The St. John Fisher College football team closed out the final game of the 2006 regular season with a convincing 41-13 win over host Alfred University on Saturday.
With the win, Fisher improves to 9-1 on the year and 5-1 in the Empire 8 Conference and will share the league title with Springfield College.
On Sunday, Fisher was selected as one of seven at-large bids to the NCAA Division III Championship and will host Liberty League champion Union College (7-2) at 12 p.m. on
Saturday, November 18th in one of 16 opening round games.
This marks the fourth straight year that Fisher has received a postseason bid and is the second time in the last three years the Cardinals have gone to the national playoffs.
Fisher, ranked 16th nationally, locked up its NCAA bid, thanks to 20 unanswered points in the final 6:43 of the second quarter.
Fisher took its first drive of the game 65 yards on nine plays and grabbed a 7-0 lead on a
Mark Robinson (Bath-Haverling/Bath) one-yard touchdown run, but Alfred answered with back-to-back scores to take a 10-7 lead.
The Cardinals, however, took command, scoring on its three final drive of the second quarter and led 27-10 at intermission.
Steve Stepnick (Iroquois/Cowlesville) intercepted his College-record 12
th career pass at the Alfred 20 to set up a four-play drive, capped by a seven-yard pass from
Rob Kramer (Oneida/Oneida) to
Chris Harmon (Caledonia-Mumford/Caledonia).
After Alfred went three-and-out on its ensuing possession, Robinson scored on a five yard run with 2:16 left in the half.
Senior All-American
Gene Lang (C.W. Baker/Baldwinsville) made his first interception of the season with just over one minute left in the half at the Alfred 26 and two plays later,
Kramer connected with
Tim Marion (Warwick Valley/Warwick) for a 13-yard touchdown pass.
Robinson scored his third touchdown of the day and the 57th of his career, moving him up to 25th on the NCAA Division III all-time scoring list, with a five-yard run late in the third quarter.
Marion registered his second touchdown of the day with a 58-yard punt return early in the fourth quarter.
Robinson finished the game with 142 yards on 24 carries and went over the century mark for the 21st time in his career.
Marion finished the game with three receptions for 43 yards and returned three punts for 75 yards.
Kramer finished the day with 160 yards on 13-of-23 passing. He also threw his first career interception, ending a streak of 147 passes without one, dating back to last year.
Junior
James Reile (Herkimer/Herkimer) finished the game with 52 yards rushing on 16 carries, while
Sean Nowicki (Alden/Alden) caught three passes for 43 yards.
Defensively, Fisher held the Saxons to just 46 rushing yards on 24 carries (1.9-yard average) and forced three interceptions by Alfred’s quarterback, who entered the game with just five on the year.
Josh Henninger (Canandaigua Academy/Canandaigua) led the defense with a career-high eight tackles, including three for losses.
Josh Gottlieb (Fox Lane/Pound Ridge) tallied seven tackles, including a sack, while
Lang also finished with seven stops, giving him 102 for the year.
Matt Maggio (Livonia/Livonia) recorded a sack, while
Matt Driscoll (Lakeshore/Angola) made his second interception of the season.
