October 7, 2006. Cortland State defeated Kean University 24-14 Saturday in front of a home crowd of 4480. The win kept the Red Dragons undefeated through their first 5 games and moved their NJAC record to 3-0. The game featured a showdown between two quality NJAC squads in a mid season race for first place in the conference.

Kean had the first long drive of the game midway through the first quarter. The Cougars drove deep into Cortland territory with a balanced offensive attack. Facing third down and 10 yards to go from the Cortland 14 yard line, Cougars junior quarterback A.J. Roque threw over the middle. Cortland corner Jeff Beck stepped in front of the pass and intercepted the ball at the 5-yard line and returned it 15 yards. The interception sparked the Cortland offense which drove 80 yards on 12 plays, eating up nearly 6 minutes of possession time. Cortland quarterback Alex Smith completed an 18-yard pass to Drew Lascari moving the ball into Kean territory. After a 12-yard pass play from Smith to Anthony Morat moved the ball to the Kean 22-yard line, the drive stalled. On third down an 12 yards to go from the Cougars 19-yard line, Smith completed a post pass to Drew Lascari for a touchdown. Matthew Mintz added the extra point to give Cortland a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.

Defense dominated the second quarter for both teams. Cortland drove the football 50 yards to the Kean 20-yard line early in the quarter. Fullback Mike Sveda had two receptions for 24 yards on the drive. The Red Dragons failed to score when the Cougars' Jason Leeds blocked a Mintz 37-yard field goal attempt. Another Red Dragons drive ended without points just before the half when Mintz narrowly missed a 47-yard field goal attempt. The kick had plenty of distance but was just wide of the left goal post. Cortland controlled the first half but led only 7-0 at the break.

After a quiet first half the Cortland rushing attack started to gain traction in the third quarter. Matt Rickert ran 29 yards over the right end to get the Red Dragons to the Kean 26-yard line. A Smith to Morat completion for 14 yards gave Cortland another first down. But the Kean defense escaped when the Red Dragons drive ended with a 37 yard field goal miss. The Red Dragons got a break when Brian Bert recovered a fumbled punt return at the Cougars 15-yard line. This time the Red Dragons capitalized with a 22-yard field goal from Mintz. Cortland took a two score lead over Kean at 10-0 in the third quarter.

The Cortland defense caused the next turnover. The Cougars attempted a run reverse to Durell Dukes but Cortland's Dave D'Aurelio was not fooled and made the tackle for a 7-yard loss. On the next play D'Aurelio and Matt Montpetit combined to sack A.J. Roque for an 8-yard loss to the Kean 30-yard line. On third down and 25 yards to go the Cougars fumbled and Mike Connolly fell on the ball for Cortland at the 29-yard line. Cortland immediately took advantage. Drew Lascari broke behind the secondary on first down and Alex Smith found him in the end zone for a 29-yard touchdown completion. The score was now 17-0 Cortland and it appeared the game was well in hand.

Kean University refused to back down. Talented quarterback A.J. Roque led the Cougars on an 85-yard touchdown drive late in the third quarter. Roque found Brian Williams for a 23-yard catch and run touchdown to pull the Cougars closer at 17-6. The extra point failed. Cortland answered early in the fourth quarter following an Adam Haas fumble recovery. Smith completed a 11-yard pass to Mike Sveda, then threw 8 yards to Matt Rickert for the touchdown. Cortland took a 24-6 lead and again the game appeared to be over.

Roque rallied Kean rallied one more time. The Cougars drove 65 yards on 9 plays to cut the score to 24-12, then added a two point conversion to pull closer at 24-14. Kean recovered the onside kick with 7:24 remaining on the game clock. The Cougars dodged a bullet when Cortland's Bill Hauser nearly intercepted a Roque pass near the Cortland goal line. On third and goal from the Cortland 8-yard line Roque attempted to run the ball into the end zone, but Mike Connolly stopped him after only 3 yards. The Cougars brought out the field goal unit on fourth down but ran a fake instead. Kean's Shane Meyer ran the ball inside the 5 but Jeff Beck pushed him out of bounds near the 1-yard line. Cortland took the ball over on downs and ran the clock out behind the rushing of Matt Rickert.

Kean lived up to its billing as a much improved team. The Cougars win streak was snapped at 3 games. Alex Smith completed 21 of 31 passes for 261 yards on the afternoon. Drew Lascari caught 5 passes for 84 yards and 2 touchdowns. Seven Red Dragons caught passes from Smith, who fired 3 touchdowns against Kean. Bill Hauser had 10 tackles, 6 solo, a sack, and a pass break up.

Cortland travels to Danbury next week to face Western Connecticut. Western Connecticut is 4-1 following a last second victory over William Paterson Saturday. The Colonials' only loss was a narrow defeat at defending East Region Champion Rowan.