UTICA, NY – The Utica College football team is set to host nationally-ranked No. 17/19 Ithaca College in an Empire 8 Conference showdown on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.  The contest is a part of the College's Homecoming Weekend festivities and it is also the Pioneers 'Coach to Cure MD' game where the coaching staff wears Coach to Cure armbands to raise awareness in the fight against muscular dystrophy.

WAVE TO THE CAMERA'S:  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) … On the call for Time Warner will be Kevin Brown (Play-by-Play) and Dale Drypolcher (Color Analyst) ... The contest will also be replayed on TWCS in all markets Saturday night, Tuesday and Thursday. 

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 … Utica College home games are also broadcast over the air and online by Utica College's student radio station, WPNR 90.7 FM… Make sure to catch live video, audio and stats on Pioneers All-Access: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/.

TICKETS: Tickets are sold at the gate … $4 for adults and $2 for any non-UC students … Utica students, faculty and staff are free with ID. 

COACH TO CURE MD GAME: For the eighth year in a row college's across the nation have joined together to support the Coach to Cure MD program …The rapidly growing effort has raised more than one million dollars to fight Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy… At Saturday's game the Utica College coaching staff will be rolling up their sleeves to show off their "Coach to Cure MD" armbands…College football fans will be asked to donate to research projects supported by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, the largest nonprofit organization in the U.S. focused entirely on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy…Fans can donate to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research by either going online to www.CoachtoCureMD.org or by texting the word CURE to 90999 (a $5 donation will automatically be added to your next phone bill and standard text message rates apply).

POP WARNER DAY: It's also Pop Warner Day at Gaetano Stadium on Saturday … Admission is free for all Pop Warner players, cheerleaders and coaches … Just wear your Pop Warner Jersey, coaching shirt or your 2015 UC Football Summer Camp T-Shirt for free admission. 

LAST WEEKEND: Utica College lost a tight contest, 47-40, in overtime on the road against nationally-ranked Empire 8 newcomer SUNY Cortland… Cortland was ranked No. 25 in the D3football.com national polls when UC came into town … The Pioneers offense put up 520 total yards and five touchdowns (three passing, two rushing) in an effort that came up just short in overtime.

WHERE WE STAND: UC is currently 2-2 overall with a 1-1 conference record after falling to Cortland … Utica has victories over Misericordia (42-28) and Morrisville State (38-14) in weeks one and three, respectively.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Pioneers are 2-0 at home this season, outscoring their opponents by a combined 38 points … UC is currently on a three game home winning streak at Gaetano Stadium that dates back to Oct. 18^th of last season.

CLOSE LOSSES TO GOOD TEAMS: The Pioneers two loses to Ohio Northern and Cortland came by just seven points each … Three of the Pioneers four opponents so far this season have been ranked or received votes in the d3football.com national polls at one point this season.

ALL-TIME AGAINST ITHACA: The Pioneers are 1-13 against the Bombers in the last 14 years … UC last beat Ithaca in 2011 during a game televised on Time Warner Cable Sports at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.  

TV GAMES: Saturday's televised game marks the sixth straight season that the UC football program will be televised on TWCS … The Pioneers are currently 3-2 in televised games at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.

Offensive Notes
HIGH POWERED OFFENSE: The Pioneers offense leads the Empire 8 Conference in total yards, rushing yards, and passing yards … Utica's total offense is ranked 40^th in the nation and sixth in the nation in tackles for a loss allowed … The offense is third in the conference in points per game with an average of 35.5.

FRESHMAN PHENOM: Freshman Malcolm Stowe (Coram, NY/Longwood) rushed for 155 yards and two touchdowns on 38 carries, for an average yard per carry rate of 4.1 against Cortland Saturday … Stowe now has 51 carries on the year for 219 rushing yards and two touchdowns … His 38 carries were the second most rushing attempts in a single game in the program's 15 year history.

MR. ALL-PURPOSE: Junior Jerred Beniquez (Port Ewen, NY/Kingston) is ranked first in the conference and 32^nd nationally in all-purpose yards … Beniquez is first in the conference and 12^th nationally in combined kickoff yards … Beniquez became the eighth player in program-history to catch for over 1,000 yards in his career Saturday … He needs five more catches to become the eighth player in school-history to catch over 100 balls in a career … Beniquez ranks second all-time at UC with 113.4 all-purpose yards per game … He needs 34 all-purpose yards to surpass former All-American Jeremy Meier for fourth on the College's all-time list.

