SUNY CORTLAND FOOTBALL NOTES
Cortland Red Dragons (6-0, 4-0 Empire 8) vs. St. John Fisher Cardinals (5-1, 2-1 Empire 8)
Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026; 1 p.m.; Grady Field; Cortland, N.Y.

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($6 Adults; $5 Senior citizens (65+), Youth ages 5-17 and Veterans;
Free for SUNY Cortland students/faculty/staff with college ID)

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THE MATCHUP: Cortland plays at home for the first time in nearly a month as the Red Dragons host St. John Fisher in an Empire 8 contest. Cortland, ranked 11th nationally by the AFCA and 12th by D3football .com, leads the conference with a 4-0 league mark (6-0 overall). St. John Fisher comes into the contest with a 5-1 overall record and 2-1 league mark. Cortland's last home game was Sept. 26 versus Morrisville.
 
THE SERIES: Cortland leads the series between the schools, 12-5. Cortland beat the Cardinals four straight times from 1988-91, with the win in 1988 completing the Red Dragons' 10-0 regular season. The teams did not meet again until 2003. Fisher beat Cortland at home twice in the ECAC Northwest Bowl (47-37 in 2003 and 34-20 in 2009) and in a non-league matchup in 2013 (33-25).
 
The series resumed in 2015 when Cortland joined the Empire 8 and the Red Dragons won at Fisher, 34-17, that season. The teams finished as Empire 8 co-champions, but Cortland earned the league's NCAA berth by virtue of the head-to-head victory. The Cardinals won in 2016 and 2017, while Cortland has been victorious in each of the last seven meetings (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025) by a combined score of 297-78, including a 31-7 win at St. John Fisher last year.
 
In last year's contest, St. John Fisher jumped out to a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter on a Camden Chance TD run before Cortland scored 31 straight points between the second and third quarters. Ethan Gallo ran 22 times for 145 yards and two touchdowns, and Mike Rescigno completed 10-of-15 passes for 119 yards and two scores and ran 15 times for 88 yards. Sam Cotton caught five passes for 102 yards, and Joe Iadevaio and Jacque LaPrarie each had a TD reception.
 
Nazair Jean-Lubin, Sonny Mayo and Alessandro  DeRosa each intercepted passes for the Red Dragons. DeRosa, now an assistant coach at St. John Fisher, finished with six tackles and a forced fumble along with the interception. Anthony Luciano, Aidan Lochner and Joe Russo each had five tackles.
 
CORTLAND CAPSULE:  Cortland scored 31 straight points over the final 32 minutes and the Red Dragons pulled away for a 45-7 win at Alfred University last Saturday. Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Week Mike Rescigno completed a career-high 25 passes out of 33 attempts for 241 yards and three touchdowns, and he ran for a team-high 81 yards on 13 carries. Lucas Singleton rushed eight times for 58 yards and a touchdown, and Ethan Gallo ran for two scores - tying him for first at Cortland with 45 career rushing touchdowns. Jacque LaPrarie caught two TD passes, Jayson Zeva had a TD reception, and Sam Cotton led the team with seven receptions.
 
Aidan Lochner posted a team-high eight tackles, seven solo, with two tackles for loss. George Gjelaj and Memphis Ferguson each made six tackles, and Nazair Jean-Lubin intercepted a pass on Alfred's first play from scrimmage that led to Cortland's opening touchdown drive. Cole Callard, the Empire 8 Special Teams Player of the Week, made a 32-yard field goal and all six of his PAT kicks, and Gavin Dandrea averaged 38 yards on two punts.
 
Rescigno leads Cortland in rushing with 94.2 yards per game, and he's run for four touchdowns. He's 89-of-136 passing (65.4 percent) for 1,118 yards and 11 touchdowns with just one interception. Gallo averages 58.8 yards per game on the ground with a team-high 11 touchdowns. Joe Iadevaio is the Red Dragon leader with 22 receptions, followed by Cotton with 20, Zeva with 17 and LaPrarie with 13. LaPrarie has a team-best five TD catches and Zeva has four TD receptions.

Lochner paces the defense with 41 tackles and two forced fumbles, while Joe Galea has 29 tackles, including 3.5 sacks and six total tackles for loss. Jean-Lubin has intercepted three passes, including one in each of the last two games. Ferguson has 27 tackles and a team-high five pass breakups, and Sonny Mayo has 19 tackles and four breakups. Callard is 31-of-33 on PAT kicks and 6-of-7 on field goal tries this fall, and Dandrea averages 37.7 yards per punt with five inside the 20 compared to one touchback.
 
