Alfred, NY – The Utica College football team trailed for just 9:02 in the entire contest, but host Alfred punched in a two-yard plunge to cap a 15-play, 91 yard game-winning drive with 21 seconds to go, to earn the 20-16 Empire 8 Conference victory on Saturday.  Utica's Thomas Woodburn (West Islip, NY/West Islip) kicked three field goals on the day and now has 22 field goals this season, which is tied for second all-time in the NCAA Division III football single season record book. 

The Pioneers are now 4-5 overall and 3-4 in conference play headed into next weekend's regular season finale at home against visiting Hartwick College (1 p.m.).  Alfred improved to 7-2 overall and 5-2 in the E8. 

Utica led 16-14 after Woodburn connected on a 22 yard field goal with 9:52 to go in the fourth quarter.  The Saxon's took the ensuing possession and ate up 9:23 of the clock before junior quarterback Tyler Johnson punched in his second rushing touchdown of the day to hand the home team the lead, and eventually the four point victory.

The Pioneers took an early 3-0 lead in the contest after Woodburn made a career-long 45 yard field goal just 3:11 into the first quarter.  Woodburn finished with field goals of 45, 26 and 22 and he is now 22-for-26 on field goal attempts for the season. 

The Pioneers then took a 10-0 lead when sophomore Josh Connor (Dix Hills, NY/Half Hollow Hills West), who was filling in for the injured Jerred Beniquez (Port Ewen, NY/Kingston), returned an Alfred punt 48 yards to the house for his first collegiate touchdown with 6:48 to go in the first quarter. Connor performed admirably all day as he posted a team-best seven catches for 70 yards in the slot receiver role.

The Alfred offense finally found a hole in the Pioneers' otherwise staunch defense with 4:31 to go in the first half as Johnson connected with junior Brendan Busch for a 69 yard touchdown completion to make the score 10-7 as the teams entered the halftime intermission.

Utica opened the second half scoring with a 26 yard field goal from Woodburn to increase its lead to 13-7 with 10:18 to go in the third quarter of action.

Alfred then took its first lead of the contest when Johnson capped a six-play 35 yard drive with a four yard touchdown run to give the Saxons a 14-13 advantage with 3:33 to go in the third. 

The Pioneers stole the lead back after Woodburn's third field goal of the day with 9:52 to go in the fourth quarter, but Alfred had the answer on the ensuing possession to earn the four point victory.

UC quarterback Teddy VanGalen (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) finished the day with 18 completions for 166 yards, but the Utica offense could not muster an offensive touchdown for the second consecutive game in the loss.

Utica senior running back Mike Cottle (Windsor, CT/South Windsor) carried the ball 19 times for a career-high 115 yards on the ground, while the wide receiver duo of Alex DeRusso (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) and Greg Palmer totaled four catches each.

Juwan Wilson (South Ozone Park, NY/Holy Cross) led UC with 12 tackles and one sack, while Nick Woodman (Utica, NY/Proctor) and Derrick Sekuterski (Depew, NY/Depew) each added six tackles. Wilson now has 103 tackles this season, as he became just the tenth player in program-history to register over 100 tackles in a single season.  His 103 tackles rank ninth on the College's all-time single season list. His 223 career tackles rank sixth all-time at UC.

Nick Woodman (Utica, NY/Proctor) also added one sack on the day and extended his career sack record at UC to 26.5. He now has 10.0 sacks this season and needs two more to tie his own single-season record of 12.0 which he set in 2014.

Freshman Dehstin Smart (Paterson, NJ/Hackensack) recorded his first career interception for Utica and defensive playmaker Matthew McCoy (Sherrill, NY/Vernon Verona Sherrill) recovered a fumble and added one pass break up.

Alfred quarterback Tyler Johnson completed nine passes for 171 yards while Maleke Fuentes added a team-best eight carries for 59 yards on the ground.

A.J. Licata made a team-best 11 stops and added three pass break ups and one  forced fumble.