Gameday 10/16/04 - Game #6 Cortland

Homecoming Cortland game photos Photos courtesy of Frank Spitale Photos by Tom Wilson

Profs Block Red Dragons 34-33 Extra point block # 50 Chinedu Njoku. It helped preserve the one-point victory. The Red Dragons were up 33-27 late in the game. Photo by Frank Spitale Joe D'Imperio had the game winning TD on a 41-yard catch and run. Photo by Frank Spitale. By Tom Wilson JT@rowanfootball.com Mike Orihel passed for 310 yards and four touchdowns to lead Rowan University over conference opponent Cortland, 34-33 at John Page Field on Homecoming. Orihel threw a 41-yard TD pass to Joe D'Imperio who slipped through two Cortland defenders and raced into the end zone untouched with 2:15 left to tie the score at 33. Damian Shaddow kicked the extra point for the win. Cortland advanced to the Rowan 27 yard line on the next drive. An errant shotgun snap was fumbled by Red Dragons' quarterback Alex Smith. Rowan linebacker Mike Seidenberg recovered the fumble. Orihel was able to down the ball four times to end the game. "We had a lot of motivation on that last drive. Every conference game from now on is a championship game, so we didn't want to let the offense down," said Seidenberg. Orihel made 22 completions in 43 attempts. Phil Silva led the receivers with eight catches for 112 yards and one touchdown. D'Imperio ended the game with 81 yards with seven receptions. Pat Thompson rushed for 92 yards on 16 carries. "Its big and [the win] means a lot. We are in the driver's seat, and we need to take it from here," said Silva. Rowan has an overall record of 4-2 and is undefeated in the New Jersey Athletic Conference with a 3-0 mark. The Profs are in first place in the conference standings. Cortland is 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the conference. For Cortland, Smith totaled 237 yards with 17 completions in 35 attempts and one touchdown. Tailback Steve Davis compiled 153 yards in 33 attempts and three touchdowns. Paul DeSantis totaled 77 receiving yards with five catches. On the Profs' defense, cornerback Tim Harrison compiled 13 tackles with 12 solo stops, one interception and two pass breakups. Linebacker Mike Seidenberg followed with 11 tackles (9-2). Linebackers Randy Tosh and Mike McClain each added nine tackles. Safety Josh Jablonski led the Cortland defense with 12 tackles (4-8) and one interception. Linebacker Matt Montpetit and safety Stef Sair contributed with eight (5-3) and seven (4-3) tackles respectively. At the half, Rowan had a 20-7 advantage. Cortland came back with two touchdowns in the third and one in the fourth to lead 27-20. In the third, Smith threw a 22-yard TD pass to Anthony Morat (3:42) and safety Dave Aurelio had a 12-yard interception return (3:26). Morat's TD drive was only five plays, 32 yards. It started when lineman Bryan Murphy (so. Bethpage, NY/Bethpage) recovered Orihel's fumble after he was sacked by Montpetit. On the Profs' next drive, Aurelio intercepted Orihel's pass on the first play after a Rowan penalty of five yards for false start. Davis scored with a one yard run in the fourth (10:27) which was his second TD of the game. The play before the touchdown, Davis carried the ball 45 yards. The drive covered 53 yards in three plays, the first was a seven yard pass from Smith to tight end Tony Romano. At 9:49, Tyree Jackson had a 55-yard touchdown reception and Shaddow's kick tied the game. Jackson had a 20-yard kickoff return to the Rowan 34 to start the drive and a four-yard catch the play before the TD. His touchdown drive only took four plays, 66 yards. Davis put Cortland up 33-27 with a two yard run with 3:52 left. Chinedu Njoku blocked the PAT. The drive covered 64 yards in seven plays. In the drive, DeSantis had two receptions of 21 and 35 yards. "You have to give them credit, they did a great job adjusting to us," said Phil Silva. "We expected [Cortland] to be very disciplined coming in. We knew they were gonna play us hard like they usually do," said Seidenberg. In the first quarter, Rowan and Cortland exchanged touchdowns. Jackson had the Profs' first TD with a 10-yard catch while Davis scored with a 17-yard carry. Rowan scored on its first drive that spanned 86 yards in six plays. Thompson contributed with two carries for 30 yards and tight end Brian Jenkins added a 24-yard reception. Cortland would score on its third drive of eight plays, 72 yards. Neal Heaton's 32-yard catch gave the Red Dragons a first down on the Rowan 40. In the drive, Davis also had an 11-yard run. End Keith Heimerl put the Profs up 14-7 in the second quarter (4:34) with a 45-yard interception return and Silva had a 20-yard TD catch (0:32). Silva totaled 45 yards with three catches in the drive. Cortland had 12 penalties for 110 yards in the contest, including 35 yards in one second-quarter series that cost the Red Dragons a scoring opportunity. A 28-yard pass from Smith to freshman tight end Kevin McGuigan moved the ball to the Rowan 13-yard line. After a 1-yard Davis run, however, Cortland was assessed a 15-yard personal foul penalty, followed by a 5-yard false start and, two plays later, a 15-yard clipping penalty to move the Red Dragons out of field goal range. "It's a disappointment because we just got all the penalties. We have to play a cleaner game against a good team like Rowan. If anything we've certainly shown that we've grown substantially, however it's the third loss this season and it hurts," said Cortland head coach Dan Mac Neill. "It's the NJAC, and we beat each other up. "That's the problem, its one of the strongest leagues in the country." " I know it, I live it from week -to-week." Two warriors going at it today, and when you play a big game like this you have to play it clean without major penalties," Mac Neill continued. "What hurt [Cortland] was the personal fouls and frustration on their part. They had 15 yard penalties at crucial points in the game," agreed Rowan head coach Jay Accorsi. "In the end it was a great job of our players' fighting through adversity, offensively having Michael [Orihel back from injury], it took him a while to adjust and he did. We made the big plays when we had to," Accorsi said.

