UTICA, NY – The Utica College football team hits the road for the second away game in as many weeks against Empire 8 Conference foe St. John Fisher College on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Time Warner Cable Game: Saturday's game will be televised live across New York State on the Time Warner Cable Sports Channel in Syracuse/Utica (Channel 19 or 323), Albany/Hudson Valley (Channel 50 or 323), Rochester (Channel 98) and Buffalo (Channel 87) ... Saturday's game marks the second time in three weeks that Utica has played on the TWCSC.
Broadcast Info: All Utica College football games will be broadcast on the radio locally at WTLB 99.1 FM/1310 AM (ESPN Radio) by Dave Peroni and UC alum Ray Biggs … Make sure to catch live video, audio and stats courtesy of St. John Fisher College athletics communications:
http://portal.stretchinternet.com/sjfc/.
Receiving Votes: The Pioneers are receiving votes in the latest D3football.com and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) National Polls… The Pioneers are receiving four votes in the D3football.com poll and one vote in the AFCA poll…Prior to this season, the last and only time the Pioneers received votes in a national poll was back in 2012.
Strength of Schedule: Four of the Pioneers' five opponents this season were either ranked or receiving votes in the D3foootball.com national poll when Utica faced them … Both of the Pioneers' losses this season came by just seven points.
Last Weekend: UC defeated conference rival Brockport 22-19 in overtime last Saturday… On a day where the Pioneers defense was gashed for 256 yards and three touchdowns by Dan Andrews, it was the leg of
Thomas Woodburn (West Islip, NY/West Islip) that proved to be the deciding factor… Woodburn kicked two field goals in the second quarter to go into halftime down 7-6…He kicked an extra point and a career-long 44 yard field goal in the third quarter, and a game tying field goal with one second left in the fourth quarter… Woodburn kicked his fifth and final field goal in overtime from 35 yards for the victory.
Where We Stand: Utica currently stands at 4-2 with a 3-1 conference record after beating the Golden Eagles… UC's three other wins have come against Misericordia (42-28) in week one, Morrisville (38-14) in week three, and nationally-ranked Ithaca (30-27) in week five…Last weekend was the first time this season that the Pioneers have won back to back games.
Getting Use to OT: The Pioneers have played in three consecutive overtime games for the first time in program-history … UC lost its first OT game three weeks ago to Cortland, before rattling off two straight OT wins against Ithaca and Brockport … The Pioneers have won the overtime coin flip in all three of their chances this year.
On The Road: UC won its first game on the road last week after dropping the first two road games of the year against Ohio Northern (29-22) and SUNY Cortland (47-40)… Utica hopes to continue the trend as two of its last four games are away from the friendly confines of Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.
Conference Standings: The Pioneers are tied atop of the conference standings with Cortland at 3-1 in Empire 8 play… Alfred and Ithaca are tied for second with a 2-1 conference record… In third place is Buffalo State and St. John Fisher at 2-2…In fourth, fifth, and sixth are Brockport (1-2), Morrisville (1-3), and Hartwick (0-3).
Against St. John Fisher: The Pioneers have never defeated the Cardinals in the 15 year history of the rivalry… In 2013, the last time Utica traveled to Growney Stadium, the Pioneers posted their closest loss to Fisher in program-history, by the score of 28-27.
Family Affair: Utica offensive Coordinator
Jim Kramer is the older brother of St. John Fisher Offensive Coordinator Rob Kramer … Both Kramer's grew up in Oneida, NY, which is about 30 miles west of Utica … Utica's offense has outscored Fisher on average by the score of 32.3-20.0 so far this season … The Utica offense also ranks second in the conference only to Brockport, averaging a total of 438.0 yards per contest.
Offensive Notes Offensive Firepower: Utica College is first in the conference in total yards (2,681) … The Pioneers are third in the conference in total points (194), total passing yards (1,771), and total rushing yards (910)… The team is tied for first in the nation in fumbles lost (0), and 33
rd in the nation in sacks allowed per game (0.83).
Going to the Air: Utica quarterback
Teddy VanGalen (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) is first in the conference and fourth in the nation in passing yards (1,771), and is second in the conference and 15
th in the nation in passing yards per game (295.2) … VanGalen is first in the conference in completions (126), and in attempts (211)… He has a completion percentage of 59.7 and has thrown for 10 touchdowns, compared to only seven interceptions… He now has 11 career touchdown passes, which ranks fourth all-time in the program's 15 year history.
Run For It: Junior
Ryan Burnett (Mount Vernon, NY/Arch Bishop Stepinac), freshman
Malcolm Stowe (Coram, NY/Longwood), and junior
Nicodemus Gambill (Rochester, NY/East High) make up the majority of the Pioneers backfield… Burnett leads the team with 87 rushes for 307 yards…He has 3.5 yards per carry and two touchdowns on the season… Burnett needs 43 yards rushing to move into fifth on the College's all-time rushing list … He also needs two more rushing touchdowns to become just the seventh player in program-history to rush for 10 or more touchdowns in a career … Stowe is second on the team with 77 carries for 280 yards and 3.6 yards per carry… He leads the team with three rushing touchdowns… Gambill has 30 carries for 149 yards, two touchdowns, and an impressive 5.0 yards per carry.
