The Hartwick College football team looks to avenge its 2007 season-opening loss at 2 p.m. Saturday, when the Hawks begin their 2008 schedule against non-conference foe Western New England at Wright Stadium.
Hartwick opened last season with a 48-21 loss at WNE but reached the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time as co-champions of the Empire 8 Conference. The Hawks shared the E8 title with St. John Fisher but received the conference's automatic NCAA bid via a regular-season victory over the Cardinals.
Hartwick clinched its piece of the E8 crown by winning the highest-scoring game in NCAA D-III history _ a 72-70 quadruple-overtime win at Utica _ on the last day of the 2007 regular season.
Seventh-year head coach Mark Carr will be led by 2007 Melberger Award winner and E8 Player of the Year Jason Boltus, a senior quarterback who threw for 3,986 yards and 36 touchdowns last fall. Boltus led NCAA D-III players in total offense (399.7 yards per game) and passing yards per game (362.4) as a junior.
Boltus also has his top receiver back from last season in senior Jack Phelan, who caught 73 passes for 1,628 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2007. A preseason All-American selection by Lindy's College Football, d3football.com and Consensus Draft Services Website this year, Phelan led NCAA D-III receivers in yards per game (148.0) as a junior.
Junior Noah Koreman, senior Max Meisel and sophomore Dan Gill are expected to bolster the receiving corps. All three players had four catches for 50 or more yards during last weekend's scrimmage at Iona.
Carr will attempt to fill the void at running back _ left by the graduation of Lindy Crea _ with former local high school standouts Tosh DeMulder (Unatego) and Nate Rockefeller (Delhi), along with Sean McKenna.
DeMulder rushed for 77 yards and two touchdowns against the Gaels last weekend.
Senior Justin Oelgeschlager is expected to lead the Hawks' defense. He had 10 tackles and an interception against Iona. Senior Zach Kerzner and junior James Walsh combined for 11 tackles and each had a sack in the scrimmage, which featured a combined 11 tackles from linebackers Dan Contrastano and Dan Martin.
The Hawks are 1-2 against WNE all-time. The Golden Bears won their first meeting, 9-7, at Hartwick in 1992. The following year, the Hawks won, 31-21, in Springfield.
{"HeadlineLight14"/}Cross Country
Early Bird Invitational
Oneonta State's men and women will open their season as hosts of the Early Bird Invitational at Fortin Park in the town of Oneonta. The men's race begins at 11 a.m., followed by the women's at 11:45 a.m.
Senior Marty Nicholson, junior Nick Pampena and sophomore Frank Pfaffenberger will lead a young but experienced group of returners and a solid group of newcomers for O-State's men, who lost all-region selection Alex Grout to graduation. Nicholson finished second among Oneonta runners and 70th overall at the NCAA Division III Atlantic Regional Meet last fall.
Sophomore Celia Alterio and juniors Amberlyn Mattice and Margaret Conlon are expected to lead the Red Dragons' women. Alterio and Mattice ran personal-bests at the Atlantic regionals.
{"HeadlineLight14"/}Field Hockey
O-State at home
Oneonta State (2-0) hosts its third of seven straight home games at 3 p.m. Saturday against Juniata on All College Field. First-year coach Kelly Kingsbury led Oneonta to a 3-2 overtime defeat of Alvernia in the Red Dragons' season opener and a 3-0 win over St. Lawrence last weekend.
Freshman Cassie O'Mara and senior Somer Shuffield had four points apiece to pace O-State. O'Mara, who earned SUNYAC Player of the Week honors, scored twice. Shuffield contributed a goal and two assists.
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