|
| Curt Fitzpatrick's last trip to the national semifinals was 17 seasons ago. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
By Brian Lester
D3sports.com
Curt Fitzpatrick was in his first year as a football coach when he was last involved in an NCAA Division III semifinal.
It was 2006. Fitzpatrck was an assistant on the staff at St. John Fisher, his alma mater, and the Cardinals were up against eventual champion Mount Union in their first ever appearance in a national semifinal game.
They lost 26-14. Fitzpatrick still remembers that day well. He also remembers not enjoying the playoff run or the moment of being on the doorstep of a title game as much as he should have.
But as he prepares to coach his Cortland team in the final four this weekend, he is taking time to do what he didn’t do the first time around.
“I’ve been a D-III coach my whole career and to be the head coach of a team playing this weekend with a chance to go to the Stagg Bowl, sometimes you have to force yourself to take a step back,” Fitzpatrick said. “You have to get away from the game plan and the grind of it all and appreciate the run you have been on. You want to soak in these moments.”
He has reminded his players of that along the way, especially with this being the Red Dragons’ first trip to the semifinal round in school history. He obviously wants them focused on the task at hand, which is a showdown on the road with Randolph-Macon, the eighth-ranked team in the D3football.com poll. But he also wants his team to slow down a bit as well this week.
“All postseason, we’ve used the phrase ‘see big, focus small,’ ” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s okay to see the big picture and it’s okay to be excited to play in a national semifinal. It’s okay to look at the big picture and be proud of where you are at.
“Once the game kicks off, you focus on the small things, but if you ignore the big picture success, you do a disservice to a lifetime of memories you create through this whole process,” Fitzpatrick added. “This is a cool thing. It’s a great run we are on.”
The Red Dragons are 12-1 and No. 11 in the country. They have already set a school record for wins in a season but can add to that total in the most memorable of ways on Saturday.
For a veteran player like Ashton Capone, one of the leaders in the Red Dragons’ running attack, this moment, really this whole playoff run, has been a big deal.
“It’s surreal,” Capone said. “It’s something as a team we’ve been trying to bring to fruition. To be on this team and part of this culture, it’s awesome. We’ve put in the time to do what we’ve had to do and now it’s time to keep it rolling.”
In some ways, his final season at Cortland is extra rewarding considering the way everything started for him.
He didn’t play his first season and the pandemic killed off any shot of seeing the field his second year here.
Capone appeared in four games in 2021 and scored one touchdown. But over the last two seasons combined, he’s rushed for more than 1,200 yards and 19 touchdowns, including 565 yards and 12 scores this year.
“I started out as a 185-pound back who didn’t know where my role was on the team, but I had to trust the process, stay dedicated to everything and be in the moment,” Capone said. “It’s helped me be very effective and I appreciate everything I’ve been given here.”
Capone is part of a Cortland offense that has scored 40-plus nine times, including in the national quarterfinal last week against Alma when the Red Dragons earned a 58-41 win.
Patience has helped him play a key role in that high-powered offensive attack.
“My goal every week is to allow the offensive line to do work and trust the scheme. That patience was something I didn’t have in my first year. I just wanted to go out there and run. Now I let things set up and when holes open up, I stick my foot in the ground, go north and south and get what I can out of a play.”
Capone has always loved playing football, a love inspired in part by his older cousin, Anthony Weaver, who played at Notre Dame and in the NFL, and is currency on the coaching staff of the Baltimore Ravens.
“I’d look up to him and would hear from my coaches in high school about how he would play every game like it was his last. I took everything I heard about him and applied it to my game. I always strived to be the best at what I do.”
Speaking of striving to be the best, that’s what junior defensive lineman Max Llewellyn has done each day this season. A team captain, he’s racked up a career-best 41 tackles this season. His ties to the school run deep as his dad is a graduate of Cortland.
|
| Max Llewellyn and the Cortland defense are perfectly happy to remain below the radar. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com |
“He couldn’t make it to the game at Alma, but he had a big watch party. He and his college buddies still get together for games. It’s pretty special,” Llewellyn said.
Lewellyn has long been one of the hardest workers on a football team. He even received a blue collar work ethic award while in high school. That work ethic has carried over to college.
“Nerves are for those who are unprepared,” Llewellyn said. “I work hard every chance I get.”
Llewellyn probably could have been a college basketball player if he wanted to. He averaged a double-double over the course of his career, with three of those years being spent in the starting lineup.
“Basketball was actually my favorite sport growing up,” Llewellyn said. “But football is a different animal. There’s only one game like it. It’s helped shape me into the man I am today.”
He’s asked about the defense and laughs a bit, pointing out most of the time the topic of discussion is Cortland’s offense, which is cranking out an average of 514.8 yards per game. The defense is giving up 302 yards per game.
“It’s rare anyone asks us about the defense. We usually fly under the radar, but that’s okay," Llewellyn said. "We’re ready to put on a show when our number is called. I don’t mind that the offense gets a lot of publicity. It’s tremendous. I think it takes the pressure off our backs and lets us play freely.”
This is a Cortland team that ended last season on a tough note. The Red Dragons lost 34-17 to Ithaca in the Cortaca Jug game and then got bounced 35-28 by Randolph-Macon in the first round of the playoffs. They finished 9-2.
“The upperclassmen who contributed last year saw a really good team play poorly in Yankee Stadium and then lose in the first round of the playoffs,” Fitzpatrick said. “We had a very talented team in 2022, and a lot of the same guys are back.
“I think they came back stronger, more mentally tough, more resilient and more bought into the team concept," Fitzpatrick continued. I don’t know if we have better players than last year, but we play the game together at a higher level, and that’s led to our success.”
Llewellyn agrees.
“I think our poise and discipline have been big,” Llewellyn said. “We’ve handled a lot of adversity and have learned a lot of lessons along the road. It’s all gotten us ready for where we are now.”
And where the Red Dragons are now is in a position to make more history.
“Most have written us off and that’s fine. They have all year,” Llewellyn said. “We’re here now, why not go for it. We just have to turn it up a notch this week.”