Cortland, NY (10/11/08)  –  Senior Andrew Giuliano's (Thornwood/Westlake) 8-yard touchdown run broke a 17-17 tie with one minute, 38 seconds remaining as Cortland edged Montclair State, 23-17, in a battle of unbeaten teams. The Red Dragons, ranked 10th nationally in Division III by the AFCA and 14th by D3football.com, improved its record to 5-0, both overall and in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). Montclair, ranked 21st by the AFCA and among the "others receiving votes" in D3football.com's poll, drops to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the NJAC.

Cortland senior Ray Miles (Port Byron) completed 19-of-30 passes for 302 yards and two touchdowns. He finished two yards short of his career single-game high. Senior Eric Hajnos (Grand Island) caught six passes for 119 yards and a touchdown and senior Zacc Guaragno (Lansing) finished with six receptions for 112 yards and a score.

Graduate student linebacker Josh Jablonski (West Seneca/West Seneca West) and sophomore linebacker Brian Haas (East Aurora/St. Francis) led the Red Dragons with nine tackles each. Senior defensive end Ben Nagle (Rochester/Aquinas Institute) recorded 1.5 of Cortland's five sacks, finished with six tackles and blocked a field goal midway through the fourth quarter to keep the game tied.

Junior JEFF BLISS (New Milford, NJ) rushed for two touchdowns for Montclair State. He scored the first touchdown of the game on a 1-yard run and tied the game with a 7-yard run with 11:03 remaining. That touchdown came on the first play after freshman YESSY TEJADA (Weehawken, NJ/St. Joseph's (Palisades)) returned a punt 80 yards to the Cortland 7-yard line.

Montclair sophomore RYAN BOYSEN (Freehold, NJ/St. Peter's Prep), making his first start at quarterback for the Red Hawks, passed for 148 yards, although he completed only 12-of-29 passes. Junior defensive lineman CHRIS MERKLE (Nutley, NJ) led the team with 10 tackles, 1.5 for lost yardage, and senior linebacker DAN KRAINSKI (Sayreville, NJ) finished with seven stops, six solo.

Cortland outgained Montclair in total offense, 357-215. Both teams effectively stopped the other's rushing attacks. Montclair held Cortland to 55 rushing yards on 31 attempts (1.8 per attempt), including only 40 yards on 23 carries for Giuliano, who entered the game averaging 162.5 yards per game. Cortland, with the help of the five sacks, limited Montclair to 67 rushing yards on 36 attempts (1.9 per carry). Bliss, who entered the game averaging 104.2 yards per game, was held to 58 yards. on 19 carries.

The guests struck first with a 9-play, 64-yard drive on their second possession of the game. OMAR SEVILLA (North Bergen, NJ) turned a short pass into a 21-yard gain to the 1-yard line to set up Bliss' first touchdown run.

Cortland freshman Bryan Davey (Amsterdam) returned the ensuing kickoff 42 yards into Montclair territory to set up a 31-yard drive that culminated with a Jeffrey Lang (Dryden) 33-yard field goal. Cortland started its next possession at midfield and scored two plays later on a 47-yard pass from Miles to Hajnos over the Montclair secondary.

Late in the first half, the Red Hawks drove from their own 20-yard line deep into Cortland territory. With 1st-and-goal on the 6-yard line, Boysen threw an incomplete pass on first down and ran for four yards on second down. A Bliss run around right end on third down was stopped by Cortland safety Chris Hanlon (Patchogue/Patchogue-Medford) at the 1-yard line and the Red Hawks settled for a MARCO CAPOZZOLI (Bloomfield, NJ/St. Joseph's) 18-yard field goal with 12 seconds left and the teams were tied 10-10 at halftime.

Cortland regained the lead on the opening possession of the third quarter. The Red Dragons drove 72 yards in 12 plays, prolonged by a pass interference call on a 4th-and-9 incompletion from the Montclair 27-yard line. Miles hit Guaragno on a 13-yard touchdown pass three plays later and Cortland led 17-10.

Cortland missed a chance to extend its lead when Lang missed a 45-yard field goal on the final play of the third quarter. A few minutes later, Tejada's 80-yard punt return set up Bliss for the game-tying run. On Cortland's next possesion, Montclair forced a Giuliano fumble at the Red Dragon 34-yard line and BRIAN TWEER (Butler, NJ) returned the ball to the 9-yard line.

After a Boysen run to the 4-yard line, the Cortland defense, however, pushed Montclair backwards with back-to-back sacks - the first by Jablonski and Nagle for nine yards and the second by Haas and Bryan Wiley (Cape Vincent/Thousand Islands) for five yards. A substitution infraction penalty cost Montclair an additional five yards and Capozzoli's 40-yard field goal was blocked by Nagle with 8:10 left.

Cortland appeared to get into prime scoring position when Guaragno caught a 32-yard pass at the Montclair 5-yard line, but defensive back MARIO MCLEAN (Boonton, NJ/Montville) stripped the ball from Guaragno after the catch to give Montclair the ball back.

The Red Dragons' winning drive started at their own 42-yard line. Miles hit Mike Lane (White Plains) on a 14-yard pass on 3rd-and-7 from the Cortland 45-yard line to keep the drive going and a 30-yard pass to Hajnos two plays later moved the ball to the 8-yard line with 1:43 left. On the next play, Giuliano ran practically untouched up the middle for the tiebreaking touchdown. The extra point, however, was blocked by DARWIN NOEL (West Orange, NJ) to keep Montclair's deficit at six points.

The Red Hawks' final drive started at their own 30-yard line. Boysen found Sevilla for a 24-yard pass on 4th-and-19 from the Montclair 38-yard line and a 12-yard pass to Tejada moved the ball to the 26-yard line with 22 seconds remaining. Boysen's final four passes, however, fell incomplete and Cortland took a knee with two seconds left to end the game.