MORRISVILLE, NY ‑‑ The Alfred University football team piled up 625 yards of offense in a 49-24 Empire 8 Conference win at Morrisville State Saturday afternoon.
AU senior wide receiver Brendan Buisch (Hornell, NY/Hornell) tied a school record with four touchdown catches and senior tailback Casey Bright (Pulaski, NY/Pulaski) ran for 221 yards and a pair of scores. With the win, Alfred improved to 5-0 on the season, 3-0 in Empire 8 play. The host Mustangs fell to 0-4 overall and 0-3 in conference play.
AU led 28-14 at the half, as the Saxons accumulated 324 yards of offense (209 passing; 115 rushing) before intermission. Alfred scored on its first two possessions, both times converting Morrisville turnovers into touchdowns.
On the Mustangs' opening drive, AU junior cornerback Jared Watkins (Buffalo, NY/Cleveland Hill) intercepted Brandon Gwinner at the Morrisville 46-yard line. The Saxons drove 46 yards in eight plays, with all but five yards coming on the ground, and senior quarterback Tyler Johnson (East Syracuse, NY/East-Syracuse-Minoa) plunged in from a yard out to give his team the early lead. Morrisville fumbled at the AU 25 on its next possession and the Saxons went 75 yards in six plays, with Johnson hitting with Buisch with a 39-yard TD pass to put AU up 14-0 with 24 seconds left in the first quarter.
Alfred went up 21-0 with just under seven minutes left in the half. After a missed Morrisville field goal gave Alfred possession at its own 20-yard line, the Saxons marched 80 yards in eight plays. Buisch's second touchdown catch, a 15-yarder, gave Alfred the three-touchdown lead.
Morrsiville got on the board on its next drive, going 65 yards in nine plays. Gwinner connected with Tony Deese on a 19-yard touchdown pass and Alfred led 21-7 with 3:48 left in the half. On Alfred's next possession, the Saxons drove to the Morrisville 9-yard line but turned the ball over on downs with 1:15 left before intermission. Three straight incompletions forced the Mustangs to punt, and Alfred took over at midfield with 50 seconds left. Two plays later, Buisch hauled in a 38-yard scoring strike from Johnson and Alfred took a 28-7 lead into halftime.
Alfred drove to the Morrisville 15 on the Saxons' opening possession of the third quarter, but fumbled at the Mustang 7-yard line 2:16 into the third. It was the Saxons' first turnover of the season. Morrisville took advantage, going 93 yards in eight plays, with Kyle Flash capping the drive with a 55-yard TD catch with 8:48 left in the quarter.
AU responded on its next possession, with Bright's 39-yard TD run capping a five-play, 70-yard drive with just under six minutes left in the third. Alfred expanded its lead to 42-14 2:02 into the fourth, as Buisch caught a 10-yard scoring pass from Johnson to end a 10-play 63-yard drive. Gwinner scored on a 1-yard run with 9:36 left to make it 42-21, but Bright's 45-yard touchdown sprint put the Saxons back up by four touchdowns (49-21) with 6:11 left in regulation. Morrisville's Jeff Groth closed out the scoring with a 27-yard field goal with 57 seconds left.
Johnson was nearly perfect passing the ball, completing 17 of 18 passes for 252 yards and four touchdowns. He now has 11 touchdown passes on the year and has yet to throw an interception. Buisch finished with eight catches for 145 yards. His four touchdowns tied the school single-game record held by Ryan Thon, who accomplished the feat twice in 2010.
Bright ran for 221 yards on just 21 carries and added 68 receiving yards on four catches. Junior tailback Maleke Fuentes (Olean, NY/Olean) ran for 106 yards on 14 attempts.
The two teams combined for 1,033 yards of offense. Gwinner finished with 271 yards passing and two touchdowns. Nick Edmond ran for 85 yards on 18 carries, while Flash had 97 yards receiving on four catches and Raffaele Bradshaw caught seven passes for 61 yards.
AU freshman linebacker Isaiah Moak (Averill Park, NY/Averill Park) had a team-high 12 tackles, while junior linebacker A.J. LiCata (Lake View, NY/Frontier) had 11 and junior linebacker Shaquille Muscadin (Monsey, NY/Ramapo) had eight. Senior nose guard Zach Brinkley (Brockway, PA/Brockway) (five tackles) and senior end Charles Branwell (Brooklyn, NY/Anraham Lincoln) (four) each had a sack and Watkins finished with five stops.
Richardson Derosena and Kendall Clarke each had a game-high 13 tackles for Morrisville, while Samuel Diaz chipped in with 11.
Alfred is idle next weekend and returns to action Saturday, Oct. 15, at 1 p.m. at home against Empire 8 foe Cortland.