UTICA, NY - The Utica University football team will play its second game of the season on Saturday, September 10th. The Pioneers will host Kean University for a non-conference matchup beginning at Noon at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.

Game Sponsor: Saturday's game is being presented in association with Hamilton Orthopedics. 

Law Enforcement Appreciation Day: Saturday's game will be a "Blue Out" in recognition of the contributions of our area law enforcement officers. Additionally, all law enforcement personnel will receive free admission to the game. Tickets are five dollars at the gate for adults, and two dollars for children and non-Utica students. 

Follow Along: Fans can follow the contest via live video and stats at portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/. This week's broadcast is presented in association with WPNR 90.7 FM, Utica University Pioneer Radio, who will also have the call of the game over local airwaves and at PioneerRadio.org. Fans interested in viewing the game on their televisions are also offered a streamlined experience for their television connected devices through the Empire 8 digital apps. The apps are available for popular devices including Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire. See your respective app store for availability.

Season Tickets, 12th Man Club, Etc: Information on season tickets, membership in the 12th man club, and tailgating can be found here.

The Good Times Keep Rolling: With Saturday's win over Rochester, Utica has now won its season opener in fourteen consecutive seasons. 

The Series: This will be just the second all-time meeting between the Pioneers and Cougars. The two sides met in their inaugural meeting in 2021, with the Pioneers putting together an outstanding defensive performance to win 27-7 in Union, New Jersey. Utica allowed just 203 yards of total offense while capping Kean to 78 passing yards and a 3-of-16 conversion rate on third downs. Sonny Badyna (Brooklyn, NY/St. Peter's) threw two touchdown passes, one to Matt Brantley (Rochester, NY/Eastridge), and the other to Elijah Parker (New London, CT/New London). Nate Palmer (Verona, NY/Vernon Verona Sherrill) also rushed for a 62 yard touchdown that started the scoring in the first quarter. Jimmie Warren (Suffern, NY/Suffern) led the defense with a team-best nine tackles, which included 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Devin Bryant (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) had six tackles and an interception out of the Utica secondary. Tanner Ash had a team-high eight tackles to lead Kean defensively, while quarterback Antonio Scott found Jake Zerrillo on a 26 yard touchdown pass for the home team's only score of the day. 

Last Time Out: Down 21-7 on three long rushing scores in the first half, the Pioneers countered with a run of 22 unanswered points between the second and third quarters to take the lead, and pulled away with two more touchdowns in the final 16:53 of play as they topped visiting University of Rochester by a 43-28 score in the 5th Annual New York State Tool Believe Bowl at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. The Pioneers are now 4-1 in their first five Believe Bowl editions. Utica had 496 yards of offense, while the visiting team had 533. Keying the victory was Utica's pass offense and defense. The Pioneers piled up 331 yards through the air, while allowing Rochester to gain just 111. Utica also did not turn the ball over. Those advantages allowed the home team to overcome a school-record rushing performance by Yellowjacket tailback Daniel Papantonis, who rushed for three first quarter touchdowns. 

Player of the Week: Graduate wide receiver Nate Palmer (Verona, NY/Vernon Verona Sherrill) had a remarkable performance in the season-opening win, and the Empire 8 Conference took notice by selecting him as the E8 Co-Player of the Week. Palmer recorded 222 receiving yards on eight catches while finding the end zone four times in Utica's 43-28 win. The four touchdowns tie a school record held by Jeremy Meier, while his 222 yards is the second-best one game total in school history. He also became the eighth player in program history to eclipse 1,500 receiving yards in a career. Palmer had the second most receiving yards of any player in the nation during week one. 

Aerial Attack: With their 331 passing yards in the opener, the Pioneers rank 27th nationally in passing offense. New starting signal-caller Braeden Zenelovic (Ontario Center, NY/Wayne Central ) had an awesome debut with Utica, completing 18 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns while putting on an impressive showcase of arm strength. Brendan Belott completed both of his pass attempts for another 92 yards and a touchdown, and nearly added a second passing score that was called back. Also in the quarterback room is 2021 All-Conference selection Sonny Badyna (Brooklyn, NY/St. Peter's). 

Ground and Pound: Utica showcased tremendous versatility in the backfield during their week one win. Matt Brantley (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) shifted to the running back position from a receiver spot, and his presence was felt immediately with 40 net yards rushing and two touchdowns. Sophomore James Salles (West Babylon, NY/West Babylon) was Utica's leading rusher with 65 net yards. As a team, they had 165 net rushing yards and averaged 5.0 yards per carry. 

Keeping It Clean: The offensive line group has historically done a strong job of keeping the quarterback off the ground in season openers. Opposing defenders have combined to record just one sack on a Utica quarterback in the last four season openers for the Pioneers. Utica allowed the second-lowest quarterback sack total in the Empire 8 Conference for the 2021 season. 

Keep An Eye On This: Both Utica and Kean allowed exactly 111 yards passing in their week one contests. The two squads are tied for 31st nationally in that category. 

The First Hat To The Rock: Linebacker Anthony McDonald (Huntington, NY/Huntington) has been counted on to help lead the Utica defense this season, and so far, he has delivered. The graduate student led the Pioneers with a team-best ten tackles in the win over Rochester. In 2021, he was fourth on the team with 50 total tackles. 

Gimme That: James Prastio (Ballston Spa, NY/Ballston Spa) chalked up a game-changing turnover in Saturday's game. With the Pioneers trailing early, Prastio stripped the ball from Rochester running back Will Varney, and Jamel Smith's (Spring Valley, NY/Avon Old Farms) recovery at midfield set Utica up for their first score of the game. Prastio had nine tackles for the second-best total on the team Saturday, and included 1.5 tackles for loss in that figure. 

Swat Team: Three pass breakups contributed to Utica holding Rochester to just 111 passing yards on Saturday. Jimmie Warren (Suffern, NY/Suffern) and Anthony Novello (Mepham, NY/Mepham) each had one apiece, while Dan Amady (Suffern, NY/Suffern) tacked one on from out of the Utica secondary. 

A Successful Week One: The Empire 8 Conference took care of its non-conference slate in week one, with a dominant 6-1 record to open the season. The lone loss for the E8 came by way of Alfred, who was topped by nationally-ranked Hobart last Friday. A perfect record for the league on Saturday included Utica's win over Rochester, Morrisville's win over Kean, and a pass-happy win for No. 15 Cortland over Wittenberg.

About Kean: The Cougars are 0-1 to start the season under 17th year head coach Dan Garrett. They finished the Fall 2021 season with a record of 4-5. They were selected to finish third in the NJAC preseason poll. In their season opener, Kean was blanked 10-0 by Morrisville at home. Former Franklin Pierce quarterback Robbie Nungesser threw for 117 yards in his first game as the Cougars' new starting quarterback. The Cougars sport two D3Football.com Preseason All-Americans in graduate defensive back Kyeon Taylor, and return specialist Donte Jamison. Taylor was an AFCA Second Team All-American, and D3Football.com Fourth Team All-American last year after snagging a national-best eight interceptions in the regular season. Jamison was chosen to the D3Football.com All-Region team. 

What's Next: The Pioneers will play their first road game on Saturday, September 17th at Western New England University.