Buffalo's Ranking on the Line

By Mike Warwick, Ithaca SID (updated Oct. 7)

Upstate New York’s top-ranked team travels to another Top 10 team in the marquee Division III game of the week as No. 9 Buffalo State visits No. 3 Rowan on Saturday. The game was picked as Division III’s Game of the Year in the preseason by The Sporting News.

This weekend’s games feature four Upstate NY contests, two more New York-New Jersey match-ups and a visit to Connecticut for Hamilton.

The 4-0 Bengals will look for their first win against Rowan; five of the Profs’ wins in the series have come in the NCAA playoffs. Last season Rowan recorded a 28-21 regular-season win at Buffalo then topped the visiting Bengals 19-17 in the NCAA East Region finals en route to the Stagg Bowl. The Bengals are coming off a hard-fought Homecoming win against Brockport, winning 14-12 despite three missed field-goal attempts by the Golden Eagles.

Team of the Week selection Jon Crumley led the Buffalo State defense, recording 20 tackles (including three for loss) along with a sack, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. He had a tackle on a quarter of Brockport’s offensive plays. Wide receiver Derek Baker set two more Bengal records -- career touchdown catches and career receiving leaders.

The Golden Eagles move from playing one undefeated, nationally ranked team in front of a Homecoming crowd to playing undefeated, nationally ranked Ithaca in front of a Homecoming crowd. The last two Brockport-Ithaca games have featured a last-minute, game-winning touchdown pass by the Bombers (1997’s 21-14 win) and a late Bomber defensive stand that kept the Golden Eagles from scoring the go-ahead touchdown (last year’s 31-28 win in which Brockport rallied from two 24-point deficits).

Sophomore Tony Streb, who started the first three games of the season at fullback, is expected to start again at quarterback (Brockport’s starter and back-up were both injured two games ago); he was 11-for-20 passing for 65 yards and ran for 42 more. Brockport scored 48 points in the opener against New Jersey City, but has scored a total of just 40 points in the three games since then.

The Bombers relied on a third-string running back of their own in their win at Springfield. When an injury felled Ryan Carpenter (who was starting in place of the injured Nick Dibble), Giorgio entered the game in the third quarter and finished with 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His second score, a 70-yard run with 4:56 to go, provided the final points in a 45-42 Bomber win that featured a combined total of 1,038 yards of total offense.

When Rochester travels to Hobart for Saturday’s game the winner will move to 2-1 in the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association. The Yellowjackets fell to 2-2 overall with last week’s loss to Rensselaer. Rochester’s defense held the Engineers 12 points under their season average. Leading the way were Team of the Week member Brian Kowalski (22 tackles) and freshman defensive back Chris Hargraves, who made two interceptions -- both on the two-yard line.

Alfred, who hosts Hartwick on Saturday, bounced back from its first loss of the season (at then-ranked Carnegie Mellon) with a 20-14 win at St. John Fisher. The Saxons, who led 20-7 in the fourth quarter, secured the win when cornerback Andy Genung intercepted a Cardinal pass on his own three-yard line with seven second left. Genung ranks among the national leaders this season with six interceptions. Saturday’s other Upstate NY game features St. Lawrence (0-4) at St. John Fisher (0-4).

Two New York teams square of against New Jersey opponents. Cortland hosts New Jersey City and Union hosts College of New Jersey. The Red Dragons are coming off their second straight near-upset of a nationally ranked team; Cortland rallied from a 33-14 deficit at 24th-ranked Washington and Jefferson to close within 33-28 and had the ball at the W&J nine-yard line before an interception ended the comeback bid.

The previous week, Cortland lost 20-17 to 10th-ranked Buffalo St. on a Bengals' TD pass with 34 seconds left. Senior wide receiver Brian Girardi was named to the ECAC Honor Roll after amassing 291 all-purpose yards (158 receiving, 133 in returns) at W&J. Girardi is eight receptions shy of becoming the seventh Cortland receiver to reach 100 career catches.

Mike can be reached at mwarwick@ithaca.edu.

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