CORTLAND, N.Y.— Junior quarterback Steven Ferreira (West Sayville/Sayville) completed 26-of-39 passes for 372 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two scores, including the winning touchdown in the first extra session, as nationally 25th-ranked Cortland remained unbeaten with a 47-40 overtime win over visiting Utica College.
Cortland improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Empire 8, while Utica dropped to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
Ferreira ran in from seven yards out to give Cortland the lead in the opening portion of the first overtime. The Red Dragons then stopped Utica when a 4th-and-goal pass from the 5-yard line was knocked away by freshman defensive back Isaac Hicks (Staten Island/Curtis).
Cortland junior Jon Mannix (East Northport/John Glenn) caught four passes for 109 yards and a score and junior Nick Wagner (Elwood/John H. Glenn) made six catches for 97 yards. Freshman tailback Donny Davis (New City/Nyack) rushed 17 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Ferreira was not intercepted.
Utica quarterback Teddy VanGalen connected on 24-of-40 passes for 351 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions. Malcolm Stowe ran 38 times for 155 yards and two touchdowns and Jerred Beniquez caught 10 passes for 103 yards and a score. Gregory Palmer added seven receptions for 133 yards.
Senior linebacker Matt Ambrose (Wyckoff, NJ/Ramapo) led the Cortland defense with 12 tackles, seven solo, and an interception. Junior safety Carson Lassiter (Madison, NJ) recorded 10 tackles, nine solo, and sophomore cornerback Matt Caputo (Stony Point/North Rockland) made nine tackles, eight solo, and broke up two passes. Junior corner Quin Spencer (Bronx/Archbishop Stepinac) intercepted a pass.
Utica linebacker Mike Sullivan led his team with 14 tackles and linebacker Derrick Sekuterski registered three tackles for losses, including two sacks, among his 10 total tackles. Anthony Bierria-Anderson and Juwan Wilson each tallied 11 tackles and Chance Harris made 10 stops.
Cortland finished with a 525-520 advantage in total offensive yards, with each team exactly at 500 yards heading into overtime. Cortland also totaled 245 yards on eight kickoff returns, including a 73-yard return by Dylan Peebles (Port Leyden/South Lewis) that set up a Cortland second-quarter touchdown drive.
Utica took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a Stowe 1-yard TD run during the game's opening drive and a 6-yard pass from VanGalen to Alex DeRusso midway through the period. The opening score was set up by a Beniquez 67-yard kickoff return to the Cortland 32-yard line. Cortland, however, fought back to take a 24-21 halftime lead on two Davis TD runs, sandwiched around a Shane Cronin (West Nyack/Clarkstown South) 22-yard field goal, and a 52-yard TD pass from Ferreira to Mannix.
Cortland's lead grew to 27-21 on Cronin's 37-yard field goal in the third quarter, but Utica regained the lead at 28-27 on an 11-yard TD pass from VanGalen to Peter Mueller about three minutes later. The Red Dragons answered with a Nate Burgo (Binghamton/Maine-Endwell) 16-yard TD catch with 3:52 left in the third and Cortland led 33-28.
Utica put up the first two scores in the fourth on a Thomas Woodburn 26-yard field goal and a Stowe 4-yard TD run and the Pioneers led 37-33 with 9:09 left in regulation. Cortland answered with an 8-play, 77-yard TD drive capped by a Ferreira 10-yard TD run and the Red Dragons took a 40-37 advantage with 5:56 left. That drive was kept alive by a Burgo 19-yard catch on 3rd-and-17 from the Cortland 16-yard line.
Utica's ensuing drive was highlighted by a 42-yard catch by DeRusso to the Cortland 12-yard line. The Red Dragon defense eventually held, however, as Stowe's 3rd-and-1 rush from the 3-yard line was stopped for a 2-yard loss by Tom Hagan (Hopewell Junction/John Jay-East Fishkill), and Woodburn made a 22-yard field goal with 1:19 left to tie the score at 40-40.
Cortland advanced to the Utica 35-yard line in the closing minute, but eventually settled for a long field goal try. Matt Green's (Lexington, KY/Lafayette) 52-yard attempt had the distance but was wide left with 12 seconds left. Utica chose to take a knee and send the game to overtime.
Three runs by Davis for a combined 18 yards set up Ferreira's TD scramble on 3rd-and-2 from the Utica 7. VanGalen hit Palmer for 12 yards on 4th-and-7 at the Cortland 22 to keep the Pioneers' hopes alive, but the next four plays resulted in a 4-yard run, an incomplete pass, a 1-yard run and the final incompletion.
Cortland will host Hartwick in an Empire 8 game next Saturday at 1 p.m.