Path to NJAC Title goes thru Cortland By Tom Wilson JT@rowanfootball.com Last year, Rowan won 34-31 in overtime at Cortland. The last victory for the Red Dragons was in 2001 when they came from behind to defeat the Profs, 32-31. Rowan had a 34-31 win in overtime at Cortland. Pat Thompson completed a halfback option pass of 16 yards to Joe D’Imperio for the winning touchdown. Ryan DeCamp had a 43-yard field goal on Cortland’s first drive in overtime. Rowan led 21-6 at the half and Cortland came back to lead 28-21 in the fourth quarter. Thompson scored with a two yard run with 1:40 left and Damian Shaddow kicked the PAT for a tie game. Quarterback Mike Orihel passed for 269 yards with 24 completions (38 attempts) and three TDs. Thompson ended the game with 180 yards on 28 carries. For Cortland, J.J. Tutwiler had 15 completions (32 attempts), 213 yards and one TD. He also scored with a two yard run. DeCamp kicked two field goals of 37 and 25 yards in regulation. Cortland won at Montclair State, 16-12 (Oct. 2). MSU had a 9-0 advantage at the half and added a field goal in the third quarter. The Red Dragons’ first points were a 46 field goal by Ryan DeCamp. Quarterback Alex Smith scored with an 11 yard run and trailed 12-10. In the final quarter, Steve Davis had a two yard run for the winning TD. Smith passed for 188 yards with 17 completions in 31 attempts. He also had 71 yards rushing with 11 attempts. Davis carried the ball 20 times for 79 yards. Neal Heaton led the receivers with six catches for 38 yards. Adam Haas, Chuck Eich and Dave D’Auerlio each had six tackles. This season, Smith has taken over for J.J. Tutwiler at quarterback. Tutwiler established several school records during his career. Smith has a 140.0 pass efficiency which is second in the conference. Tight end Tony Romano is averaging 15.1 yards per catch. Last year, Romano played in two games before missing the remainder of the season with an injury. Neal Heaton (10.4) was named to last year’s All-Conference first team. A NJAC second team selection, Davis leads the conference with 98.4 yards per game. He is joined in the backfield by fullback Matt Rickert with 5.2 yards per carry. Cortland is second in the conference in rushing offense (142.2) and third in scoring (26.6) and total offense (354.8). After a scoreless first quarter, VSU scored twice in the second stanza for a 14-0 lead at the half. End Aaron Knight forced a fumble and recovered it on the Rowan 32 yard line to setup the first TD drive. Fleming carried the ball the first two plays for six yards then Terry hit Jeter with a 26 yard touchdown pass at 13:30. The Trojans scored on their next drive which was five plays, 55 yards. At 9:12, Jones had a touchdown run of 11 yards. Musa Conteh kicked both extra points. In the NJAC, the Red Dragons are ranked second in rushing defense (89.2) and third in scoring defense (20.4). Linebacker Matt Montpetit received NJAC honorable mention last year as a rookie along with safety Stef Sair. Haas is the sack leader with 5.5 for a loss of 51 yards. Last year, Eich was a NJAC second team selection at linebacker. Orihel is listed on the two-deep to be back in action this week. It looks like center Mike Coghan will still be out with a high ankle sprain. The Red Dragons have come on strong since losing a close one to TCNJ. The Profs should take this one, just because they don't want me to try and figure out NJAC tie breaker scenarios.

 

 

Cortland 3 - 3	33
at
Rowan	34
Homecoming
Oct 16, 2004 John Page Field Glassboro, NJ 2:00 PM
Listen to the Game on Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM Pregame Show 1PM

NJAC Week #7

2004 NJAC Standings