Receiving Threats: Utica College's top two deep threats are
Gregory Palmer (Richland, NY/APW) and
Alex DeRusso (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa)… Palmer leads the team with 593 yards off of 29 receptions and has a team-high four touchdown grabs … DeRusso has 514 yards off of 29 receptions and one touchdown grab… Palmer is ranked 17
th in the nation and third in the conference in receiving yards while DeRusso is ranked 36
th in the nation and fifth in the conference … Against Brockprot last week, Palmer became the ninth player in program-history to catch for over 1,000 yards in a career (he now has 1,039) … Palmer needs one more touchdown catch to become the seventh player in program-history to catch 10 or more touchdowns … Palmer and DeRusso rank second and third all-time at UC with career averages of 17.32 and 16.39 yards per catch, respectively.
Mr. Utility: Junior
Jerred Beniquez (Port Ewen, NY/Kingston) is ranked 48
th in the nation and fourth in the conference in all-purpose yards per game (145.17)… Over six games Beniquez is ranked second in the conference with 871 total all-purpose yards… He ranks eighth all-time at UC with 1,150 career receiving yards … Against Ithaca College he became the eighth receiver in program-history to catch over 100 career passes (he currently has 108) … Last Saturday Beniquez became the third player in program-history to gain over 3,000 all-purpose yards in a career … He currently ranks third all-time at UC with 3,041 career all-purpose yards.
Special Teams Ice in His Veins: Senior kicker
Thomas Woodburn (West Islip, NY/West Islip) broke two school-records against Brockport last weekend… Woodburn broke his own single game scoring record for a kicker with 16 and he also became the program's all-time leading scorer with 206 career points scored … He became the first player to score at least 200 points in a career… For his efforts he was named to the D3football.com National Team of the Week and the Empire 8 Conference Special Teams Player of the Week … He has now been named the E8 Special Teams Player of the Week three times this season … He is ranked first in the conference and first in the nation in field goals per game (2.67)…Woodburn is also ranked second in the conference and sixth in the nation in field goal percentage (.941) … Woodburn has now made 35 career field goals (school-record).
Defensive Notes QB's Nightmare: The Pioneers are first in the conference in sacks with 21.0… The team has eight players with at least one sack…
Nick Woodman (Utica, NY/Proctor) leads the conference and is 11
th in the nation in sacks per game (1.33)…Woodman leads the team and the conference with 8.0 sacks… Woodman is the College's all-time leader with 24.5 career sacks …
Derrick Sekuterski (Depew, NY/Depew) is second on the team with 3.0 sacks while
Frank DeNome (New Windsor, NY/Cornwall) is third on the team with 2.5 sacks…
Mike Kata (West Babylon, NY/West Babylon) and
Jimmy McLaughlin (Schenectady, NY/Guilderland) each have 2.0 sacks and round out the top five UC sack artists.
Racking Up The Tackles: Juwan Wilson (South Ozone Park, NY/Holy Cross) is first in the conference and 16
th in the nation in average total tackles per game (11.8)… Wilson is first on the team and first in the conference with 71 total tackles on the year… He added 14 total tackles against the Golden Eagles last weekend … On Saturday, he cracked the top 10 list for career tackles at Utica … He now has 191 career tackles and needs nine more to become just the sixth player in program-history to secure 200 or more tackles in a career.
Behind Enemy Lines: The Pioneers have 10 players with a tackle for a loss… The team has 37 tackles behind the line of scrimmage on the year…Woodman leads the team with 10.0, followed by Sekuterski who has 6.0…DeNome is third with 4.5 tackles behind the line…
Nicholas Bruzzese (Utica, NY/Proctor) is fourth on the team with 4.0 while Wilson and Kata round out the top six with 3.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
Adding Interceptions: Utica is third in the conference in interceptions (eight) so far this year…The team has three players with two interceptions and two players with one interception… Wilson, Sekuterski, and
Matthew McCoy (Sherrill, NY/Vernon Verona Sherrill) all have two interceptions this season…
Chance Harris (West Henrietta, NY/Rush Henrietta) and
Isaiah Washington (Ozone Park, NY/Fort Hamilton) have each added one pickoff to the team's ledger.
St. John Fisher Profile Scouting The Cardinals: St. John Fisher is 2-3 overall with a 2-2 Empire 8 record… The Cardinals are coming off of a 34-29 victory over conference foe Morrisville State College… Fisher is eighth in the conference in rushing and passing yards … They are ninth in the conference in total yards… The Cardinals are fifth in the conference in rushing yards allowed, seventh in passing yards allowed and seventh in overall defensive yards allowed… Fisher's offense is led by running back Tony Fusco (332 yards, 3.9 yards a carry, and one touchdown), and quarterback Matt Naton (58 completions, 765 yards, and seven touchdowns)… The Cardinals' defense is led by Brandon Miller (47 total tackles, six tackles for a loss, 5.5 sacks, and a blocked kick) and Alec Mortillaro (30 total tackles, and three interceptions).
