UTICA, NY - In a back-and-forth double overtime classic, the Utica College football team fell just shy of victory in its 2019 homecoming game. After a late 34 yard field goal by Utica's Maki Medici (Watervliet, NY/Shaker) forced overtime, Morrisville State running back Kinsey Williams brought an end to the affair with a two yard touchdown run in double overtime as the Mustangs prevailed by a 54-51 score at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.

The Pioneers fall to 3-3, while the Mustangs snap out of a two-game slide. The Pioneers are now 1-2 in the Empire 8 conference this season.

The Utica offense had its sixth best offensive yardage performance in school history in the loss. The unit had 555 yards for the afternoon, with 237 yards on the ground and 318 through the air. They scored the ninth most points for one game in the nineteen year history of the program. Utica punted just once all afternoon.

Jamarious Morgan (Utica, NY/Thomas R. Proctor) had an electrifying day out of the Pioneer backfield with his third career 100 yard rushing performance. He ran for a career-best 162 yards that included the team's longest carry of the season, a 62 yard touchdown run that marked one of his two rushing scores on the day. His backfield mate Brad Dougherty (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) also added a rushing touchdown for the Pioneers.

Quarterback Logan Wilcox (Utica, NY/Proctor) threw for 318 yards and three touchdowns, but also threw three interceptions. His day included one of the longest completions of his career, and the team's longest play from scrimmage of the season on offense as he hooked up with fellow local product Nate Palmer (Verona, NY/Vernon Verona Sherrill) on a 75 yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Wide receiver Kevin Warmack (Utica,NY/Utica Notre Dame) had his first career college receiving touchdown to open the day's scoring, and finished with 53 yards receiving in total. Warmack also returned four kickoffs for 92 yards.

Peyton Miller (Chemung, NY/Waverly) had a team-high seven catches for 74 yards, and made a big move up in the college record books in the process. He passed Matt Dunn and Josh Mason in career receiving yards to move up from eighth to sixth all-time in that category, and now stands alone in fifth in career catches.

Maki Medici (Watervliet, NY/Shaker) made three field goals on the afternoon and is now a perfect 10-for-10 this year.

For the defensive unit, Anthony Beaubrun (West Hempstead, NY/West Hempstead) sported the highest tackle total of any Pioneer in a game this season as he racked up a total of fifteen stops on the day. That is also a career-high for Beaubrun. Antonio Scala (Coram, NY/Longwood) had ten tackles on the afternoon along with a sack and two tackles for loss. Rookie Elijah Brown-Young (Mashantucket, CT/St. Thomas More School) impressed with nine tackles and a pass breakup.

Morrisville had 490 total yards of offense, and quarterback Billy Flatow threw for 381 yards and five touchdowns. Toure Hall Jr. had 188 receiving yards and a pair of scores, while Williams rushed for over 100 yards on the ground. 

Both teams scored on their opening series to set the table for a wild affair. Wilcox found Warmack on their lone touchdown connection of the day to open the scoring on a rapid drive for Utica. The Mustangs replied immediately with a touchdown pass from Flatow to tight end Kyle Tuohy, then added a seven yard rushing score from Williams to make the score 13-7 early. Medici converted his first field goal of the day from 30 yards to cap a 64 yard Pioneer scoring drive at the tail end of the opening quarter, and Utica trailed 13-10 after one quarter.

The Mustangs extended their advantage to ten points on a 25 yard pass play to Jermaine Cooper in the second quarter. However, the Pioneer ground game would make the Mustangs' 20-10 lead completely vanish by halftime. With 9:46 left in the quarter, Morgan cut back behind the line of scrimmage and hammered his way through a big hole down the left side for a raucous 62 yard touchdown run. A two yard touchdown run by Dougherty with 1:34 on the clock before halftime pulled Utica ahead with a 24-20 lead at the break.

Morrisville outpaced Utica through the air by a two touchdowns to one advantage in the third to re-acquire a 34-31 lead heading into the fourth. Parrish Durham and Toure Hall Jr. had short touchdown grabs to cap scoring drives of over 50 yards each for the visitors, and sandwiched in between was a 75 yard bomb downfield to Nate Palmer (Verona, NY/Vernon Verona Sherrill) from Wilcox for the Pioneers.

Both teams scored a touchdown apiece in the fourth quarter to stagnate the three point difference. Morgan put Utica back in the drivers' seat on a 12 yard touchdown run that made the score 38-34 Utica with 12:38 remaining, but again the Mustangs had a pivotal answer on another touchdown catch by Hall. With three minutes to go, the Pioneers engineered a huge drive of just over 50 yards to come up with the tying field goal as Keegan Wright (Cicero, NY/Cicero North Syracuse) made two crucial catches to set up Medici for the equalizing 34 yard field goal that sent the game into overtime at 41 points apiece.

In overtime, both clubs scored a touchdown on their first possession as Williams notched another scoring run, and Peyton Miller (Chemung, NY/Waverly) hauled in an eight yard pass from Wilcox on a corresponding Pioneer drive that took just three plays for a 48-48 tie. That took the game into a second overtime, where Medici and the Pioneers were held to a field goal. The Pioneers looked as if they may do the same as a Morrisville third and goal pass was broken up in the back of the endzone. However, the course of the possession shifted on that same play as a pass interference flag moved Morrisville half the distance to the goal, and Williams punched the ball into the endzone for the walk off win.

The Pioneers open a three-game road trip at Brockport on Saturday, October 26th.