Brockport's Streak of Ranked Opponents Heads to Buffalo

By Mike Warwick, Ithaca SID (updated Sept. 30)

Four Upstate NY games are scheduled for this weekend, with two Upstate schools facing New England teams and two others traveling to Pennsylvania.

The weekend is highlighted by No. 9 Buffalo State hosting Brockport. The Bengals are coming off a last-minute 20-17 win at Cortland. The win snapped a two-year losing streak to the Red Dragons.

Derek Baker scored all three Buffalo State touchdowns, including the game-winner on a 13-yard pass from Chris Henry with 34 seconds left. Baker set a school record with 257 receiving yards and was named ECAC Upstate NY Offensive Player of the Week. Henry now owns the three top single-game passing efforts by a Bengal quarterback -- each in his last three starts. The Bengals forced turnovers on the last four Cortland possessions.

Brockport opened up its four-week gauntlet of nationally ranked opponents with a 30-15 loss to visiting No. 18 Montclair State. The Golden Eagles gained just 121 yards of total offense (giving them 234 in two games) and saw their starting quarterback and backup knocked out of the game with injuries.

The Red Hawks collected five sacks on the day. Senior linebacker Brett Waterman, who had a hand in two Brockport scores against New Jersey City, is another possibility at quarterback -- he played in nine games at quarterback as a freshman and sophomore before being moved to defense.

The Golden Eagles have lost four straight to the Bengals; last year’s game featured a game-winning touchdown catch by Shawn Starks with 34 seconds left.

Saturday’s Rochester-RPI game features two teams with a combined 5-1 record. Rochester (2-1) has won two straight for the first time in four years. The Yellowjackets ran up 312 yards of total offense in a 28-17 win against St. Lawrence last weekend.

Junior quarterback Jeff Piscitelli led the way with three rushing touchdowns and a scoring pass. Piscitelli, who was named offensive player of the week by the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association, has been responsible for 13 of Rochester’s last 17 touchdowns (eight rushing, five passing), dating back to the 1998 season. Sophomore tailback Chris Buttaccio ran for a career-best 137 yards last week after missing the Case Western game with an injury.

The Engineers rallied from a 21-7 halftime deficit to top Worcester Polytechnic Institute 42-27 last Saturday. Matt Robbins threw for 205 yards on just eight completions and Scott Allard ran for 142 yards.

Hobart looks to bounce back from last weekend’s loss to Union when the Statesmen visit St. Lawrence. The other Upstate NY game features Alfred paying a night game at St. John Fisher. The Saxons suffered their first loss of the season last Saturday, losing 31-7 to No. 19 Carnegie Mellon.

No. 13 Ithaca looks to improve to 3-0 with a game at Springfield. The Pride won its first nine games en route to the NCAA playoffs last fall, but has dropped four of five since then. That streak includes a loss to Coast Guard last week that snapped the Bears’ 10-game losing streak and gave new head coach Bill George (a 1980 Ithaca graduate) his first career win.

Springfield faces another Ithaca graduate this week -- Bomber coach Mike Welch, who has seen his team allow just 328 yards of total offense and no points in the second halves of Ithaca’s three games. Last week’s defensive effort was led by junior middle linebacker Julian Forbes, who matched a career high with 15 tackles. He was named ECAC Upstate NY Defensive Player of the Week.

The Hamilton Continentals take on a New England opponent of their own on Saturday, hosting Wesleyan.

Cortland looks to bounce back from its Buffalo State loss with a trip to No. 24 ranked Washington & Jefferson. The Red Dragons have not faced W&J since a four-year series between 1992 and 1995. Cortland’s only win in that span was in 1994 -- against a Washington & Jefferson team that went on to the Stagg Bowl. Junior tailback Sean Chavious represented Cortland on the ECAC Upstate NY Honor Roll after rushing for a career-high 128 yards against Buffalo State.

Union also travels to Pennsylvania on Saturday, traveling to Lancaster to face winless Franklin & Marshall.

Mike can be reached at mwarwick@ithaca.edu.

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