Photo By Logan Moyer, Sports Editor
By Matt Vargo
The football team fought hard but fell to defending national champions Cortland in a close 40-38 contest on Saturday afternoon at Doug Arthur Stadium.
The game started off very well for the River Hawks (2-1) as they jumped out to a 24-7 lead in the first 20 minutes of the game as the offense scored on their first four possessions. It started with three straight long touchdown drives with Kyle Howes, Rahshan La Mons and Chris Bookter all finding the end zone.
However, Cortland (3-0) turned the tide with back-to-back touchdown drives of over 75 yards that both ended in a Zac Boyes rushing touchdown sandwiched between a Susquehanna punt. This cut the River Hawks’ lead to 24-20 going into halftime.
“We got off to the fast start that we were looking for,” Susquehanna coach Tom Perkovich said. “But we knew it was only a matter of time before they found their footing and adjusted, and that’s exactly what they did.”
The Red Dragons kept their momentum out of the break with another touchdown drive midway through the third quarter to take their first lead of the game on a 3-yard touchdown run by Ethan Gallo.
Quarterback Josh Ehrlich and the offense responded with a 44-yard touchdown catch from Bookter to give Susquehanna a 31-27 lead going into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth frame, the defending champions began to wear the 11th-ranked River Hawks out. Boyes and Gallo continued to gash the defense on the ground with Gallo getting his second touchdown of the day to make it 33-31 Cortland with 10:51 to go. After a Susquehanna punt, it looked like it was all over until a Gallo fumble at the goal line gave the River Hawk offense a chance with 3:26 remaining and all three timeouts.
That chance didn’t last long as Ehrlich was strip sacked on the next play by Nick Lardaro and the Red Dragons recovered, and with the ball back at the Susquehanna 19-yard line, they punched it in with Gallo’s third touchdown of the day making it 40-31 with 2:20 left. On their next drive, the River Hawks drove for a touchdown with 31 seconds remaining to make it a two-point game, but failed the onside kick, sealing the 40-38 defeat.
Ehrlich played well, throwing for 319 yards and four touchdowns. La Mons continued his impressive rookie season, rushing for 122 yards, while Howes eclipsed the century mark again with 135 receiving yards.
It was defense and special teams that hurt SU the most. The special teams unit gave up a touchdown for the third straight week, with Jaden Alfano-St. John taking a kickoff 101 yards for a score in the first quarter. The defense allowed 257 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns, which allowed Cortland to win the time of possession battle with 34:38 compared to 25:22 for the River Hawks.
“It’s disappointing,” Perkovich said. “I felt like we did a good job against the pass, which was their main strength, but they found other ways to move the ball against us. We still got to fix the special teams and clean up some the penalties, but despite all that we still had a chance to win the game at the end.”
Susquehanna now heads on the road for the first time this season as they travel to Western New England, a team they beat last year 26-18 at home, on Saturday Sept. 28 with kickoff set for 1 p.m. at Golden Bear Stadium.