ALFRED, N.Y. - Alfred's Paul Keeley passed for 276 yards and six touchdowns to lead the 20th-ranked Saxons to a 46-36 victory over Hartwick in Empire 8 Conference football action, Saturday. The loss snapped the Hawks' three-game win streak.
Keeley connected on 23 of 29 attempts in the victory, including three touchdown tosses of less than 10 yards. Vinson Hendrix rushed 23 times for 137 yards as Alfred improved to 5-0 overall. Hartwick fell to 3-2.
The loss overshadowed the performance of Jason Boltus (Baldwinsville, N.Y.). The junior torched the Saxon defense for a school-record 553 yards passing on 38 of 69 attempts and five touchdowns. Boltus' yard total broke the previous Hartwick record of 483 set by former standout Dan Pincelli, who completed 24 of 40 passes for 483 yards in a 39-38 loss to Rensselaer on October 26, 2002. Also, his 553 yards passing is the second highest total this season in the Division III ranks depending on what happens the rest of the day. Guilford's Josh Vogelbach passed for 592 yards versus Hampden Sydney on September 22.
Hartwick opened the scoring at the 5:54 mark of the first quarter as Boltus connected with Lindy Crea (Binghamton, N.Y.) on a 96-yard strike. It was the second time the combination has posted a 90-yard plus touchdown pass in their careers. The tandem hooked up for a 94-yard strike against Utica back in 2005.
After Alfred tied the game at 1:54 on the first of Keeley's six touchdown passes, the Hawks recaptured the lead as Jack Phelan (Slingerlands, N.Y.) caught a 23-yard scoring pass from Boltus at 11:34 of the second quarter. Hartwick missed the extra point and held a 14-13 lead. The Saxons countered with another Keeley to Saucobie Riley scoring pass, this time a three-yard strike at 8:50 of the first quarter. The Hawks answered back and took their final lead of the game at 16-14 as Ryan Boyea (Scotch Plains, N.J.) hit a 27-yard field goal with 5:29 left in the second quarter.
The Saxons went into the half with a 21-16 lead as Jared Manzer caught a 22-yard pass from Keeley with 1:29 left before intermission. The play capped off a six-play, 80-yard scoring drive.
Alfred stretched its lead to 35-16 in the third quarter on touchdown passes of 33 and 37 yards from Keeley to Riley and Trevor Bork respectively.
Hartwick countered quickly and cut the deficit to 35-30 with back-to-back scoring drives. At 14:29 of the fourth, Boltus hooked up with Phelan for the second time of the game, a 29-yard strike and then a six-yard pass to Crea at 12:20.
Trailing 46-30 after a seven-yard touchdown pass to Bork, and a 21-yard field goal by Chris Reynolds, the Hawks got their final points of the game with 4:03 remaining as Crea caught his third touchdown pass of the day from Boltus. Hartwick's two-point conversion failed.
The Hawk offense generated 634 yards of total offense against the Saxon defense, while Alfred churned out 476 yards of offense. Senior T.J. Rizzo (Highland, N.Y.) led the Hartwick rushing attack with 49 yards, while Crea and Phelan both had career days receiving. Crea caught 12 passes for 238 yards, while Phelan grabbed nine catches for 143 yards.
Defensively, Mike Platt (Margaretville, N.Y.) registered a team-high 10 tackles. Jordan Alger (Norwich, N.Y.) and Joe Flaherty (Hastings, N.Y.) had eight and seven stops respectively. Justin Oelgeschlager (Highland, N.Y.) tallied two interceptions in the loss for the Hawks.
Hartwick returns to action next Saturday as it travels to face Becker. The game starts at 5 p.m.
