Box Score
Box score

Cortland, NY … The College of New Jersey football team rattled off 14 unanswered points in the second half, but it was not enough as they dropped a 23-20 decision at the hands of SUNY Cortland in a New Jersey Athletic Conference match-up in Cortland, NY.
 
The Lions (5-3, 4-3 NJAC) lost their third straight road game, falling out of the NJAC title race. They battled their way back into the game, but a 23-6 deficit before halftime proved to be too much to overcome in enemy territory.
 
The Red Dragons (6-2, 6-2 NJAC) kept their post-season hopes alive with the victory, and have now won three consecutive games.
 
TCNJ was slow to start on offense and quickly trailed 14-0 in the opening period. Cortland's Bronson Greene rushed for a pair of short touchdown runs to take command of the game early.
 
The Lions received a tremendous boost from their special teams for the second straight week. Early in the second period, sophomore Andrew Carbone (Hacketstown, NJ/Hacketstown) blocked a punt at the Red Dragons 17-yard line. Senior Nicholas Lukaszewicz (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) recovered the football at the three-yard line and rumbled in for a touchdown to cut the margin to 14-6.
 
The point-after attempt, however, was blocked as Cortland's D.J. Romano picked up the ball and went the distance to push the lead to 16-6.
 
Red Dragon quarterback Dan Pitcher took advantage of great field position off a defensive interception and quickly hit sophomore John Babin with a seven-yard TD strike. It was Babin's 13^th touchdown receptions of the season, which leads the NJAC.
 
The Lions defense held the Red Dragons scoreless in the second half, enabling Jay Donoghue (Shamong, NJ/Seneca) to generate some offense. Donoghue, who finished 21-of-36 for 246 passing yards, connected with junior Glenn Grainger (Island Heights, NJ/Holmdel) on a 44-yard touchdown pass to close the gap to 23-13. He found Grainger again from seven yards out with less than six minutes remaining to make it a three-point game.
 
Cortland recovered the ensuing on-side kick to end the game and seal their sixth win of the year.
 
The underlying story of the game was the performance of sophomore Nick Bricker (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South). He had a game for the ages on defense, making a career-high 22 tackles (13 solo). The 5' 11, 215-pound linebacker entered the game leading the conference in tackles and made sure he sustained his status in that category. Only Mike Hendrick of Beloit College had more tackles in Division III football this season when he racked up 26 takedowns on September 24.
 
Bricker also recovered a fumble in the second half that was forced by senior Shawn Brown (Long Branch, NJ/Long Branch). Brown had two forced fumbles in the contest, nine tackles, a sack, and 2.5 tackles for a loss of 13 yards..
 
Junior Greg Burns (Hamilton, NJ/Hamilton West) also had a busy day with 11 tackles (six solo) and junior Thomas Hoppe (Manville, NJ/Immaculata) had six tackles.
 
Grainger has career highs in receptions with eight, receiving yards with 120, and a pair of touchdown catches on the day. 

TCNJ looks to remain unbeaten at home this season when they take on Western Connecticut State College next Saturday, November 5 at noon. The Lions have won four straight in Lions' Stadium.