(Photo's courtesy of Dan Padavona)
The Cortland Red Dragons defeated The College of New Jersey in their final regular season home game of the regular season on Saturday, 30-7. The Red Dragons defense set the tone once again in this game holding the opposition to 190 yards of total offense. In seven of eight games this season the Cortland defense has held opponents to under 20 points or less. The Red Dragons also rushed for 207 yards compared to 76 for the Lions. Justin Autera had 98 yards rushing on four punt returns as well as 67 yards on 5 carries in the backfield. Alex Smith had two touchdowns passes. Anthony Guiliano threw a touchdown pass to Bill Smith on shovel throw out of the “Wildcat” formation. Marc Corrado made a season high 40-yard field goal. Cortland improved their record to 6-2 overall in the NJAC while The College of New Jersey fell to 3-4. Cortland will take on the Brockport on the road this Saturday at 1 p.m. in their final NJAC game of the regular season. Head coach Dan MacNeill expressed his thoughts and opinions on last week’s victory over William Paterson in his weekly interview on “Into the Fire” on WSUC 90.5 FM.
Q: The Red Dragons defense once again dominated the opposition this game holding the Lions to 190 yards of total offense. The Lions came into Saturday averaging 38.3 points per game. In your opinion what has been the key ingredient in the success of this defense that has now held opponents to under 20 points or less in seven of eight games?
A: Our defensive statistics are even better than they seem when you factor in points given up on special teams. The defense has actually given up under 19 points or less in seven of eight games this season. We have done a great job defensively living up to the goal that we set at the beginning of each season. Our defense is holding opposing offenses down with great execution as a collective unit. We have a super bunch of young men playing on our defense this season. I’ve been coaching here now for thirteen season. This defense may be in my opinion the best defense I have ever coached here and I’ve coached some talented defenses during my time here.
Q: The Cortland offense has seen quite a few changes at the skill positions from the start of the season. Dom Sair has moved over from full back to the tail back position. Sair rushed for 86 yards last week with 502 yards on the season in 8 games played. Justin Autera has now emerged on the scene as this change of pace kind of running back. Autera rushed for 67 yards on 5 carries as well as returned 4 punts for 98 yards. Do you feel that offense has now added another dimension as well as gotten deeper from the start of the season with the sudden emergence of Justin Autera?
A: Justin is a big playmaker for our team and he has stepped forward to emerge as one of the most dynamic players on our offense. He has a brilliant future with this team. Justin has this natural knack of knowing where he is on the field to allow his blockers to set up holes for him to run through. Justin has definitely added another dimension to our offense that is tough to stop. I don’t think anyone outside of this program will understand all the adversity we faced to change our offense after all the injuries in order to win football games. I mean last week we lost our starting tight end (Eddie Spillett) before the game in warm-ups. I have never seen that before in all my time spent coaching this team. We have faced quite a few challenges this season offensively this season due to injuries. We have been fortunate enough to have some warriors on our team step up to the fill the voids on offense as we look to become stronger as the season progresses.
Q: Marc Corrado made field goals from twenty-two and thirty-five yards out against the William Paterson Pioneers in week seven. Corrado made a 40-yard field goal, his longest on the season last week against the Lions. In the beginning of the season you had discussed your concerns in the Red Dragons kicking game. What has Marc Corrado improved on as the season has progressed that has gained your trust in utilizing his kicking game?
A: As the rest of the team has grown from the start of the season, so has Marc Corrado. We regret as a coaching staff in not utilizing Marc kicking game against William Paterson in week seven. In the second half of the game verses William Paterson we had failed on quite a few fourth down attempts. We now realize we probably should have had Marc come in to try attempts field goals with the recent confidence he has had kicking the ball. As a coaching staff we have to utilize Marc’s kicking ability as the season progresses to add another vital weapon to our offense.
Q: Anthony Guiliano threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Eric Hajnos out of the “Wildcat” formation in week seven against the William Paterson Pioneers. On Saturday, Guiliano threw a 4-yard touchdown pass out of the “Wildcat” to Bill Smith. The “Wildcat” has become a new hybrid formation that has gotten extremely popular at the Division I level as well as the NFL. Has the “Wildcat” now become an instrumental part of the Red Dragons offense?
A: I would definitely say that this new formation we have been using over the past few weeks has become a vital part of our offense. Under our circumstances we don’t exactly call this formation the “Wildcat.” In our situation this new formation brings our offense the opportunity to add another great skill position to the field of play. The opposing defenses now have to prepare for another running back that has the ability to throw the ball as well as the run the ball at any given time. This formation is very tough to defend, but is also very limited at times. Even though we have lost some talented skill players on the offensive side of the ball our schemes seem very difficult for opposing teams to defend.
Q: Alex Smith was granted one final season of eligibility a little over a month ago to help the Red Dragons at the quarterback position after the loss of Dan Pitcher. Hudson Woodward went down week five against Montclair State with a severely separated shoulder. Smith has now played in four games as well as start in three of them. On Saturday Smith threw for 86 yards and 2 touchdowns. He has thrown for 311 yards and 3 touchdowns. How do you evaluate Smith’s progression so far?
A: With every snap under center that Alex takes he seems to be getting back to the old form that we know. The coaching staff is very happy with the development of Alex since he has returned. Our offense continues to grow as Alex progresses, now with that being said we are very cautious with him. We are cautious with Alex due to the fact that he is the last “seasoned” quarterback we have on the roster. As a coaching staff we try to be careful in using what I would say as “less risky” plays in order to keep Alex out of harm’s way.
Q: Cortland defeated Brockport, 42-30 at home last season in week nine to finish NJAC play undefeated. This season the Red Dragons sit in third place in the NJAC with a 6-2 record while the Golden Eagles lie in 7th place with a 2-5 record. The Golden Eagles have struggled defensively all season giving up 38.6 per game as well as averaging 35.1 points scored per game. Do you feel that this game will be good opportunity for the Red Dragons offense to break out with struggles of the Golden Eagles defense?
A: I would definitely agree that our offense has the opportunity to break out this week. When you take a look statistically at Brockport they are at the top on offensive and at the bottom on defense if all the games that they’ve played this season are comparable. Statistics tell a story, but when two teams matchup it can be a totally different story. Brockport has always played us very tough over the past few years. Brockport’s defense has struggled and we need to harp on that. I also like our special teams to play a big factor this week as they always do. We are hoping to have history repeat itself like last season as we move look to build more momentum for the final game regular season of the year.
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