UCAA Tilt Takes Center Stage

By Mike Warwick, Ithaca SID (updated Oct. 14)

Three of this weekend’s games feature a pair of Upstate New York opponents. Saturday’s schedule also includes Upstate teams facing opponents from Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey and Vermont.

The week’s top game features a pair of Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association (UCAA) contenders squaring off. Undefeated Rensselaer hosts 4-1 Union in the 96th meeting of New York state’s oldest rivalry. The game will go a long way toward deciding the UCAA title (although the UCAA champion does not earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships). The two teams’ future opponents currently have a .333 winning percentage.

Union might lead the series 72-19-4, but the two schools dispute the series record (at least three games are in question). Since 1950, the two teams have been playing for the Dutchman’s Shoes Trophy. (Both schools agree that Union leads 40-8 since then). Rensselaer has taken three of the four one-point decisions between the two schools, most recently a 14-13 win for the Engineers in 1980. The last win for Rensselaer was a 30-7 victory in Troy in 1997; Union won last year’s game in Schenectady.

The only other unbeaten team in Upstate New York, 5-0 Ithaca, travels to St. Lawrence to face the 0-5 Saints. The game is one of two nationwide to feature an undefeated team and a winless opponent. With a win Ithaca would clinch the program’s 29th consecutive winning season.

The Bombers currently own the nation’s eighth-longest active streak of winning seasons (sixth-best among Division III schools). Bomber kicker Seth Steinberg has successfully converted his last 34 extra-point attempts. That streak is one short of the school record, set by all-American Ed Mahoney (who made a school-record 35 in a row to open the 1992 season).

Steinberg, who missed the 1998 season with injuries from a preseason automobile accident, last missed a kick on Oct. 18, 1997 -- at St. Lawrence. St. Lawrence’s Greg Burton, who was a graduate assistant on Ithaca’s staff in the late ’80s, is one of the former Bomber coaches who’ll face Ithaca as a head coach this year.

Cortland coach Dan McNeil was also a graduate assistant at Ithaca and Jerry Boyes of Buffalo State was named to Ithaca’s Hall of Fame following an all-American career at quarterback and six years as a Bomber assistant coach.

The only other Upstate NY game features 4-1 Buffalo State hosting 1-4 St. John Fisher. The Bengals are coming off their first loss of the season (to No. 3 Rowan) and the Cardinals are coming off their first win (a 52-31 win at St. Lawrence). St. John Fisher’s Alan Harvey-Bowen rushed for a school-record 249 yards as the Cardinals generated a school-record 446 rushing yards as a team in the win against St. Lawrence.

Buffalo State has won seven of eight meetings with St. John Fisher including a 38-17 win in 1998 that featured four Bengal touchdowns of at least 32 yards. Despite being outscored through five games, Buffalo State is 4-1; the last time the Bengals had been outscored through five games was when the 1989 team opened with five consecutive losses.

Brockport (2-3) has lost two consecutive road games to undefeated, nationally ranked teams in front of a Homecoming crowd; that will change this week -- No. 12 Frostburg State (5-0) doesn’t celebrate Homecoming until next week.

The Golden Eagles gave up only 10 points at Ithaca last week, but gained only 96 yards of total offense (including minus-19 yards in the second half, when 17 of 23 offensive plays resulted in no gain or lost yardage). Linebacker David Khuns recorded 20 tackles last week, raising his career total to 217 (eight all-time at Brockport). The Golden Eagles have amassed a total of 562 yards and scored four offensive touchdowns in the last four games combined.

Cortland (2-3) is coming off a record-setting performance in last week’s 73-10 win over New Jersey City. This week the Red Dragons host third-ranked Rowan. Cortland’s 73 points are the most by any Division III school this season and featured a school-record 10 extra points by Nicholas Coursen. Coursen, who was named to D3football.com’s Team of the Week, added a field goal for a total of 13 points. In the team’s last meeting: Rowan scored a touchdown with 2:22 left to break a 34-34 tie and defeat the Red Dragons 41-34 in Glassboro, N.J., last October.

Saturday’s other games include Hamilton (0-3) at Bowdoin (0-3), Hobart (2-2) hosting Franklin & Marshall (0-5), Rochester (2-3) at Washington U. (4-2), Alfred (4-1) hosting I-AA Canisius and Hartwick (3-2) at Norwich (3-3).

Mike can be reached at mwarwick@ithaca.edu.

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