SUNY CORTLAND FOOTBALL NOTES
Cortland Red Dragons (1-0) vs. Union Garnet Chargers (0-1)
Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026; Noon; Frank Bailey Field; Schenectady, N.Y.

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THE MATCHUP: The Cortland football team, ranked 24th nationally by both D3football.com and the AFCA, travels to Union College for a non-league contest. The game features two defending conference champions - Cortland in the Empire 8 and Union in the Liberty League.
 
THE SERIES: Cortland and Union have played four times previously, with Cortland leading the series, 3-1. The first three meetings came in the postseason; Union beat Cortland in the first round of the 1989 NCAA Division III playoffs, 42-14, in Schenectady. Then known as the Dutchmen (the school changed its nickname to Garnet Chargers in 2023), Union was the national runner-up that season. Cortland defeated Union in the 2007 ECAC Northeast Bowl at Cortland, 23-7, as well as at Union, 35-28, in the 2017 New York Bowl.
 
Last season, Cortland hosted Union in mid-September and the Red Dragons outscored the Garnet Chargers 20-0 in the fourth quarter on the way to a 30-6 victory. Quarterback Mike Rescigno ran 16 times for 144 yards and a touchdown and threw a TD pass, and Ethan Gallo rushed 23 times for 83 yards and two touchdowns. Jayson Zeva caught a TD pass and Cole Callard made a 37-yard field goal. Anthony Luciano turned in the game's key defensive play, forcing a fumble and recovering it in the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter and Cortland clinging to a 10-6 lead. Luciano, Nazair Jean-Lubin, Allen  Flore Jr. and Matt  Lotter registered interceptions, and Aidan Lochner led the team with 11 tackles.
 
Union quarterback Patch Flanagan carried the ball 12 times for 106 yards and completed 19-of-28 passes for 159 yards. Michael Dinardo caught seven passes, and Nick Savini posted a game-high nine tackles and accounted for Union's lone score with a 64-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter.
 
CORTLAND CAPSULE: Cortland opened its season with a 28-18 non-league win at Grove City last Saturday, avenging a home loss to the Wolverines from the 2025 season opener. The Red Dragons built a 28-3 lead after three quarters before holding off a Grove City rally in the fourth.
 
Quarterback Mike Resicgno was 12-of-20 passing for 180 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions, and he ran 16 times for 83 yards and two scores. Ethan Gallo rushed for 106 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown, on 14 carries, and Lucas Singleton gained 59 yards on five rushes. Jayson Zeva caught a TD pass, and Jacque LaPrarie's 57-yard reception set up Cortland's third touchdown.
 
Aidan Lochner led Cortland with 10 tackles and a forced fumble. His forced fumble resulted in a recovery by Chris Carter Jr. in Cortland territory early in the second quarter with the Red Dragons up 14-0. Nazair Jean-Lubin intercepted a pass on Grove City's final drive to seal the victory. Anthony Luciano finished with seven tackles and Joe Galea made six tackles, two for loss. Cole Callard hit all four of his PAT kicks, extending his consecutive PAT streak to 56 (he was 52-for-52 as a freshman last year). Gavin Dandrea averaged 40.5 yards on four punts.
 
Tom Blumenauer is in his second season as Cortland's head coach and is currently 9-3 (.750) 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...UNION COLLEGE:  Union suffered a tough loss in its season opener last Saturday, falling to Susquehanna at home, 23-17 in overtime. Susquehanna tied the game on a 34-yard TD pass with two seconds left in regulation, and the River Hawks won the game on a 65-yard blocked field goal return for a score in the first overtime period.
 
Union led 3-0 at halftime after a Francesco Pileggi 27-yard field goal, and Cole Brisson's 15-yard TD pass to Owen Corrigan made it 10-0 late in the third. The Garnet Chargers went up 17-7 with 7:46 left in regulation on a Trey Rezendes 44-yard interception return for a score.
 
Brisson finished 18-of-33 passing for 141 yards and a score but was intercepted three times. He also led Union with 37 rushing yards on 13 carries. Kaden Gore caught five passes for 60 yards. Alex Carucci and Jordan Black each totaled eight tackles, with Carucci adding two pass breakups. Nathan Bearrows averaged 40.2 yards on six punts.
 
Brisson was Union's backup quarterback last season and completed 6-of-8 passes for 95 yards in six games. Gil Rivera was the team's top receiver in 2025 with 48 catches for 634 yards. John Droggitis led the team with 74 tackles, and Pileggi was 6-for-7 on field goal attempts and 32-of-35 on PAT kicks.
 
Jon Drach is in his third season as Union's head coach and has a record of 11-11 (.500). The team was 3-7 in his first year in 2024, but last season rebounded to finish 8-3 overall, including a 7-0 mark in the Liberty League to win the league title and earn an NCAA tournament berth. Drach came to Union after a six-year stint at Wilkes University, where he took over a team that went 0-10 the previous season and led the Colonels to a 32-20 overall record in five years. Wilkes earned its first postseason win in 17 years with a win in the 2023 Cape Henry Bowl. Drach also spent 11 seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Hobart College. Drach is a 2004 alumnus of Western Michigan University. He was a three-year starting quarterback from 2001-03.
 
