he said. “There’s not a lot of weaknesses out there. They have big size up front and good linebackers ... That’s why they have those stats defensively.”
Montclair State has had to be in another world defensively, because offensively they’ve struggled. At 13 points per game, they are ranked 207th in the country (out of 237 teams) in scoring offense.
“All of these games have come down to the last few minutes. We need to score more this weekend to have a chance to win,” Giancola said. “If the field were 80 yards long, we’d be in pretty good shape. We’ve been very successful from 20 to 20, but not many touchdowns. It’s definitely a concern.”
But at the end of the day, it’s still the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.
“We just need to line up and button it up,” MacNeill said. “We’re both physical football teams. We’ll be in a war.”
Surprise! The Empire 8's a mess again
The Empire 8's Hartwick Hawks managed to play the spoiler role again in the conference, beating St. John Fisher for the second straight season. This time, the Hartwick defense was up to the challenge, only allowing the Cardinals 28 points after giving up 69 to Ithaca two weeks previously.
After St. John Fisher was able to tie the game at 28, Hartwick kicker Ryan Boyea kicked the game-winning 32-yard field goal with 1:04 left.
The Cardinals still had a good chance to come back after the field goal. A good kick return advanced the ball to the Hartwick 45 with just under a minute left. St. John Fisher’s Tim Marion caught a 33-yard pass on third down to keep the Cardinals hopes alive with a first and ten at the Hartwick 17, but on the next play, quarterback Tim Bailey ran the ball for seven yards, but fumbled, and the ball was recovered by Hartwick’s James Walsh to finish it off.
Bailey threw for a career-high 342 yards in the loss, and Marion set a career high with 129 yards receiving, but two missed field goals and two fumbles deep in Hartwick territory were too much to overcome for the Cardinals.
For St. John Fisher, the loss was the first at home in more than two years, and it snapped a 11-game home winning streak.
WPI winning ways
WPI scored its first win against Union since 1999 on Saturday, beating the Dutchmen 19-16 at Homecoming. Justin Wells threw a two-yard touchdown pass to Will Ziegenfus with six minutes left for the winning score.
Wells threw for 196 yards and two touchdowns on the day and also carried 15 times for 126 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown scamper. The performance earned him Liberty League Offensive Player of the Week honors.
WPI is 4-1 overall, and 1-1 in conference. Last year, the Engineers didn’t win a single game in the Liberty League.
Union’s Chris Coney continued his good season statistically, despite the “U’s” struggles. He carried the ball 32 times for 127 yards in the losing effort.
A Crusade
Susquehanna snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against the Merchant Marine Academy on Saturday.
USMMA took a 28-7 lead, then extended it to 35-21 after a 65-yard pass play from quarterback Derrick Ventre to receiver Chris Rye with 7:21 left in the contest.
The Crusaders came back immediately with a 10-play, 60-yard drive, culminating in a 16-yard touchdown pass from Derek Pope to Keith Howell to cut the lead to 35-28 with 4:50 left. On the ensuing possession, the Crusaders recovered a fumble to put them in position to get a win. After trading punts, the Crusaders started a nine-play, 73 yard drive that resulted in a three-yard touchdown pass from Pope to Justin Young. The touchdown pulled Susquehanna into a 35-34 game with the extra point pending. Bobby Eppelman went for the point after, but USMMA freshman Jake Harrison blocked it, keeping the score 35-34 with 23 seconds left.
As the Mariners awaited a onside kick, the right-footed Eppelman pooched it with his left, putting it just out of reach from the Mariners hands team. A scramble ensued and Susquehanna recovered the football after a race for it, putting the ball at the Mariner 10 with 22 seconds left. After a play towards the end zone, Pope spiked the ball with 1 second left. Eppelman lined up for a 19-yard field goal, and this time, the kick was true, giving the Crusaders an improbable 37-35 victory.
Eppleman earned Liberty League special teams player of the week honors after his performance against the Mariners and head coach Steve Briggs won his 100th game at Susquehanna in the victory.
Pope had career highs in passes and yards with 28 and 349, respectively. Junior running back Dave Paveletz carried 29 times for 122 times and two touchdowns.
Above the three-way tie
Who leads the Empire 8? It’s not Hartwick or Ithaca or St. John Fisher. It’s Alfred, at 2-0 in conference after a 42-0 win on Homecoming over Norwich. The Saxons held the Cadets to 157 yards of total offense, including only 40 yards on the ground.
