WILLIAMSPORT, PA - In a contest that saw two sides trading blows for 60 straight minutes, it would be the Utica University football team that walked away with a hard-fought, 38-35 road win over the Lycoming College Warriors on Saturday afternoon. 
 
The Pioneer offense was fueled by the Brett Fuller (Port Jervis, NY/Port Jervis)-Joey Nare (Canajoharie, NY/Canajoharie) connection through the air as the duo produced 112 yards and a score. In all, Fuller totaled 358 yards (25-for-40) with four touchdowns and three interceptions. His other three touchdown passes were split between Doug Elsesser (Massapequa, NY/Plainedge), who had two over his three catches for 38 yards, and Antonio Cianfarani (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville), who totaled one score over three catches for 50 yards. Peyton Ausfeld (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) also had a solid outing with four catches for 83 yards. 
 
On the ground, Matt Brantley (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) touched the ball nine times for 76 yards while punching it in once for six points. James Salles (West Babylon, NY/West Babylon) contributed 14 carries for 35 yards, too. 
 
Utica's defense was once again led by Anthony Fasano (Deer Park, NY/Deer Park) and his 11 total tackles (nine solo), two tackles for a loss, and one pass breakup. John Stroughn (Baldwin, NY/Holy Trinity) (six tackles, 0.5 TFL, 0.5 sacks, one PBU), Nick Billand (Towaco, NJ/Montville) (six tackles, one TFL, one PBU), and Anthony Novello (Mepham, NY/Mepham) (five tackles 1.5 TFL, one sack, one PBU) each had their noses on the ball all afternoon as well. Kicker Corey Lichtman (Bellmore, NY/Mepham) played a crucial part in the win as well as the graduate student drilled all five point after attempts and was successful on a 27-yard field goal that proved to be the three-point difference in the win. 
 
The Pioneers' opening possession started with a bang as Brantley darted into the end zone on a 64 yard run on the team's second play of the game for a 7-0 lead. A few possessions later, the Warriors responded with an 80 yard score through the air on their third play of the afternoon. Following a missed PAT, however, Utica would lead 7-6. 
 
Utica came right back with a touchdown of its own as Fuller found Elsesser with a 15 yard score to cap off a seven play, 68 yard drive. However, Lycoming came back with a score through the air of its own, a 30 yard pass, to bring the game back to within a point. The next Pioneers drive ended with Lichtman's 27 yard field goal which started a streak of four-straight scoreless possessions combined between the teams. 
 
For Lycoming, the Utica defense forced a pair of punts while Fuller was picked off by the Warriors' defense on back-to-back drives to keep the score in favor of the Pioneers at 17-13. 
 
The sophomore Fuller would not shy away following his two turnovers, however. The signal caller led Utica on a lengthy 15 play drive that ate 7:05 off the clock between the end of the first and into the second. He ended it finding Elsesser in the end zone once again, this time from 13 yards out, to grow Utica's lead to 24-13 with under two minutes to play in the half. 
Lycoming, who would receive the second half kickoff, proved to be opportunistic in the waning minutes of the half. In just one minute, the hosts drove 75 yards downfield for six points off the back of a 30 yard pass as the game moved into the break with the Pioneers up 24-19. 
 
The sides settled in come the third quarter with Utica's lone score coming from a 33 yard receiving touchdown by Nate while the Warriors drilled a pair of field goals as the game eventually moved into the final quarter of play with utica ahead 31-25. 
 
With Lycoming driving towards the end of the third and into the beginning seconds of the fourth, the Warriors continued to chip away - bringing the game within three points with a 27 yard field goal attempt seven seconds into the last frame. 
 
On the ensuing drive, the Pioneers were looking at a 2nd and 5 from their own 40 yard line. On a handoff to Brantley, Jake Welch of the Warriors forced a fumble that was scooped up by Nick Lamey, who would take it 40 yards to the house for Lycoming's first lead of the afternoon at 35-31. 
 
Following two empty possessions by each team and a botched seven-yard Warriors punt, the Pioneers took over from the Lycoming 30 yard line with just under five minutes to play. The team gained 15 yards before things took a twist on a 3rd and 9. Salles turned in a nice rushing attempt for eight yards before he lost control of the ball. He was able to jump on the loose ball first to give Utica one final chance on a 4th and 17 from the Lycoming 22. And on that one chance, the Pioneers cashed in. 
 
With 2:11 left, Fuller took the snap in the shotgun and connected with Cianfarani for a 22 yard touchdown that, following Lichtman's point after, granted Utica a 38-35 lead in the final minutes of the game. 
 
With one final chance, Lycoming could not move the sticks to prolong the game, most notably thanks to a sack of a six-yard loss delivered by Evan Gohringer (Utica, NY/Proctor), to allow Utica to take over and kneel out the clock. 
 
Utica (3-0, 0-0 Empire 8) will return home next Saturday, September 23, to host Curry College at noon on First Source Federal Credit Union Day.