Tom Blumenauer is in his second season as Cortland's head coach and is currently 14-3 (.824) with the Red Dragons. He and his assistants were named the Empire 8 Coaching Staff of the Year in 2025. Blumenauer came to Cortland from Franklin & Marshall, where he led the program to a combined 21-11 record, including an 11-8 mark in the competitive Centennial Conference, from 2022-24. The Diplomats won postseason bowl games versus Delaware Valley in 2024 and King's (Pa.) in 2023. Prior to F&M, "Coach Blu" served as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Williams College for six years from 2016-21, and his prior coaching stops include Bowdoin in 2015, Endicott in 2014 and St. Lawrence from 2010-13.
 
A 2007 Ithaca College graduate, Blumenauer played outside linebacker and free safety for the Bombers for two seasons from 2005-06. He was a two-time All-Empire 8 selection and was named to the 2006 Football Gazette All-East Region team. He's a native of Brentwood, N.Y., and was a football and wrestling standout at Brentwood High School.
 
A LOOK AT...ST. JOHN FISHER UNIVERSITY:  St. John Fisher was idle last weekend and most recently defeated Hartwick at home, 27-13, two weeks ago. The Cardinals' only loss was a 38-28 setback at Brockport on Oct. 3.
 
Against Hartwick, quarterback Ryan Whitney ran 15 times for 186 yards, highlighted by 71-yard and 80-yard TD runs in the second half allowing the Cardinals to pull away from a 13-13 tie. He also completed 22-of-34 passes for 273 yards and a score - a 35-yard pass to Jackson Cusack in the first quarter. Cusack finished with 11 receptions for 148 yards.
 
Logan Laratta made 37-yard and 31-yard field goals. Ryan Ross led St. John Fisher with nine tackles, all solo, and Jack Bierman had eight tackles and two pass breakups. Micah Harshfield intercepted a pass, and Greg Rayl and Jedrek Olkowski each totaled two sacks.
 
Through six games, Whitney is 116-of-176 passing (65.9 percent) for 1,483 yards with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions. He also averages 73.8 rushing yards per game and has scored nine touchdowns. Cusack is the team leader with 33 catches for 484 yards and four scores, Gavin Horton has 25 receptions for 369 yards and two touchdowns, and Mykel White has three TD catches among his 14 total catches.
 
Timothy Vanderbrink and Kyle DaMore lead the Cardinals with 44 and 41 tackles, respectively. Bierman has a team-high four sacks and Harshfield has broken up six passes. Laratta is 21-of-22 on PAT kicks and has made all five of his field goals, including four from more than 30 yards out. Kieran Patel averages 34.1 yards per punt, and Cusack averages 19.6 yards per punt return, including a 46-yard TD return at Brockport.
 
Ed Raby, Jr. is in his second season as St. John Fisher's head coach. He led the Cardinals to 7-4 record last season, including a berth in the ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl. His overall head coaching record of 32-27 (.542) included a 12-5 record at Fisher and a 20-22 mark at Morrisville from 2021-24 (he also was the interim head coach in 2020, but that season was canceled). His tenure at Morrisville included two ECAC Scotty Whitelaw Bowl appearances.

Raby previously served as Morrisville's defensive coordinator under former Cortland head coach and St. John Fisher alumnus Curt Fitzpatrick from 2017-19, helping the program qualify for two ECAC postseason bowl games (2018 and 2019). Prior to Morrisville, Raby served as an assistant for three seasons at Allegheny College from 2014-16 and one season at Alfred University in 2013. He is an alum of Alma College in Michigan, where he was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starting defensive lineman.
 
St. John Fisher's coaching staff includes former Cortland players Brees Segala, Nolan Foley and Alessandro  DeRosa. Segala is the Cardinals' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Foley coaches the offensive line, and DeRosa is the defensive backs coach. Segala was a quarterback at Cortland from 2018-21. He was a Gagliardi Trophy Semifinalist and the Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Year as a senior. Foley, a former Red Dragon offensive lineman, was Cortland's special teams and safeties coach for two seasons from 2023-24. DeRosa was a safety at Cortland from 2022-25, earning All-Empire 8 honors in his senior year.
 
NOTEBOOK:
 
* Wide receivers Jayson Zeva and Joe Iadevaio recently became the 22nd and 23rd Cortland players, respectively, to reach the career 100-catch plateau. Zeva hit the mark at home versus Morrisville on Sept. 26 and currently has 105 career catches. Iadevaio's two receptions at Alfred last weekend put him at exactly 100 career catches.
 
* Ethan Gallo has career totals of 2,224 rushing yards, 45 rushing touchdowns, two receiving touchdowns and 282 points scored in 30 games. He currently is tied for first at Cortland in rushing touchdowns (along with Jaden AlfanoStJohn from 2021-24), and he ranks third in career scoring with his 282 points, behind AlfanoStJohn (366) and kicker Mike Baloga (298 from 2022-24). Gallo's ninth in career rushing yardage, with the next players on the list Mike Bowe in eighth (2,299 from 1979-82) and Omar Darling in seventh (2,314 from 1994-95, 97-98).
 
