UTICA, NY - Pioneer football welcomed the number 2 ranked team in all of Division III Football on Saturday afternoon at Gaetano Stadium. The Cortland Red Dragons met Utica on ABM Field in a mid-season Empire 8 clash that was close throughout the first quarter, before a couple key Pioneer mistakes led to a few Cortland scores. Cortland proceeded to salt away the remaining time, coming away with a 45-7 win.
 
Utica gained 237 yards of offense on the day, and out possessed Cortland, having the ball for over 30 minutes. The Pioneers moved the ball well, but stalled on a couple long drives throughout the matchup, opening the door for a fast-paced Cortland offense.
 
Brett Fuller (Port Jervis, NY/Port Jervis) threw for 162 yards, but threw 3 key interceptions that led to Red Dragon points.
 
The bulk of Fuller's yards went to Pioneer wideout Peyton Ausfeld (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam), who hauled in 9 receptions for 93 yards. Ausfeld made most of his plays in the middle of the field, but broke out late in the third quarter for a 35-yard reception to get the Pioneers down into Red Dragon territory.
 
Last week's leading receiver Bryce Palmer (Verona, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) also caught 4 passes for 39 yards.
 
Matt Brantley (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) had a relatively quiet day by his standards, rushing for 38 yards on 12 attempts, but scoring an early touchdown that brought the game level at seven in the first quarter.
 
The Pioneers targeted the heart of the Cortland defense early on in the game, mounting a couple solid drives that yielded no points before the Red Dragons started hitting the gas.
 
Despite the 40-point day by Cortland, the Pioneer defense had some dynamic plays in the matchup.
 
Doug Simmons (White Plains, NY/Archbishop Stepinac) terrorized Cortland signal-caller Zac Boyes, sacking the Red Dragon signal-caller three and a half times, bringing his season-sack total to five.
 
Eli Douglas (Ausable Forks, NY/Ausable Valley) also recorded a sack on the day, ending the action as the Pioneers' leading tackler with 12 takedowns. He also forced two pass breakups in coverage.
 
Norman Booth (Schenectady, NY/Schenectady) secured half a sack as well, with the Pioneer Captain also recording nine tackles.
 
Darius Johnson (Webster, NY/Webster) provided nine tackles on the day.
 
As a unit, the Utica defense stopped Cortland behind the line of scrimmage many times, logging eight tackles for loss, with five of those being sacks.
 
The Pioneers fell to 3-2 on the year and will head to Morrisville next week to take on the Mustangs. Utica will return home the following Saturday on October 26th for a matchup with Alfred University. That game will take place during homecoming weekend at Utica University.