UTICA, NY - Pioneer football kicks off Week 2 down in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on Saturday against a Moravian squad that they deftly defeated in last season's Believe Bowl. The Greyhounds will be out for revenge after falling victim to a plucky Pioneer defensive unit and an awesome aerial attack in 2023. Here's what you need to know before this weekend's contest.
 
How to Watch: You can follow along with this weekend's showdown by following the links below, or by following the "stream" and "live stats" links under the schedule tab on our football page. In order to stream Saturday's game, viewers will need to sign up for a Flosports account for $15 by following the link below. Make sure to select "monthly billing" and keep in mind that you will be billed monthly until you decide to cancel your account.

Moravian stream link/FloSports: https://www.flofootball.com/plans?redirect=%2Fevents%2F12727439
 
Moravian live stats link: https://www.moraviansports.com/sports/fball/2024-25/boxscores/20240914_9cak.xml
 
Believe Bowl Recap: - Matt Brantley (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) could not be stopped in Utica's season-opening thumping of Union College on Friday night at Gaetano Stadium. The experienced running back butchered the Garnet Charger defenders, leaving the Union gameplan in tatters by the end of game as the Pioneers came away with a 41-26 victory in their annual 271 Believe Bowl.
 
Union, despite out-rushing opponents by a 3-1 margin in 2023, found themselves on the receiving end of a Matt Brantley (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) performance that will surely put the Empire 8 on notice. One of the Empire 8's "Players to Watch" in the pre-season, Brantley followed through on that prediction in week 1, rushing for 185 yards and flipping the game on its head with a 90-yard house call to start the 3rd quarter. Brantley's main opposition in the battle for ground supremacy featured a combination of former 1,000 yard rushers in Michael Fiore and Jonathan Anderson. Despite both players hitting the 1,000 yard mark in 2023 for the Garnet Chargers, they were absolutely throttled by the Pioneers for all 60 minutes, with Fiore and Anderson gaining 34 and 17 yards respectively on the night.
 
The Pioneers as a whole put on a premier display of offensive dominance, picking up 503 total yards as opposed to Union's 303. The most notable part wasn't the amount of offense that Utica generated, but rather the way in which the Pioneers put up such staggering numbers. A veteran Pioneer squad, with loads of upperclassmen talent, showed off their discipline on Friday night. Utica's offense was a well-oiled machine that knew precisely when to push the tempo and when to slow things down. Utica's control of the clock was evident, as they held the ball for a colossal 36 minutes. A perfectly executed gameplan, along with some big swing plays were the keys to success for the Pioneers against a tough Union squad that received lots of votes in the preseason top-25 polls.
 
For the full Believe Bowl recap, check out our complete synopsis by following the link below:
https://uticapioneers.com/news/2024/9/7/football-brantley-pioneers-utilize-unbelievable-offense-in-41-26-victory-over-union-college.aspx
 
Empire Excellence: Matt Brantley (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) captured the Empire 8 Co-Offensive Player of the Week award after his explosive week 1 performance against Union College.
 
Brantley ran for 185 yards on 20 carries with a touchdown in Utica's 41-26 Believe Bowl victory over the Garnet Chargers on Friday night. Brantley blew the game wide open at the beginning of the second half, scoring on a career-best 90-yard rush to give the Pioneers a 29-12 lead. He finished the season-opening bout with 194 all-purpose yards, including 47 in the fourth quarter to help put the game away, as the Pioneers gained 503 yards in the win.
 
This was the Pioneers' first Empire 8 honor of the year, just 1 year removed from obtaining 5 weekly awards and placing 13 players on the end-of-season all-conference teams in 2023. Brantley earned a 3rd team all-Empire 8 selection as a running back last season and is off to a great start in his quest to achieve even more in his 5th year as a Pioneer.
 
Brantley will be looking for a repeat performance on Saturday against a Moravian team that allowed 234 rushing yards to #21 ranked Muhlenberg last weekend. You can find more information below about the statistics to watch out for this weekend.
 
Rewind Time: Utica defeated Moravian in last year's Believe Bowl by a score of 35-20. That matchup, which also took place in week 2, was a back-and-forth battle for the first 3 frames, before a Peyton Ausfeld (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) reception TD and a Sam Florio (Port Jefferson, NY/Port Jefferson) rushing TD put the Pioneers up for good. Despite a final margin of 15 points, the game was pretty even throughout, with Moravian and Utica putting up similar stats during the contest. Here's a quick statistical summary of last season's game.
 
