UTICA, NY – The Utica College football team earned its seventh straight season opening victory on Saturday afternoon as the Pioneers topped visiting Misericordia University 42-28 on the turf at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. Five different Pioneers scored a touchdown in the victory; including a school-record 90 yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Jerred Beniquez (Port Ewen, NY/Kingston) to give Utica a 21-7 lead at the 12:50 ledger of the second quarter.
UC quarterback Teddy VanGalen (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) made his first career start under center for the Pioneers (1-0) and completed 18-of-25 passes for 263 yards and one touchdown. Junior captain Ryan Burnett (Mount Vernon, NY/Arch Bishop Stepinac) rushed the ball 26 times for 108 yards and one touchdown, while Gregory Palmer (Richland, NY/APW) added five catches for a career-high 160 yards, and a 62 yard touchdown catch midway through the second quarter.
The Pioneer offense compiled 484 yards of total offense on the day, while junior linebacker Juwan Wilson (South Ozone Park, NY/Holy Cross) made a team-best 11 tackles and broke up one pass. Senior defensive end Nick Woodman (Utica, NY/Proctor) posted 1.5 sacks and tied the school-record for career sacks with 18.0.
Junior speedster Nicodemus Gambill (Rochester, NY/East High) got things started with a 50 yard touchdown run at the 8:59 marker of the first quarter to put the Pioneers on top, 7-0, early. Just over seven minutes later Burnett punched in a ten yard touchdown run to make it 14-0 in favor of the home team at the 2:43 mark of the first quarter.
Misericordia (0-1) scored 21 of its 28 points in the second quarter, all on the back of senior quarterback Jeff Puckett, who scored three rushing touchdowns in the quarter and finished with four on the day. Puckett capped his excellent evening with 32 carries for 204 yards and all four of the Cougars touchdowns.
UC kicker Thomas Woodburn (West Islip, NY/West Islip) made a 20 yard field goal with four seconds left on the first half clock to send the Pioneers into the locker room at the half with a 31-21 lead. Woodburn now needs 11 more points to move into second place on the College's all-time scoring list. He currently has 152 career points.
Woodburn opened up the second half scoring with a 33 yard field goal to give UC a 34-21 lead at the 10:02 mark of the third.
Puckett managed his final rushing touchdown of the day early in the fourth quarter to make it a six point ball game, 34-28, but that is as close as the visitors would get.
Teddy VanGalen (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) punched in a one yard run with 5:02 left to go in the contest to seal the 14 point win for the Pioneers.
Isaiah Washington (Ozone Park, NY/Fort Hamilton) made six tackles for Utica while Jerry Bolivar (Elmont, NY/Sewanhaka) and Derrick Sekuterski (Depew, NY/Depew) added five tackles a piece. Nicholas Bruzzese (Utica, NY/Proctor) registered one sack for the Pioneer defense.
Utica returns to action on the road Saturday when the Pioneers travel to Ohio Northern for a 12 p.m. kickoff. All Utica College football games will be broadcast on the radio locally at WTLB 99.1 FM/1310 AM (ESPN Radio) by Dave Peroni and UC alum Ray Biggs. Live streaming audio can also be accessed on WTLB's website, www.espnur.com
Utica Wins Seventh Straight Season Opener
/seasons/2015/boxscores/20150905_orhp.xml
2015
Misericordia
28
Utica
42
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Misericordia (0-1) | 0 | 21 | 0 | 7 | 28 |
| Utica (1-0) | 14 | 17 | 3 | 8 | 42 |
Sep 05, 2015