Endicott Football will face the reigning national champions on Saturday in the NCAA playoffs Massachusetts

Any playoff trip becomes significantly more difficult the further a team advances in the postseason.

The Endicott College football team is well aware of this.

The Gulls (10-1), who earned the program’s first NCAA Division 3 playoff triumph, travel to New York to face reigning state champion SUNY Cortland (10-0) in a second-round game at noon Saturday.

Endicott is ranked No. 10 nationally by D3football.com and No. 11 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) poll and enters the contest fresh off a 44-0 home win over Alfred State last Saturday. They amassed 504 yards of offense and held the visitors to zero first downs on 13 third-down opportunities to win on the road.

The Cortland State Red Dragons, who have won 22 straight games since 2023, are ranked second nationally in the D3football.com and AFCA polls and are coming off a first-round bye. They are ranked fourth in the NCAA Power Index (NPI), while Endicott is ranked 21st.

The two teams are familiar with each other, having met in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Hempstead Stadium in Beverly, where visiting Cortland cruised to a 23-17 victory. The Red Dragons also won their 2010 playoff match 49-35.

Both teams defeated Ithaca (13-7 for Endicott, 28-17 for Cortland) and Hilbert (58-0 for the Gulls, 76-0 for the Red Dragons) this fall.

The Conference of New England champion Gulls are now in the NCAA playoffs for the fourth straight year and are averaging 38.6 points per game while giving up just 10.6 points. Their run-pass balance has been solid all season, averaging nearly 207 yards per game on the ground and 197 yards through the air.

Lynnfield native Clayton Marengi, who was named the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight year, threw for 1,934 yards and 23 touchdowns while completing more than 65 percent of his passes for Endicott. Adam Goodfellow (37 receptions, 663 yards, 9 TDs), Shane Aylward (33 rec., 375 yards, 4 TDs) and Kennedy Charles (31 rec., 378 yards, 3 TDs) are Yavier Cosme’s top targets out of the backfield -Diaz (576 yards, 7 TDs) and Marengi himself (566 yards, 9 TDs) can create Chaos for the defense.

Defensively, the Gulls are led by linebacker Matthew Licciardi (56 tackles), defensive end and CNE Defensive Player of the Year Hector Johnson (42 tackles, 5 sacks), defensive back Zachariah Twardosky (52 tackles, 4 interceptions) and linebackers Joe Tirrell and Matthew Whelan (51 tackles each).

Cortland State’s offensive numbers are equally impressive: The Red Dragons score a whopping 50.4 points per game and average 530 yards of offense while giving up just 12.4 ppg. Running back Ethan Gallo has rushed for 1,045 yards and 20 touchdowns. Quarterback Zac Boyes has completed over 70 percent of his pass attempts, good for 2,529 yards and 25 scores, and receiver Jaden Alfano St. John (47 rec., 933 yards, 12 touchdowns). and Jayson Zeva (45 rec., 582 yards, 5 TDs) are both extremely dangerous.

Saturday’s winner advances to the third round of the NCAA Division 3 round and will face either Springfield (10-0) or UMass Dartmouth (10-0) on Saturday, December 7.

Contact Phil Stacey

@PhilStacey_SN