UTICA, NY – The Utica College football team lost to visiting Buffalo State 28-16 in Empire 8 Conference football action on the turf at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium Saturday.  Utica trailed by just two points, 15-13, with 1:41 to go in the third quarter, but the visiting Bengals outscored UC 13-3 down the stretch to earn the conference victory. 

Utica (4-4, 3-3 Empire 8) has dropped two straight contests headed into its bye week.  Buffalo State improved to 5-2 overall and boasts a 3-2 record in the Empire 8. 

Buffalo State rushed for 199 yards on the ground and posted a 100 yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Dale Stewart towards the end of the third quarter to keep the game out of reach for Utica.

Utica quarterback Teddy VanGalen (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) completed 14 passes for 104 yards and was pressured all day and sacked three times. VanGalen, who left the game with an ankle injury, needs just 35 completions to become the third quarterback in program-history with 200 completions in a single season.

Utica senior wide out Alex DeRusso (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) caught a game-high seven balls for 153 yards.  He now has a team-best 740 yards receiving this season, which ranks sixth all-time in the College's record book. DeRusso also cracked the top ten for career receiving yards at UC as he now has 1,062 for his career.

Buffalo State junior wide out Madisson Wesolowski caught an 11 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Aaron Ertel just 2:05 into the contest to give the Bengals the early 7-0 lead.  The scoring drive was set up by a fumbled punt from the Pioneers on their own nine yard line to give the visitors optimal field position. 

Utica then got on the board when senior Nick Woodman (Utica, NY/Proctor) sacked Ertel in the end zone and forced a fumble, which was recovered in the end zone by Pat Carroll (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool), to help the Pioneers knot the score at 7-7 with 9:18 left in the first quarter.  Woodman now has nine sacks this year, which ranks second on the College's single season list.  Woodman needs three more sacks to tie his own school-record of 12.0 which he set in 2014.

Buffalo State answered with a sack and safety by Khalil Sommerville with 5:26 to go in the first quarter to make it a 9-7 ball game. 

The second quarter was relatively quiet until Tre Jones broke out for a 20 yard touchdown score, capping a ten play 73 yard scoring drive to give Buffalo State a 15-7 advantage headed into the half. Jones finished the day with 17 carries for 111 yards and one touchdown.

UC's Thomas Woodburn (West Islip, NY/West Islip) kicked his first of three field goals on the day to pull UC to within five points, 15-10, with 7:22 to go in the third quarter of play.

Woodburn's three field goals were from 24 yards, 19 yards and 24 yards and he still remains the nation's top kicker with 19 field goals this season. His 77 points this season rank second on the College's single season list.

Woodburn, who is the College's career scoring leader, pulled Utica to within two points after his 19 yarder with 1:41 to go in the third, but the Bengals responded with a 100 yard kickoff return for a score on the ensuing possession to steal a 22-13 lead right back from the Pioneers.

Woodburn capped the Utica scoring with a 24 yard field goal at the 11:02 marker of the fourth quarter to make the score, 22-16, but that was as close as UC would get. 

Stewart wrapped up the scoring on the day with a one yard touchdown run with 8:43 to go.  Stewart had a nice evening, as he posted 104 rushing yards on 18 carries.

Jerred Beniquez (Port Ewen, NY/Kingston) caught six balls for 32 yards for Utica.  He now has 55 catches this season which is tied for sixth on the College's single-season list.  

As usual, Utica's Juwan Wilson (South Ozone Park, NY/Holy Cross) led the Pioneers with 11 tackles on the day.  Wilson has 91 tackles this season which ranks 10^th all-time at Utica.  His 211 career tackles are sixth on the College's career list.

Mike Sullivan (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) chipped in with seven tackles for the UC defense and Chance Harris (West Henrietta, NY/Rush Henrietta) broke up three passes. Derrick Sekuterski (Depew, NY/Depew) added two sacks for the Pioneer defense.

Buffalo State's Shaq Frederick led the Bengal defense with 18 tackles and one sack.  Rey Jordan picked off two passes on the day for the visitors.

The Pioneers return to action on the road on Nov. 7th when they travel to Alfred University for an Empire 8 Conference contest at 1 p.m.