By Vince Gasparini | September 4, 2024
In a hard-fought match that saw seven lead changes, the University at Albany football team captured a 27-21 win over Long Island University in their first game of the season Saturday night.
While they didn’t win in the commanding fashion that became commonplace during their historic 2023 season, several key players - both new and old - showed that they are looking to build upon the success the Great Danes saw last year.
Wide receiver Seven McGee during Saturday night’s game.
Photo Credit: Jaime Dickinson / UAlbany Athletics
“I don’t think we had our fastball tonight, but I think the big thing is we fought through and won a game,” said UAlbany head coach Greg Gattuso after Saturday’s win. “[LIU] was ready to play; I think that we stepped up in big moments and made big plays when we needed them.”
Among those big plays was a scoop-and-score from UAlbany defensive lineman Jack Iuliano, a first-year transfer from Penn. With 3:54 remaining in the second quarter, Iuliano scooped the ball at the Sharks’ 20-yard line after LIU quarterback Luca Stanzani fumbled, bringing it all the way to the end zone and giving the Great Danes a 10-7 lead.
Iuliano’s name is a familiar one in the region; his grandfather, Blase Iuliano, coached the Saratoga Springs High School football team for nearly four decades before retiring in 2007. He was in the stands cheering on his grandson in his Great Danes debut on Saturday.
“I love playing in front of grandpa,” Iuliano said. “I always have my best games when he’s here.”
Three minutes later, after the Sharks struck back with a touchdown of their own, Jackson State transfer Seven McGee made his name known when he scored off a 75-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Myles Burkett, helping his team regain the lead and putting the Great Danes up 17-14 going into the half.
“When I turned around, the ball was right there,” McGee said. “Myles threw a great ball, and it was nothing but open field, and I just turned the jets on.”
McGee led all receivers with 119 yards on five receptions Saturday night.
Griffin Woodell, another familiar face on the roster who won CAA Offensive Rookie of the Year last season, led UAlbany in rushing with 91 yards on 20 carries, including a three-yard rush with 9:57 remaining in the third quarter that gave the Great Danes a 24-21 lead. The lead was then supplemented by a 41-yard field goal by John Opalko in the final minute of the quarter.
Opalko also nailed a 40-yard field goal early on in the game at the 10:34 mark in the first quarter.
Gattuso praised his team’s special teams and defense units for helping propel them to their win over the Sharks, specifically noting the final tackle made by Ghassan Chehade. Chehade tackled Stanzani with 0:47 remaining in the fourth quarter to force a turnover on downs and effectively secure the win for the Great Danes.
“We went in the huddle and switched [Chehade] and Dasean [Dixon] because we played that style of defense in the past,” Gattuso said. “So we switched them, and he ends up making the play, and it was a really good play.”
UAlbany’s next two matchups will be on the road, where they will first face West Virginia University on Saturday, Sept. 7. The following game will be a rematch of the 2023 FCS quarterfinal game, as they face off against the University of Idaho on Sept. 14 before coming home on Sept. 28 to play against conference rival UMaine.
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