Pioneers football is off to a strong start and came up victorious in the Sept. 6 season opener over Union College, 41-26. Sam Florio had two rushing scores on the ground and Matt Brantley had a huge day on the ground.

The Pioneers started scoring with two minutes remaining in the first quarter as junior quarterback Brett Fuller threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Logan Kraft to cap off a 13 play drive. 

Union College responded in the second quarter as quarterback Patch Flanagahn threw two touchdown passes in the quarter. The first one was caught by Tommy Leonard from a yard out and the second one was a 22-yard strike to Robbie Tolbert.

Florio caught fire on the ground to end the quarter for Utica. He had two rushing touchdowns in the final five minutes of the opening half from two and three yards out.

After leading 22-12 in the first half, Brantley had the play of the game to begin the second half. In the opening play Brantley took a handoff 90 yards to the house for his first touchdown of the season. Brantley had 20 carries for 185 yards and a touchdown in the opener. This propelled him to winning the Empire 8 player of the week and being named the first Utica athlete of the week.

After a strong second half performance, Utica held on for a big win in the opening game by a score of 41-26.  

Utica came out flat in their second game of the season on Sept. 14 against Moravian University. Norman Booth scored the first points of the game when he had a 76 yard fumble recovery touchdown in the first quarter. With only nine seconds left in the opening half, Fuller found Gabriel Zawolo for a 17-yard touchdown score to take a 13-0 lead in the first half.

Utica fell apart in the second half. Moravian scored three touchdowns along with 18 unanswered points. Moravian, led by a tremendous defensive half where they did not allow a single point, came back for a 18-13 win over the Pioneers. 

Utica (1-1, 0-0 Empire 8) will look to get their second win of the season as they return home at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium against Lycoming College (1-1, 0-0 Landmark) on Saturday, Sept. 21 at noon.