UTICA, NY – The Utica College football team never trailed and pulled away scoring 21 unanswered points in the second half en route to a convincing 34-12 victory over visiting Buffalo State in Empire 8 Conference play on homecoming at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium Saturday afternoon. 

The Pioneers were dominant on the ground once again, totaling 213 yards rushing as they improved to 3-0 at home on the season and 3-4 overall after Saturday's win.  Utica's record also improved to 2-3 in Empire 8 Conference play while Buffalo State's record moved to 4-3 overall and 1-3 in conference action.

Utica returns home next Saturday when it hosts the inaugural New York State Tool Believe Bowl against Ithaca College at 1 p.m. The Pioneers will be honoring firefighters who are battling cancer as well as students from the Thea Bowman House. All firefighters enter as a guest and can meet in the hospitality tent in the end zone. Interested fans can order New York State Tool Believe Bowl t-shirts here: https://fs30.formsite.com/master…/BELIEVEBOWL2017/index.html. Shirts can be picked up at the white tent in the end zone on game day.  

The Utica defense was truly dominant in the fourth quarter, allowing just 37 total yards of offense (two rushing yards) and two first downs while forcing three punts.
Utica's Nicodemus Gambill (Rochester, NY/East High) got the homecoming crowd on its feet with a 73 yard touchdown run on the second play from scrimmage to give the Pioneers a 7-0 lead just 49 seconds into the contest. 

UC relinquished a touchdown (blocked the extra point) on its next possession, but sophomore Dan Kehrer (Albany, NY/Colonie) pushed the Utica lead back to seven points when he returned a punt 74 yards to the house, marking his first collegiate score, to give the Pioneers a 13-6 lead with 3:13 left in the first quarter.

Buffalo State made it a one point game just 1:11 into the second half of play when Stephen Johnson caught a 75 yard TD pass from Kyle Hoppy to make the score 13-12. 

However, after the Bengal touchdown the Pioneers began to pull away.  Malcolm Stowe (Coram, NY/Longwood) punched in a nine yard score with 7:59 left in the third to give UC a 20-13 lead.  Tyree Powell-Townsend (Freeport, NY/Freeport) then added his first career touchdown catch, a six yard pass from sophomore quarterback Vinny Aloi (Chester, NY/Chester Academy) to give Utica a 27-12 lead with 58 seconds to go in the third.

Aloi then put the game away with a 44 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring at 34-12. Aloi finished the day with nine completions for 117 yards (zero interceptions). He added 75 yards rushing on 11 carries for the Pioneers. Malcolm Stowe (Coram, NY/Longwood) had a team-high 16 carries for 52 yards and one touchdown on the ground while catching two passes for 35 yards.

Utica tight end Alex Damiani (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) caught three balls for 33 yards, while Donovan Brunson (White Plains, NY/White Plains) added two catches for 22 yards.

Senior linebacker Derrick Sekuterski (Depew, NY/Depew) led the way once again for the Pioneer defense with eight tackles and a half sack.  Defensive lineman Keanu Heedram (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) had his second straight impressive game as he posted seven tackles and 1.5 sacks. Matt Stone (Rochester, NY/Brighton) made six tackles and broke up one pass while Robbie Schempp (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) added four tackles and one sack.

Utica punter Brandon Few (Lockport, NY/Lockport) had an outstanding afternoon for the Pioneers as he totaled six punts for 374 yards (45.7 yard average). He posted a career-long 61 yard punt and a career-high four punts inside the 20 to help pin the Bengals back.

Buffalo State quarterback Kyle Hoppy completed 13 passes for 273 yards and one TD, while senior running back Antoine Holloman led the Bengal rushing attack with 13 carries for 43 yards and a score.  Bart Mazzara led Buffalo State with eight tackles on the defensive end.