The Utica College football team is set to host Ithaca College in the inaugural New York State Tool Believe Bowl on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.

Believe Bowl: The inaugural New York State Tool Believe Bowl has been created to assist children at the Thea Bowman House as well as Firefighters battling cancer and life-threatening illnesses … New York State Tool's Matt and Lisa Wilsey have selected honorary captains for each team that will attend practice and join the Utica and Ithaca captains at the 50 yard line for the game's opening coin toss … The Thea Bowman House captains include Jordyn Walton from Conkling School and Darkeise Kyles from Columbus School … The honorary captains representing volunteer firefighters battling cancer and life threatening illnesses will be Chief Neil Sutherland, Assistant Chief Wayne Smoulcey and Chief Anthony Pagliaro … All firefighters will receive free admission to Saturday's game and are welcome to join New York State Tool in the hospitality tent in the end zone … Part of the week long festivities will included a Believe Bowl Luncheon on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. in Utica College's Carbone Auditorium where Utica College President Laura Casamento presented the honorary captains with their jersey's … At the conclusion of the Believe Bowl, the Believe Trophy, named in honor of those less fortunate, will be presented, which will later be inscribed with the date of the game, final score of the game, names of the Honorary Coaches.

Follow the Game Live: All Utica College football home games will be broadcast on the radio locally by Utica College's student radio station, WPNR 90.7 FM… Fans can also follow live video and stats provided by Pioneers All-Access: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/.

Team Information

Post Season Bowl Game Push: Utica College football is currently 3-4 overall and ride's a three game home winning streak into Saturday's contest against Ithaca … Utica will look to close out its season with three consecutive victories to position itself for a possible New York State or ECAC Bowl bid … Utica has a new postseason opportunity to play for in the 2017 season as the Empire 8 has partnered with the Liberty League to create the New York State Bowl Game which will match the top team from each conference not selected for the NCAA playoff … Utica is currently 2-3 overall in Empire 8 Conference play

Home Sweet Home: Utica is at home for three of its final four games of the regular season … The Pioneers are unbeaten on their home turf this season with victories over St. Lawrence (Week 1), Hartwick (Week 5) and most recently Buffalo State (Week 7) … UC is 9-4 at home over the course of the last three seasons.

Dominating Buffalo State: 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 last weekend … 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. 

Close Ties for Coach Faggiano: Utica College Head Football Coach Blaise Faggiano is an Ithaca College graduate, class of 1993 … Faggiano was a member of the football team and helped guide the Bombers to a Division III National Championship in 1991 … After earning his undergraduate degree from Ithaca, he accepted a graduate assistant coaching position at the University at Albany, where he earned a master's degree in liberal arts … Faggiano returned to Ithaca College in 1995, and was part of a coaching staff that led the Bombers to postseason appearances in three out of four seasons.

All-Time vs. Ithaca: The Pioneers are 2-14 against the Bombers in the last 16 years … The Pioneers last defeated Ithaca, then ranked No. 17 nationally, in overtime in 2015 on Homecoming … Utica's Jerred Beniquez (Port Ewen, NY/Kingston) made the game-winning touchdown grab on the Pioneers first offensive possession of overtime to lift the home team to a thrilling 30-27 victory.

1,000+ Yards on the Ground: As a team the Pioneers cracked the 1,000 yard barrier after the week six 306 yard performance at Fisher … UC has 1,240 yards rushing on 283 attempts through seven games … The Pioneers 306 yards on the ground at Fisher marked their first 300+ yard single game rushing effort since 2009.

Offensive Notes

Ground & Pound: UC has four players with at least two rushing touchdowns this season … Malcolm Stowe (Coram, NY/Longwood) is coming off a  16 carry, 52 yard, one TD rushing effort against Buffalo State last weekend … He leads the team with 361 yards on 78 carries … Nicodemus Gambill (Rochester, NY/East High) is always a threat to break a big run out of the backfield as he is averaging 6.8 yards per carry this season … Gambill broke loose for a 73 yard TD run on the second play from scrimmage last weekend against Buffalo State … Stowe, Gambill, Vinny Aloi (Chester, NY/Chester Academy) and Lindell Reed (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) all have three rushing touchdowns this season for Utica.

Under Center: Utica's starter under center Saturday will be sophomore Vinny Aloi (Chester, NY/Chester Academy) who has come on as the Pioneers main option in the past three weeks … In his first collegiate start against Hartwick in week five he punched in the game-winning score to guide the Pioneers to a 28-24 victory at home … Aloi has been dangerous on the ground, piling up a team-best average of 82.00 yards rushing per game to go along with three rushing scores … He is also averaging a team-high 127.5 yards passing per game to go along with four touchdowns through the air.
 
New Favorite Target: Donovan Brunson (White Plains, NY/White Plains) has caught 11 balls for 130 yards and three touchdowns in his last three games for Utica … In week five against Hartwick he put together a career-best performance as he caught five balls for 89 yards and two touchdowns.

Receiving Corps: Darrell Jones II (Coram, NY/Longwood) leads all receivers with 19 catches for 198 yards this season … Tight end Alex Damiani (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) has 16 catches for 178 yards and Josh Hood (Oneida, NY/Oneida) also has 14 catches for 162 yards and a touchdown.

Defensive Notes

Empire 8 Standout: Senior linebacker Derrick Sekuterski (Depew, NY/Depew) ranks second in the Empire 8 with an average of 10.1 tackles per game … He also has 2.5 sacks to his credit … He has 36 tackles in his last three games and he has 10+ tackles in four of seven games.

Oh Captain, My Captain: Senior captain Anthony Bierria-Anderson (Freeport, NY/Freeport) ranks second on the team with 38 tackles in seven games this season … He also has three pass breakups and one interception.

Breakout Season: ­Senior Erik Lyndaker (Beaver River, NY/Beaver River) ranks third on the team with 34 tackles … He has 3.0 tackles for a loss, two pass breakups and one forced fumble to his credit.

Strong on the Line: Keanu Heedram (Rochester, NY/Rush-Henrietta) leads all defensive lineman with 33 tackles this season … He also has 2.5 sacks and a pass breakup … Robbie Schempp (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) is not far behind with 26 tackles and a team-high 3.5 sacks.
 
Special Teams Notes

Empire 8 Player of the Week: Utica sophomore punter Brandon Few (Lockport, NY/Lockport) was named the Empire 8 Conference Football Special Teams Player of the Week on Monday … Few 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 … He had three punts downed inside 11 yards, including his first punt of the day that pinned Buffalo on their own four yard line …He currently leads the Empire 8 Conference with an average of 40.7 yards per punt … He also has the longest punt this season in the conference (61 yards) … He has seven punts over 50 yards which also leads the E8 and his total of nine punts inside the 20 rank second in the conference.