THE SECOND SEASON BEGINS: Coming off a Dutchman Shoes victory that clinched the program's ninth Liberty League championship and extended its winning streak to eight games, the Union College football team begins its run in the 2025 NCAA Tournament with a first-round matchup against Muhlenberg College on November 22 in Allentown, Pa.
TICKET INFORMATION: For those heading to Allentown for the game, tickets will be $10 for adults and $5 for students with college ID, children (ages 3-12) and senior citizens, plus tax. To avoid long lines at the stadium, tickets can be purchased in advance by
clicking here.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION: Scotty Wood Stadium is located adjacent to Liberty Street in the West End Neighborhood of Allentown. Street parking is available as well as parking in the lot by #44 on the
campus map. Other than trained service animals, pets are not allowed inside all Muhlenberg athletic facilities. Security will be checking bags at all gates. No open containers or personal water bottles/coffee mugs are allowed inside the stadium. No alcohol permitted in the stadium. Muhlenberg College is a smoke-free and vape-free campus.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: The Garnet Chargers are making the 14th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, the most NCAA appearances of any Union sport. Union is tied for the 17th-most appearances of any Division III football program and fourth-most of any Region II squad, and is 11-13 all-time in NCAA competition. Union has twice reached the Stagg
Bowl in 1983 and 1989 and also made the national semifinals in 1984.
EIGHT IS GREAT: Union enters the postseason on an eight-game winning streak, which is tied for the seventh-longest active streak in Division III. This season marks the ninth time out of the program's 14 NCAA appearances that the team has won at least eight in a row heading into the postseason.
TWO TROPHIES, ONE WIN: Union made sure both the Dutchman Shoes trophy and the Liberty League championship trophy stayed in Schenectady thanks to a 28-21 win over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday. The Garnet Chargers moved to 85-33-4 in 122 all-time meetings of New York State's oldest college football rivalry and 51-24 in 75 Shoes games, while also clinching the fourth unbeaten conference slate in program history and just their second 7-0 Liberty League finish.
A DRAMATIC "U" TURN: Union has posted the second-biggest turnaround in Division III this season with its five-game improvement from last year's 3-7 record, bested only on Crown College's six-game improvement from 1-9 to 7-3 and a UMAC title. Head coach
Jon Drach is the ninth straight Union football coach to increase his win total from year one to year two in Schenectady, and the five-win improvement - which earned Drach and his staff Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year honors - is the single-largest year-to-year improvement in the program's 136-year history.
#2 IS #1: Senior
Patch Flanagan became the sixth Union player since 2000 to earn Liberty League Offensive Player of the Year honors on Tuesday. The senior is the first player in recent conference history (since at least 2006) to rank in the top-three in both passing yards and rushing yards, and leads all conference players with 25 total touchdowns (15 passing, 10 rushing). He is also one of seven quarterbacks in Division III this season with at least 15 scores through the air and 10 on the ground, helped by eight games of two touchdowns or more and five games with at least three scores.
THEY'D BE HONORED: In addition to Player and Coach of the Year honors, Union had 16 players named to the All-Liberty League teams, including 12 first-time honorees.
Nick Olivola (1st team) is the squad's only three-time All-Conference recipient after earning second-team honors as a junior and honorable mention as a sophomore, while first-teamers
Patch Flanagan,
Charlie Johnson and
Matt Mitchell were all previously named honorable mention on one occasion.
John Droggitis and
Kyle Webster made their first All-Conference honor the first-team variety, while
David Cooperstein,
Daniel O'Leary and
Gil Rivera earned second-team laurels. Union's seven honorable mentions included
Jack Beacham,
Jordan Black,
Lucas Coleman,
Ryan Grenier,
Dwayne Hinds,
Logan Miller and
Francesco Pileggi.
COUNTDOWN COMPLETE: Union earned the program's 600th all-time victory at Rochester on November 8. Since the arrival of Al Bagnoli in 1982, Union has amassed 32 winning records and 37 seasons of .500 or better in the last 43 seasons.
MERIT FOR MITCHELL: Senior
Matt Mitchell was named the Liberty League Defensive Player of the Week after leading the Garnet Chargers with seven tackles (six solo) against Rochester on November 8. The senior also broke up two passes and picked off a pass in the end zone as UR was driving for a potential go-ahead score with under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
MOVING ON UP: With his two passing touchdowns against Rochester, senior
Patch Flanagan moved into seventh place on the school all-time list with 32, while he also passed Tom Hitchcock '66 to move into eighth place in career passing yards with 3,667. He has already set new program records for both single-season and career rushing yards and rushing touchdowns by a Union quarterback, with his 891 rushing yards this season more than any previous Union QB recorded in an entire career.
1K FOR RIVERA: Senior
Gil Rivera's one-yard touchdown catch against Hilbert on November 1 gave him exactly 1,000 receiving yards in his three seasons in Schenectady, making him the 22nd player in program history to reach quadruple figures.
