Oct 13, 2018
CORTLAND, N.Y. - Brett Segala (Webster/Webster Schroeder) passed for 330 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a score, and Johnnie Akins (Roosevelt) rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown as Cortland defeated visiting Buffalo State, 41-7, in an Empire 8 matchup.
Cortland won its third straight game to improve to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in league play. Buffalo State dropped to 1-5 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
Buffalo State possessed the ball for 39 minutes and 35 seconds compared to Cortland's 20:25, but five of the Red Dragons' six touchdowns drive consumed 2:10 or less. Cortland finished with 514 yards of total offense and 8.4 yards per play, while the Bengals gained 307 yards and averaged 3.6 yards per snap.
Segala finished 16-of-28 through the air to average more than 20 yards per completion. Akins averaged nearly seven yards per carry with his 104 yards on just 15 rushes. Alex Wasserman (Closter, NJ/Northern Valley Demarest) caught six passes for a career-high 134 yards with one touchdown and Jake Smith (Albany/Guilderland) extended his streak of games with a TD reception to seven, including all six this fall, with a score on his lone reception of the game.
Cortland also recorded a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns on a 12-yard run by Roy Harvey (Jamaica, NY/Campus Magnet) for his first collegiate score and a 25-yard TD pass from Tommy Heuer (Oceanside) to Chris Monteiro (Farmingville/Sachem East).
Denarii Beard (Willingboro, NJ/William Penn Charter (PA)) led Cortland with a career-high 11 tackles. Brandon Lewis (Monroe/Monroe-Woodbury) and Gregory Alfieri (Hawthorne/Westlake) each matched his career high in tackles - Lewis with 10, nine solo, and Alfieri with nine, including three for losses. Dan Appley (Herkimer) also finished with nine tackles with 1.5 sacks, and D'monte Woody (Freeport) registered an interception, three pass breakups and five tackles.
Buffalo State quarterback Kevin Torrillo finished 22-of-39 passing for 190 yards and a touchdown. Jordan Evert caught eight passes for 68 yards and a score, Jamar Rutledge finished with seven receptions for 63 yards, and Martin Bailey ran 29 times for 80 yards. Elloheim Tucker paced the Bengals with eight tackles and a pass breakup, Gino Bonagura added seven tackles, and Jayson Taylor intercepted a pass.
Cortland took a 7-0 lead on a Wasserman 38-yard TD catch in the first quarter, and Segala's 1-yard TD run in the second gave the Red Dragons a 14-0 halftime lead. Buffalo State drove into Cortland territory on each of its first five possessions but was turned away with no points - three times on downs, once on a punt, and once when Smith blocked a 26-yard field goal attempt on the Bengals' second possession. Buffalo State was actually as close as the 2-yard line during that drive, but Alfieri recorded a tackle for a 7-yard loss on second down and a third-down pass fell incomplete.
On Cortland's second possession of the second half, Akins broke free for a 25-yard run, and Buffalo State was flagged for 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct after the run. Segala then hit Harvey for a 7-yard completion and found Smith on a 24-yard post pattern for a TD. The PAT attempt hit the upright and Cortland led 20-0.
Cortland's next drive started with a 31-yard completion from Segala to Nick Anderson (Saratoga Springs) to the Buffalo St. 20-yard line. Akins did the rest of the work with five straight runs, the last a 1-yard dive over the line on 3rd-and-goal to put the Red Dragons ahead 27-0.
Harvey's TD run made it 34-0 with 14:09 left in the game. Buffalo State broke up Cortland's shutout bid with a 13-play, 65-yard scoring drive that lasted nearly seven minutes. The Bengals converted on 4th-and-2 at the Cortland 42-yard line, and eventually closed the possession with Torrilo's 7-yard TD pass to Evert with 7:05 left. Monteiro's TD catch that finished the scoring came on a 4th-and-12 play from the Bengals' 25-yard line.
Cortland entered the game ranked eighth nationally in scoring offense at 47.4 points per game and eighth in passing offense at 341.6 yards per contest. The Red Dragons finished the game with 41 points and 355 passing yards.
Cortland travels to Hartwick next Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest.