ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University football team held Hartwick College to zero points in the second half to come from behind and win on Homecoming Weekend, 24-21 in the Empire 8 Conference-opener at Yunevich Stadium.
 
The Saxons (2-3, 1-0 Empire 8) were facing a 21-10 halftime deficit as the Hawks (1-3, 0-2 Empire 8) scored three, unanswered touchdowns between the first and second quarters. The Hawks had an opportunity to tie the game at 24-all after putting together a strong final drive, going 74 yards that saw a fourth down conversion  and a third down conversion.
 
Instead of electing to go for a chip shot field goal to tie the game, Hartwick went for the win after they were stopped on third and one as Danny Quinones (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) and Michael Chaparro III (Suffolk, NY/Sachem North) tackled Davien Kuinlan at the two yard line, making it a one yard loss. Facing fourth and goal from the Saxons' two-yard line, Kyle Szokoli scrambled to the right, running away from Saxon linemen and threw a pass to Justin LoBasso in the endzone but was broken up by Tommy Vaughan (Ronkonkoma, NY/Sachem North) for the Saxons' second win in a row.
 
"We are excited about winning this football game in front of so many alumni in attendance tonight," Head Coach Bob Rankl said. "We are also very excited about the opportunity to play a very good St. John Fisher team next week. Our focus right now is winning one game at a time and hopefully getting back to .500 this time next week."
 
The Saxons got things started on the right foot, early in the game. AU kicked to the Hawks to begin the game and on the second play of the game, Szokoli completed a pass to Kuinlan who was hit by Jeremiah Young (Buffalo, NY/Canisius), popping the ball out and being recovered just before it rolled out of bounds by Vaughan, giving AU possession in Hartwick territory on the 26 yard line. After two Kevin Bragaglia (Holbrook, NY/Sachem North) runs, quarterback Zuke Smith (Kane, PA/Kane Area) found Jacob Kelsey (Hilton, NY/Hilton) in the endzone for a 21-yard touchdown pass. After a Dustin McCaslin (Ashville, NY/Chautauqua Lake) PAT, the Saxons held a 7-0 lead.
 
Szokoli threw three touchdown passes to give the Hawks a 21-7 lead near the end of the second quarter. The Saxons drove the ball down close enough for McCaslin to soar in a 35-yard field goal as time expired, entering halftime with a 21-10 Hartwick lead.
 
McCaslin hit another field goal to open up the scoring in the second half, hitting a 24-yarder making it a 21-13 game. Smith threw another touchdown pass later in the third quarter as he found Zach Leinenbach (Penfield, NY/Penfield) for a 10-yard score, making it 21-19. Smith then ran in his own 2-point conversion to tie the game at 21.
 
Alfred's final offensive drive of the game ended in yet another McCaslin field goal, this time from 28 yards out that would go on to be the game-winning score.
 
Hartwick's Szokoli had one yard more than Smith in passing yards, throwing for 206 yards on 22 attempts while Smith had 205 on 16 attempts. AU had the advantage on the ground with 149 yards rushing compared to the Hawks' 119. Kuinlan led the game for Hartwick with 115 net yards while Bragaglia had 101, never taking a loss for AU. Darviae Gray (Buffalo, NY/Amherst Central) had a game-high 115 yards receiving on eight catches.
 
Defensively, it was Joe Copp (Minoa, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) who led with a game-high 12 tackles as well as adding two pass breakups.
 
The Saxons will next head to St. John Fisher College on Saturday, October 16 for a 1:00pm kickoff in Empire 8 action.