ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University football team won its final home game of the season, 24-17 over Utica College in Empire 8 action on Saturday afternoon from Yunevich Stadium, sending its seniors off with the 'W' on Senior Day.
 
"I am proud of how our guys competed today," Head Coach Bob Rankl said. "It was great to see the offense get off to a quick start and I thought the defense played well and had some opportunistic turnovers. We have tried to focus on getting better each week and I believe we have done that. We are excited to get an opportunity to travel to Brockport to compete against a very good team on the road."
 
The Saxons (5-4, 4-1 Empire 8) got the go-ahead score that ultimately became the game-winner when Kevin Bragaglia (Holbrook, NY/Sachem North) snuck past the front line and muscled past the Pioneer secondary for a 10-yard score near the end of the first half.
 
The game came down to the Saxon defense as they only allowed the Utica offense to score off a field goal in the second half. The field goal was from 26 yards out to cap off an 11-play, 63-yard drive. The nail in the coffin for the Pioneers occurred shortly after a missed field goal from AU with 4:12 remaining in the game.
 
Utica began what would be their final drive of the day at their own 22-yard line. After inching the ball up the field to the Alfred 43-yard line, the Pioneers took a timeout with 1:08 remaining in the game. Coming out of the timeout, Rodney Bailey (Buffalo, NY/Hutchinson Central Tech) sacked Sonny Badyna for a loss of 13 yards and forced the ball out of his control where Michael Chaparro III (Suffolk, NY/Sachem North) recovered the ball, and essentially ended the game.
 
AU got their quickest score of the season from the start of the contest. After a touchback on the kickoff from Utica, Zuke Smith (Kane, PA/Kane Area) scored a 75-yard touchdown on a designed quarterback keeper. After the Dustin McCaslin (Ashville, NY/Chautauqua Lake) PAT, the Saxons had the early 7-0 lead and the momentum.
 
The Saxons then had to elect to go for a long field goal from McCaslin. From 48 yards out, with 2:52 remaining in the first quarter, the senior kicker split the uprights with distance to spare, making it a 10-0 Saxon lead. Utica responded on the next drive with its first score of the day, bringing the score to 10-7.
 
AU tacked on another two scores as Smith had his second rushing touchdown of the game to open the second quarter, completing a 10-play, 79-yard drive. The next score was the game-winner by Bragaglia just before Utica ended the half with the last touchdown of the day.
 
Smith had the most yards of offense on the day, having gone 11-for-28 for 135 yards passing and adding his 132 net rushing yards with two rushing TD's. Max Freeman IV (Painted Post, NY/Corning-Painted Post) followed with 132 yards rushing as well. Bragaglia added 71 yards to total 335 yards rushing, in comparison to UC's 17 yards.
 
Jacob Kelsey (Hilton, NY/Hilton) led all receivers with three catches for 56 yards, including a long of 27 yards.
 
Joe Copp (Minoa, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa) had a game-high eight tackles with seven solo. He also had 2.5 tackles for a loss of 19 yards, including a sack of 13 yards. Adam Mietz (Akron, NY/Akron) picked another ball on the year for AU's lone interception. Christopher Cox (Rochester, NY/Pittsford-Sutherland) and Bailey both forced fumbles for AU while Danny Quinones (Endicott, NY/Union-Endicott) joined Chaparro in the fumbles-recovered stat column.
 
The Saxons will next close out the regular season with a road contest at SUNY Brockport on Saturday, November 13 at 12:00pm.