ON THE MARK: Senior Teddy VanGalen (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa), in just his fourth collegiate start, threw for a career-high 351 yards and three touchdowns Saturday… He leads the conference in completions (87), attempts (141), and is tied for first in touchdowns (eight)…VanGalen is first in the conference and fourth in the nation in passing yards so far this year (1,227).

DOUBLE TROUBLE: The Pioneers two main receiving threats are seniors Gregory Palmer (Richland, NY/APW) and Alex DeRusso (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa)… Palmer is first in the conference and fourth in the nation in receiving yards (511) and leads the team with three receiving touchdowns… DeRusso is third in the conference and 39^th in the nation in receiving yards (334) and has caught one touchdown for Utica College so far this season … Palmer needs 43 yards receiving to become the ninth player in program-history to catch for over 1,000 yards in a career … Palmer also ranks fifth on the College's all-time list with 55 career catches and eighth all-time with eight career touchdown catches. 

BURNETT BREAKING RECORDS: Ryan Burnett (Mount Vernon, NY/Arch Bishop Stepinac) needs 97 more yards rushing to move into sixth place on the College's all-time rushing list … He also needs 208 yards rushing to become just the fifth player in program-history to rush for 1,000 or more yards in a career. 

Special Teams
ONE OF THE BEST: Senior Thomas Woodburn (West Islip, NY/West Islip) is second in the nation in field goals per game averaging, 2.5… Woodburn is also first in the conference and 21^st in the nation in field goal percentage (90.9) … He made two field goals and four extra points against SUNY Cortland and now only needs 11 more points to break the school-record for most career points … Woodburn needs three more extra points to become the first player in program-history to make 100 career extra points … He is also one field goal shy of 30 for his career.

Defensive Notes
TACKLING MACHINE: Junior linebacker Juwan Wilson (South Ozone Park, NY/Holy Cross) had 11 total tackles against SUNY Cortland on Saturday…Wilson is first in the conference and 33^rd in the nation in total tackles (45) so far this year …He now has 165 career tackles and needs 25 more to move into tenth place on the College's all-time tackles list.

BEHIND ENEMY LINES: Senior defensive end Nick Woodman (Utica, NY/Proctor) is first in the conference in sacks (5.5) and third in the conference with 7.5 tackles for a loss… Woodman had two sacks and three tackles for a loss against SUNY Cortland… He is the College's all-time sack leader (22.0) and currently ranks third on the College's all-time list with 26.5 tackles for a loss … Sophomore linebacker Derrick Sekuterski (Depew, NY/Depew) is second on the team in sacks (2.0) and in tackles for a loss (3.0).

SULLIVAN COMING ON STRONG: Senior Mike Sullivan (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) has made 35 of his 37 tackles this season in the last three games ... He posted a season-high 14 tackles in the Pioneers loss to Cortland last week … He currently ranks second on the team with 37 tackles.

HARRIS COMING TO PLAY: Chance Harris (West Henrietta, NY/Rush Henrietta) posted a career-high ten tackles last weekend against Cortland … He also has two pass break ups and returns punts for the Pioneers.

Ithaca Profile
Meet Ithaca College: The Bombers are 3-0 overall with a 1-0 conference record … Ithaca is coming off of a 38-18 victory over conference rival Alfred University … The Bombers have moved up in two DIII national polls, moving up to No.17 in the American Football Coaches' Association poll and moving up to No.19 in the D3football.com poll … Ithaca's offense is led by quarterback Wolfgang Shafer who has thrown for 573 yards, five touchdowns and only two interceptions … Running back Triston Brown is averaging 6.1 yards per carry and has rushed for 232 yards and three touchdowns … Wide receiver Josh Oliver has 169 yards and two touchdowns…The Bombers defense is led by Dan Loizos who has 32 total tackles, five tackles for a loss and one sack … Malik Morris has 29 total tackles, one tackle for a loss, and one interception.