FRANCESCO FOR THE WIN: Sophomore
Francesco Pileggi's 32-yard field goal to beat Ithaca on October 25 was Union's first game-winning kick in the final 10 seconds of regulation since Adam Henry '12 hit a 22-yarder as time expired to break a 31-all tie between Union and WPI on October 1, 2011. As a result, Pileggi earned his first Liberty League Special Teams Performer of the Week honor.Â
DOUBLE TROUBLE: For the first time ever, Union had two players (
Patch Flanagan and
Logan Miller) named to the D3football.com Team of the Week in the same week after the Hobart win. Flanagan was the first Union quarterback to earn the national honor after accounting for 313 yards and four TDs, while Miller became the fourth Union defensive lineman to be recognized thanks to a pair of sacks and a forced fumble that resulted in a safety. The last Union player to earn the weekly honors from D3football.com was
Michael Fiore '25 in 2022.
TWO FOR FOUR: With his four rushing touchdowns against Hobart on October 11, senior
Patch Flanagan became only the fourth player in program history to rush for at least four scores in a game. Tom Arcidiacano '07, HOF '19 holds the record with five, achieved twice in 2005 and 2006. The 24 points are tied for most scored by a quarterback in a Division III game this season.
WHAT A RUSH: With his 120 rushing yards against Buffalo State on October 4, senior
Patch Flanagan broke the school record for career rushing yards by a quarterback with 985 in his first 21 games, doing so on just 162 attempts (6.1 yards per rush). The previous record of 865 yards was set by Ben Gilbert '02 from 1998-01 and achieved on 295 carries.
THEY'D BE HONORED: Senior
Patch Flanagan and sophomore
Aldrich Boakye were named Liberty League Offensive and Special Teams Performer of the Week, respectively, after the St. Lawrence win on September 27. Flanagan earned his second straight honor and third of his career after accounting for 322 total yards, while Boakye picked up his first honor after a 27-yard fumble return for a touchdown.
SAVINI FOR SIX: Sophomore
Nico Savini returned his first career interception 64 yards for a touchdown against #23 SUNY Cortland on September 13, the longest interception return for a score since Jack Reilly '19 picked off a pass and went 79 yards to clinch a Dutchman Shoes win over RPI on November 10, 2018.
GOING THE DISTANCE: It only took one week to know the longest pass completion in Division III this season, as seniors
Patch Flanagan and
Dan Quinn hooked up for a 99-yard catch and run in the first quarter at #4/5 Susquehanna on September 6. The play far surpassed the previous program record for longest TD catch, first set by an 86-yard pass from Dan Stewart '85 to Frank Kraft '84 against Trinity (Conn.) in 1982 and matched in both 2011 and 2015. The previous Union record for longest play overall was a 96-yard TD run by George Beebe '03 in 2000 against Rochester.
DAN THE MAN: With 187 yards against #4/5 Susquehanna on September 6, senior
Dan Quinn recorded the most yards for a Union receiver since Andre Ross Jr. '22 went for 219 yards on just eight receptions in the NCAA Tournament against #6 Salisbury on November 30, 2019. Quinn entered the game with 276 yards on 22 catches over the first 20 games of his collegiate career.
A CHALLENGING START: Union was one of only three teams in D-III to start its season with back-to-back games against nationally ranked opponents. Mount Union and Grove City are the other two, having played each other in week two after facing off with Wheaton (Ill.) and SUNY Cortland, respectively, in week one.
TOP-FIVE FIGHT: The September 6 game against #4/5 Susquehanna was the Garnet Chargers' first matchup with a team ranked in the top-five nationally since meeting up with #5 Springfield in the 2004 season-opener, which the Pride won by a 31-13 score. Union's last win against a top-10 team came on November 2, 2019, when the team beat #7/8 Ithaca, 31-21, to clinch the Liberty League championship on the way to an undefeated regular season.
ANOTHER HIL TO CLIMB: With the addition of Hilbert as an associate member of the Liberty League in 2025, Union played seven conference games (and only three non-conference games) in a season for the first time since 2016, when WPI, Springfield and Merchant Marine played their final seasons as football-only members of the Liberty League.
OH CAPTAINS, MY CAPTAINS: Seniors
Patch Flanagan,
Ryan Grenier,
Charlie Johnson,
Matt Mitchell and
Nick Olivola were elected to serve as captains of the Union football team for the first time in 2025. This season marks the first since before the COVID-19 pandemic that Union does not have any fifth-years among the team's leadership group.
WELCOME HOME: After four years away,
Ryan Ehrets '21 returns to Union as a member of the coaching staff. Ehrets, who spent two years each on the staff at Alfred University (2021-22) and Curry College (2023-24), started every game at center and earned All-Liberty League honors in all three seasons in Schenectady from 2017-20. He is one of only six Union student-athletes to be recognized more than once as a CSC Academic All-American and is one of only three to earn four CSC Academic All-District honors (three football, one track & field) in a career.
WELCOME TO SCHENECTADY: In addition to Ehrets, five members of the coaching staff will be on the Union sidelines for the first time this season: special teams coordinator
Vaughn Nichols-Taylor and assistants
Quinn Girard,
Devin Higgins,
Dan Loeffert and
Mike Perrone. Former assistant coach
Kevin Trigonis also is back on the Union sidelines for the first time since 2022.
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