Union's coaching staff also features defensive coordinator Devin Smith, a former Cortland All-America defensive lineman who played from 2017-19 and 2021. Smith is in his third season as a full-time assistant coach and fourth season overall at Union.
 
NOTEBOOK:
 
* In 25 games played, Ethan Gallo has career totals of 1,977 rushing yards with 35 touchdowns along with two receiving touchdowns. He is 23 yards shy of becoming the 11th player in school history to reach the career 2,000-yard rushing mark. Gallo's 37 total touchdowns scored are tied for fourth in school history with Omar Darling (1994-95, 97-98). Cole Burgess (2018-19, 22-23) is next on the list at 38. Jaden AlfanoStJohn is the school leader with 61 touchdowns from 2021-24, and Dave Cook ranks second with 44 from 1981-84. Gallo's 222 points scored is tied for fifth at Cortland with Darling. Burgess is next with 228. AlfanoStJohn leads that category with 366 points, followed by kicker Mike Baloga (2022-24) with 298 and Cook with 268.
 
* Cortland opens the season with two road games - at Grove City last week and at Union this Saturday. Both are return games after hosting those schools in 2025, and the Union games are part of an Empire 8/Liberty League crossover scheduling agreement. Only once since 2009 has Cortland started the season with two road trips - the 2021 squad played games at Wittenberg and The College of New Jersey to begin a 10-0 regular season.
 
* Cortland has a 33-game Empire 8 winning streak dating back to late in the 2019 season. The Red Dragons have been a member of the Empire 8 since 2015. The Red Dragons won the outright league title and NCAA automatic bid in 2021 (6-0), 2022 (6-0), 2023 (6-0), 2024 (7-0) and 2025 (7-0) and were co-champions in both 2015 and 2019, earning an NCAA bid in 2015. Cortland also finished second or tied for second in the league in 2017 and 2018. Cortland previously competed in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) for 15 seasons from 2000-14 and finished in at least a tie for first place six times. Three current Empire 8 members - Cortland, Morrisville and Brockport - at one point played in the NJAC. Cortland, Morrisville and Alfred State are affiliate members of the E8 in football only. Brockport moved from affiliate to full-time status in the league in 2024. Alfred, Hartwick, St. John Fisher and Utica also are full conference members.
 
* Ravi Dass Jr. has returned four punts for touchdowns in three-plus seasons as a Red Dragon. He returned a punt 76 yards for score in a home win over Brockport last season that clinched Cortland's Empire 8 title. He holds the school record with an 83-yard punt return TD in a win at Randolph-Macon as a freshman in the 2023 NCAA semifinals. His other punt return TDs came at home versus Alfred University in 2023 and at Hilbert in 2024.
 
* Cortland and Union are two of only four New York schools to appear in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, the NCAA Division III championship game that originated in 1973. Cortland was the 2023 national champion in its first Stagg Bowl showing. Union finished as national runner-up in both 1983 and 1989. Ithaca made seven Stagg Bowl appearances between 1974 and 1991, winning titles in 1979, 1988 and 1991, and Wagner won the 1987 national title.
 
* Cortland is 6-5 all-time in overtime games, with the last a 32-26 home loss to Brockport in 2019. All 11 games were decided in the first extra session.


SCHEDULES/RESULTS:

CORTLAND (1-0)
 
Sept. 5            at Grove City (PA)................................. W 28-18
Sept. 12          at Union................................................. 12:00
Sept. 19          * HARTWICK......................................... 12:00
Sept. 26         * MORRISVILLE...................................... 1:00
Oct. 3             * at Utica.................................................. 1:00
Oct. 17            * at Alfred Univ. .................................... 12:00
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
 
UNION (0-1)
 
Sept. 5            SUSQUEHANNA (PA)........................... L 17-23 (OT)
Sept. 12          CORTLAND.......................................... 12:00
Sept. 19          at Morrisville.......................................... 12:00
Sept. 26         * BUFFALO ST. ...................................... 1:00
Oct. 2             * at St. Lawrence.................................... 7:00
Oct. 10           * at Hobart.............................................. 1:00
Oct. 24           * ITHACA................................................ 1:00
Oct. 31            * at Hilbert............................................. 12:00
Nov. 7            * ROCHESTER....................................... 1:00
Nov. 14           * at RPI................................................... 12:00
 
* Liberty League game      HOME GAMES IN CAPS

 CORTLAND vs. UNION – SERIES HISTORY
(Cortland leads 3-1)

Year     Winner............... Score          Site
1989     Union..................42-14            Union (NCAA First Round)
2007     Cortland............. 23-7              Cortland (ECAC Northeast Bowl)
2017     Cortland............. 35-28            Union (New York Bowl)
2025     Cortland............. 30-6              Cortland




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