CORTLAND, N.Y.—Cortland found the end zone on each of its first four possessions and cruised to a 59-21 victory over visiting Buffalo State this afternoon in a non-conference matchup.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Cortland - 59, Buffalo State – 21
LOCATION: SUNY Cortland Stadium – Cortland, N.Y.
RECORDS: Cortland (3-0), Buffalo State (0-4)
INSIDE THE BENGAL BOX SCORE
- Martin Bailey (Buffalo/Kenmore West) paced Buffalo State's offense with 84 yards on 21 carries and scored a touchdown.
- Senior quarterback Zak Ciezki (Cheektowaga/Cheektowaga) was 18 of 29 for 131 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
- Jordan Evert (Amherst/Sweet Home) finished with nine catches for 66 yards and a score.
- Gino Bonagura (Lindenhurst/Lindenhurst) led the Bengals' defense with 20 tackles and a pick-6, while Devin Delmont (Blasdell/St. Francis) finished with 11 stops, including 1.5 for loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Cortland opened the game with a 62-yard kick return by Angelo Foster and scored five plays later on a 3-yard run by Tyrell Plaza.
- Buffalo State answered on its first possession, going 61 yards on nine plays capped by a 3-yard scoring run by Bailey.
- Cortland's offense had its way on each of its next three possessions, however, scoring on a 1-yard run by Zach Tripodi, a 1-yard run by Tai-sean Dodd, and a 22-yard pass from Brett Segala to Jason Carlock to take a 28-7 lead early in the second quarter.
- The Red Dragons' offense was finally stopped on its fifth possession, when Bonagura intercepted Cegala and returned it 37 yards to the house to cut the deficit to 28-14 with 3:11 remaining in the first half.
- Cortland tacked on a 33-yard Patrick Luby field goal and after a quick three-and-out by the Bengals, the Red Dragons added a 28-yard touchdown by Garlock to lead 38-14 at halftime.
- The Red Dragons continued to move the ball with ease to start the second half, ending its first possession in the end zone after a 14-yard run by Tripodi.
- Evert's 9-yard scoring grab in the middle of the third quarter completed the scoring for the Bengals, and Cortland added a 4-yard scoring run by Dodd and a 10-yard run by Tommy Heuer to finish the scoring in the fourth quarter.
- The Red Dragons finished with 580 yards of total offense, including 289 on the ground and 291 through the air.
- Buffalo State finished with just 280 total yards.
FOR THE FOES
- Segala was 21 of 30 for 270 with two touchdowns and an interception. Heuer was 2 for 2 for 21 yards.
- Tripodi finished with 131 rushing yards on 15 tries with two scores.
- Carlock caught six passes covering 130 yards with two touchdowns.
UP NEXT
Buffalo State will have a bye next week before returning to action at Ithaca on Oct. 12.