* Mike Rescigno is averaging 7.3 yards per rushing attempt this season (484 yards on 64 attempts). Last season, he set the school record for highest rushing average per attempt (minimum 100 attempts) at 6.9 yards per carry (155 rushes for 1,068 yards).
 
* Nazair Jean-Lubin's 100-yard interception return for a touchdown at Utica broke the school record of 94 yards, set by Steve Armstrong versus New York Tech in 1981. The maximum interception and kick return distance per NCAA rules is 100 yards, despite where in the end zone the return is initiated. Jean-Lubin intercepted a pass with his back foot in the end zone and ran for a touchdown on the final play of the first half to give Cortland a 28-7 halftime lead over the Pioneers.
 
* Cortland is 6-5 all-time in overtime games, with the last its 32-26 home loss to Brockport in 2019. All 11 games were decided in the first extra session. The Red Dragons are 3-1 in OT since joining the Empire 8 (wins vs. Utica and Hartwick in 2015, win versus Alfred in 2017, and loss to Brockport in 2019).
 
CORTLAND EMPIRE 8 NOTES:
 
* Cortland has been an Empire 8 conference member since 2015 (previously competed in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) for 15 seasons from 2000-14 - finished in at least a tie for first place in the NJAC six times).
 
* Cortland is one of three Empire 8 affiliate members for football, along with Morrisville and Alfred State (all three are otherwise full-time members of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC)). Brockport moved from affiliate to full-time status in the league in 2024. Alfred University, Hartwick, St. John Fisher and Utica also are full conference members.
 
* Cortland's Empire 8 titles: outright league title and NCAA automatic bid in 2021 (6-0), 2022 (6-0), 2023 (6-0), 2024 (7-0) and 2025 (7-0); co-champion in 2015 and 2019, earning an NCAA bid in 2015; second or tied for second in 2017 and 2018.
 
* Cortland has a 37-game Empire 8 winning streak dating back to late in the 2019 season. During that streak, only four games were decided by two scores or less. Margin of victory breakdown during the streak:
 
33+ points              24 times
25-32 points          3 times
17-24 points           6 times
9-16 points             3 times (31-21 at Utica, 2026) (28-13 vs. Utica, 2025) (32-21 at Hartwick, 2019)
1-8 points               1 time (29-28 at Brockport, 2024)
 
* Cortland's last Empire 8 loss was a 32-26 home overtime setback versus Brockport in 2019. The Red Dragons' last Empire 8 loss in regulation was 21-16 at Brockport in 2018.
 


* Cortland and St. John Fisher rank in the top 40 nationally in Division III in the following team and individual categories:
 
CORTLAND:
 
4th, Total Defense, 197.2 yds./game
4th, Team Passing Efficiency Defense, 85.7 opponent rating
5th, Time of Possession, 34:40/game
6th, Scoring Defense, 9.2 pts./game
10th, Rushing Defense, 53.5 yds./came
10th, First Downs Defense, 69
18th, Rushing Offense, 245.3 yds./game
18th, Red Zone Offense, 91.2 pct.
21st, Kickoff Returns, 25.1 yds./return
22nd, Passing Yards Allowed, 143.7 yds./game
23rd, Scoring Offense, 41.2 pts./game
24th, Sacks Allowed, 0.8/game
25th, Fourth Down Conversion Percentage, 66.7 pct.
26th, First Downs Offense, 144
30th, Passes Had Intercepted, 3
32nd, Total Offense, 440.2 yds./game
34th, Blocked Punts, 1
35th, Turnovers Lost, 6
 
Cortland is one of 21 undefeated Division III teams

Ethan Gallo, 5th, Rushing Touchdowns, 11
Ethan Gallo, 12th, Scoring, 11.0 pts./game
Ethan Gallo, 12th, Total Touchdowns, 11
Cole Callard, 14th, Field Goal Percentage, 85.7 pct.
Mike Rescigno, 15th, Rush Yards per Carry, 7.3 yds./rush
Cole Callard, 19th, Field Goals, 1.0/game
Mike Rescigno, 20th, Total Offense, 280.5 yds./game
Jacque LaPrarie, 22nd, Yards per Reception, 21.8 yds./catch
Aidan Lochner, 29th, Forced Fumbles, 0.3/game
Mike Rescigno, 36th, Completion Percentage, 65.4 pct.
Mike Rescigno, 36th, Passing Efficiency, 159.7 rating
Nazair Jean-Lubin, 36th, Interceptions, 0.5/game
Mike Rescigno, 37th, Rushing, 94.2 yds./game
 
ST. JOHN FISHER:
 
13th, Punt Returns, 16.5 yds./return
23rd, Completion Percentage, 66.1 pct.
30th, Passes Had Intercepted, 3
33rd, Kickoff Return Defense, 15.7 yds./return
35th, Turnovers Lost, 6
39th, Total Defense, 269.2 yds./game
40th, Third Down Conversion Percentage, 47.1 pct.
 