 

	Moravian	Utica
1st Downs	21	22
Rushing Yards	91	118
Passing Yards	249	346
Total Offense	340	464
Punts	7	2
Time of Possession	33:24	26:16
3rd Down Conversions	3 of 16	4 of 9

 
 
Despite holding possession of the ball for over 7 minutes more than Utica, Moravian could not make the most of their drives and ended up having to punt the ball away on numerous occasions. The Greyhounds also struggled on 3rd down in last year's matchup, something they hope to rectify this weekend on their home field.
 
Individually in that matchup, Brett Fuller (Port Jervis, NY/Port Jervis) had a spectacular outing for the Pioneers, torching the Greyhound defense for 346 yards and 2 touchdowns. Fuller will look for a similar result, but will attempt to maintain the tempo-controlling offense that Utica utilized in their victory over Union last Friday.
 
Brantley ran for just 58 yards in last year's game, with James Salles (West Babylon, NY/West Babylon) splitting carries in the week 2 game. Salles rushed for 45 yards that day.
 
Peyton Ausfeld (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) and Antonio Cianfarani (Scotia, NY/Scotia Glenville) had their way with the Moravian secondary in 2023 and will hopefully employ the same tactics in this year's outing. Ausfeld caught 5 passes for 104 yards and 2 scores, while Cianfarani had 4 receptions for 81 yards on the day. The Pioneers' passing personnel will look to get more involved early on in Saturday's game.
 
Defensively, Utica logged 2 sacks in last year's meeting, with Doug Simmons (White Plains, NY/Archbishop Stepinac) getting 1.5 sacks on the day. The Pioneers picked off Moravian twice in 2023, with both of the notable players no longer playing for Utica. Eli Douglas (Ausable Forks, NY/Ausable Valley) and Denzere Woolcock (Schenectady, NY/Schenectady) will be looming in the passing lanes on Saturday, hoping to add a couple more interceptions to their 2024 resume.
 
As a whole, the Pioneers absolutely wrecked the Greyhound backfield in 2023, recording 8 tackles for loss. If the Pioneers can dominate the line once again, they can slow down the Greyhounds and take control of the tempo once again.
 
2024 Moravian Outlook: The Greyhounds faced a tough Muhlenberg team in their season opener this past Saturday, falling 33-7 in Bethlehem. The Mules entered that game as the #21 team in the country, ascending to the 18 spot in this week's top 25 after their victory over Moravian.
 
The Greyhounds had a tough time against the Mules despite forcing them to start all of their scoring drives in tough positions. All of Muhlenberg's scoring drives and scoring plays spanned over 77 yards, meaning the Mules didn't score on a single drive that they began in plus position. Muhlenberg employed a spectacular rushing attack, accruing 234 total yards on the ground. Matt Brantley (Rochester, NY/Eastridge), Sam Florio (Port Jefferson, NY/Port Jefferson), and the rest of the Pioneers' ground game will hope to match these tallies on Saturday.
 
On offense, Moravian was paced by quarterback Jared Jenkins who threw for 180 yards and 1 touchdown. Diego Del Castillo was the Greyhounds leading receiver, totaling 59 yards and 1 touchdown on 3 receptions.
 
Statcast: Here's a breakdown of Moravian and Utica's 2024 feature statistics after 1 week of play.
 
 

OFFENSIVE	Moravian	Utica
Points Per Game	7	41
First Downs Per Game	12	23
Rushing Yards Per Game	60	253
Yards Per Carry	2.3	6.2
Rushing Touchdowns	0	3
Fumbles Lost	0	0
Passing Yards Per Game	192	250
Yards Per Attempt	6.9	6.6
Passing Touchdowns	1	2
Interceptions Thrown	1	1
Sacks Allowed	2	3
Total Yards Per Game	252	503
Total Touchdowns	1	5
Time of Poss. Per Game	21:27	36:57
3rd Down Conversions	5-13 (38%)	11-19 (57.9%)
DEFENSIVE
Points Allowed Per Game	33	26
1st Downs All. Per Game	25	18
Rushing Yards All. Per Game	234	112
Rushing Touchdowns All.	1	0
Passing Yards All. Per Game	285	191
Passing Touchdowns All.	3	3
Total Yards All. Per Game	519	303
Touchdowns All.	5	4
Interceptions Created	1	2
Fumbles Recovered	0	1
Sacks	0	2
Record	0-1	1-0

 
 
Week 3 Outlook: After returning from Moravian, the Pioneers will set their sights on Lycoming College, who will be coming to town on September 21st in Utica's First Source Credit Union Teacher Appreciation Game.