Senior tight end Rahsaan Parks made his first catch and touchdown on the same play in the blowout.
Who’s second in the Empire 8? Not one of those three. It’s Utica, at 1-0, winning their first conference game of the year on the road against Springfield. Not much offense by either team, but three field goals by the Pioneers’ Casey McNulty helped lift UC to the victory.
The Pioneer defense bent, but never broke, allowing a couple of long drives that turned into no points for the Pride. Utica plays Mount Ida in a non-league matchup next Saturday.
Great performances
Cortland’s Andrew Giuliano continues to have a really good season, keeping it up against NJAC foe Buffalo State on Saturday. Giuliano ran for 153 yards and two touchdowns in the Red Dragons’ 35-14 win over the Bengals.. Cortland is now 4-0 overall and in conference, leading to a No. 15 D3football.com ranking.
Also in this game, Buffalo State’s Greg Meyer caught 10 passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns.
RPI’s Patrick McCarthy caught nine passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns in the Engineers 27-17 win over Rochester. RPI is now 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Liberty League, tied with Hobart.
Rowan quarterback Frank Wilczynski was all over the place on Saturday against Brockport State. The junior completed 22 of 35 passes for 296 yards and four touchdowns and ran 18 times for 133 yards in the Profs’ 37-20 conference win.
Record-breakers, milestones
Albright freshman Josan Holmes ran for a career best 113 yards against FDU-Florham in a 24-17 win.
Kean’s Jared Chunn had a record day in the Cougars’ 35-24 win over The College of New Jersey on Saturday. Chunn ran the ball 27 times for 201 yards and two touchdown. The 201 was 10th in program history for most rushing yards in a game, and his seven touchdowns so far this season is already seventh-highest in program history. Chunn is seventh in the country in rushing yards per game with 156. This win, combined with a 37-27 win last year for Kean, marks the first winning streak against TCNJ in the Cougars’ history.
Hobart freshman Conor Callahan kicked his first field goal of his career, a 27-yarder.
Hobart cornerback Drake Woodard earned Liberty League rookie of the week honors after making two interceptions against St. Lawrence. The interceptions were the fourth and fifth of the season for Woodard. The five interceptions lead the league and he ranks No. 1 in the country in interceptions per game (1.25) and tied for second with the five picks.
Other minutiae
Cortland senior offensive tackle Justin Depew scored his first touchdown ever against Buffalo State. Running back Andrew Giuliano ran for 10 yards but fumbled on the goal line. Depew swooped in to save the day, scoring his first career touchdown in the process.
After winning two games in a row against top 10 competition in Wesley and Salisbury, Delaware Valley’s game this Saturday against King’s was the classic “trap game.” But Delaware Valley, and coach Jim Clements wouldn’t let that happen, beating King’s 34-19 for their third win in a row. Quarterback Mike Isgro threw four touchdown passes for the second game in a row, tying the career-high he set last week, completing 12 passes for 139 yards.
Albright sophomore William Alston did something few players have done: He ran back a punt and a kickoff for a touchdown in the Lions’ 24-17 win over FDU-Florham. After a field goal by FDU kicker Michael Barnard, Alston returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a score. In the fourth quarter, with his team holding a slim 10-9 lead, Alston returned a punt 52 yards to give his team a 8-point lead, one they would hang onto. Apparently, Alston did his best Reggie Bush impression a day before Bush did. (Bush returned two punts for touchdowns in the Monday Night Football game against the Vikings.)
TCNJ kicker Mark Zucconi kicked a 47-yard field goal in the second quarter against Kean. That’s a long field goal for any division, but especially in Division III.
Lycoming did something no MAC team could do a year ago, and that was beating Widener. Lycoming held a 21-7 lead late in the game, Widener scored 10 unanswered, but could get no closer as Lycoming held on for the 21-17 win. The loss was Widener’s first in conference play since Delaware Valley beat them on Nov. 11, 2006. With the win, Lycoming joins Albright, Lebanon Valley and Delaware all at 3-1 overall and 1-0 in MAC play.
Top 10
1. Cortland State
2. Delaware Valley
3. RPI
4. Hartwick
5. Hobart
6. St. John Fisher
7. Ithaca
8. Albright
9. Alfred
10. Montclair State
This is a tough top 10 this week. Rowan, along with four or five others, are worthy of being in here this week.
Questions, comments
Any ideas are greatly appreciated. Send me an e-mail at adam.samrov@d3football.com or send me a message on D3boards.com.