Jackson Cusack, 4th, Punt Return Touchdowns, 1
Ryan Whitney, 9th, Total Offense, 321.0 yds./game
Jackson Cusack, 16th, Receiving Yards, 103.2 yds./game
Ryan Whitney, 16th, Rushing Touchdowns, 9
Ryan Whitney, 24th, Points Responsible For, 19.0 pts./game
Tim Vanderbrink, 28th, Solo Tackles, 5.4/game
Justin Maier, 31st, Kickoff Returns, 25.9 yds./return
Ryan Whitney, 31st, Total Touchdowns, 9
Ryan Whitney, 32nd, Scoring, 9.0 pts./game
Ryan Whitney, 33rd, Passing Yards, 247.2 yds./game
Ryan Whitney, 33rd, Completion Percentage, 65.9 pct.
Ryan Whitney, 35th, Completions per Game, 19.3/game
Logan Laratta, 39th, Field Goals, 0.8/game


2026 Cortland Weekly Award Winners (game date/opponent in parentheses)
 
Cole Callard, So., Kicker
Empire 8 Special Teams Player of the Week (Oct. 17 at Alfred Univ.)
 
Joe Galea, Sr., Linebacker
Empire 8 Co-Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 12 at Union)
 
Jacque LaPrarie, Sr., Wide Receiver
Empire 8 Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 26 vs. Morrisville)
 
Aidan Lochner, Sr., Linebacker
Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 3 at Utica)
 
Mike Rescigno, Jr., Quarterback
Empire 8 Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 19 vs. Hartwick)
Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Week (Oct. 17 at Alfred Univ.)

SCHEDULES/RESULTS:

CORTLAND (6-0, 4-0 Empire 8)
 
Sept. 5            at Grove City (PA)................................. W 28-18
Sept. 12          at Union................................................. W 26-0
Sept. 19          * HARTWICK......................................... W 55-3
Sept. 26         * MORRISVILLE......................................W 62-6
Oct. 3             * at Utica..................................................W 31-21
Oct. 17            * at Alfred Univ. .................................... W 45-7
Oct. 24           * ST. JOHN FISHER................................ 1:00
Oct. 31            * ALFRED ST. ....................................... 1:00
Nov. 7             * at Brockport.......................................... 12:00
Nov. 14           Ithaca (Yankee Stadium)........................ 1:00
 
* Empire 8 game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS
 
ST. JOHN FISHER (5-1, 2-1 Empire 8)
 
Sept. 5            FDU-Florham (NJ).................................. W 38-8
Sept. 11           at St. Lawrence...................................... W 30-10
Sept. 19          ROCHESTER...........................................W 14-13
Sept. 26         * at Alfred Univ. ....................................... W 33-15
Oct. 3             * at Brockport........................................... L 28-38
Oct. 10           * HARTWICK........................................... W 27-13
Oct. 24           * at Cortland............................................ 1:00
Oct. 31            * UTICA.................................................. 2:00
Nov. 7            * MORRISVILLE...................................... 1:00
Nov. 14           * at Alfred State....................................... 1:00
 
* Empire 8 game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS

CORTLAND vs. ST. JOHN FISHER – SERIES RECORD
(Cortland leads 12-5)
 
Year        Winner.......................... Score             Site
1988        Cortland........................ 48-10              St. John Fisher
1989        Cortland........................ 37-0                Cortland

1990        Cortland........................ 61-0                St. John Fisher
1991        Cortland........................ 71-0                Cortland

2003        St. John Fisher ............ 47-37              St. John Fisher (ECAC Northwest Bowl)
2009        St. John Fisher.............. 34-20             St. John Fisher (ECAC Northwest Bowl)

2013        St. John Fisher.............. 33-25              St. John Fisher
2015        Cortland........................ 34-17              St. John Fisher
2016        St. John Fisher.............. 31-24              Cortland
2017        St. John Fisher.............. 35-28              St. John Fisher
2018        Cortland........................ 22-3                 Cortland
2019        Cortland........................ 42-37               St. John Fisher

2021        Cortland.........................55-3                 St. John Fisher
2022        Cortland.........................56-14               Cortland
2023        Cortland.........................42-14               St. John Fisher
2024        Cortland.........................49-0                 Cortland
2025        Cortland.........................31-7                 St. John Fisher