Box Score CORTLAND, N.Y. – A flurry of early turnovers doomed the TCNJ football team to a 63-7 setback at the hands of No. 15 Cortland in Saturday's road opener.
 
The Red Dragons (2-0), former NJAC rivals and the reigning Empire 8 champions, scored on seven of their first eight drives and produced four interceptions, including a pick-six midway through the second quarter en route to a 44-0 halftime lead. All told, the Lions turned it over five times on the afternoon.
 
The Lions (1-1) registered more first downs (25-21) than Cortland, but that was a rare silver lining for the visitors. The Red Dragons took the opening kickoff and marched 74 yards in eight plays, capping the lid-lifting possession with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Zac Boyes to Cole Burgess. Boyes, who set a school record with 543 passing yards in last week's win over Wittenberg, picked up right where he left off with a 10-for-13 first half that featured 235 yards and four touchdown passes, three of them to Burgess.
 
The Red Dragons set up a short field with their first of four picks, and Jaden Alfanostjohn made it 13-0 with a six-yard rushing score.
 
TCNJ put together its best drive of the half on the ensuing trip, dicing up the Cortland defense for 65 yards in 15 plays, a drive helped along by a roughing-the-punter penalty. Continually targeting tight end Thomas Burke, who had three catches on the possession, Stephen Begen took the Lions down to the Cortland 10, but Bobby Wortman's field goal was wide left.
 
Boyes threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Burgess to make it 19-0, but again TCNJ came right back with a drive deep into Red Dragon territory. Begen found Burke for a first down on 3^rd-and-9 and picked up another first down with an 11-yard draw before Ryan McKinney burst through a hole for an 18-yard gain down to the 16. Again, however, a field-goal try was no good.
 
The TCNJ defense forced the first Cortland punt of the afternoon, but Joshua Cordero took an interception 47 yards to the house to make it 26-0. Boyes added touchdown tosses to J.J. Laap, who racked up an Empire 8-record 312 receiving yards last week, and another to Burgess (with 1:06 left in the half) sandwiched around a 38-yard field goal to send the hosts into the locker room with a 44-0 advantage.
 
The Lions had a golden chance to get on the board courtesy of Cortland's first miscue, a muffed fair catch on a Brian Puccio punt that Joe Ciempola quickly pounced on at the hosts' 27-yard line. But a mishandled snap on the very next play gave the Red Dragons the ball right back. The red and white cashed in six plays later, going up 50-0 on a 38-yard touchdown run by Ashton Capone on a 4^th-and-1 after Steven Cassidy and Cole Groschel had combined to stack him up short of the line to gain.
 
Trevor Bopp engineered the first scoring drive of the day for the Lions, who dented the scoreboard at the 4:23 mark of the third period on a 6-yard end-around to Malin Jasinski for the junior's first career touchdown. Sam Akinlolu gave TCNJ a big spark with two first-down runs on the march, which covered 71 yards in 12 plays.
 
Akinlolu finished with a career-high 44 yards on nine carries, part of a rushing attack that racked up 190 yards. Jayson Schmidt had 51 yards and McKinney added 49, combining for at least 100 for the second straight week.
 
Cole Groschel led the Lions' defense with seven tackles, while Shane Kelly had four stops and forced a fumble in the fourth quarter.
 
Burke finished with a career-high seven catches for 58 yards, and Jasinski registered five grabs for the second game in a row. Reese Martinelli and Dennis Wilson each recorded a pair of receptions.
 
Nick Celli, the reigning NJAC defensive player of the week, notched a tackle for loss and blocked an extra point.
 
TCNJ heads to Endicott next Saturday for its non-conference finale.