The St. John Fisher College football team overcame a 10-0 halftime-deficit and used a mighty second-half rally to defeat visiting Ithaca College 34-10 at Fisher’s Growney Stadium in a match-up between two nationally-ranked and undefeated teams.

Ithaca (3-1 overall 1-1 Empire 8), ranked No. 8 in the national coaches poll, No. 11 in the d3football.com poll and No. 1 in the state, totaled just 54 yards of total offense in the second half, after racking up 180 in the first half.  Fisher, (4-0, 1-0) ranked 18^th in the national coaches poll and No. 25 in the d3football.com poll, totaled 295 yards of total offense in the second half, after mustering just 48 yards over the first 30 minutes.

Fisher scored three touchdowns in an eight-minute span early in the third quarter and scored touchdowns on its first five possessions of the second half.

The Cardinals drove 65 yards on the first drive of the second half and reached the endzone with 13:01 left on a 56-yard run from senior All-American Mark Robinson (Bath-Haverling/Bath). 

Fisher regained possession after Dan Pollock (G. Ray Bodley/Fulton) forced a fumble by the Ithaca quarterback, which was recovered by Gene Lang (C.W. Baker/Baldwinsville) at the Ithaca 20.

Robinson scored his second touchdown of the day on the very next play and gave the Cardinals the lead for good with 10:38 left.  Robinson finished the game with 124 rushing yards on 17 carries, after gaining three yards on five carries in the first half.  It is the 17^th time in his career he has rushed for over 100 yards in a game.

After another three-and-out by Ithaca, Fisher drove 59 yards on nine plays, capped by a five-yard touchdown pass from Rob Kramer (Oneida/Oneida) to Chris Harmon (Caledonia-Mumford/Caledonia) with 5:01 left.    Kramer and Harmon hooked up again with 13:45 left in the game on a fourth-and-goal play from the two-yard line to make it 28-10.

Fisher closed out the scoring with a career-high 65-yard touchdown pass from Kramer to Sean Nowicki (Alden/Alden) with 5:07 remaining. 

            Ithaca took the game’s opening drive 63-yards on eight plays and took the lead on a one-yard touchdown run with 10:10 left.  The Bombers, who held the ball for almost 23 minutes in the first half, also scored on a 22-yard field goal with 09:49 left in the second quarter.

            “We felt extremely fortunate to be down just 10-0 at intermission, because they really dominated us,” said Fisher head coach Paul Vosburgh, now in his 16^th season. “We really didn’t make any adjustments at halftime, we just stepped up the intensity in the second half and both our offense and defense rose to the occasion.”

            Ithaca entered the game, averaging 40.0 point per game (10^th in NCAA Division III), while Fisher entered the game ranked No. 3 in Division III in scoring defense (3.3 points per game) and 10^th in both total offense (454.7 yards per game) and total defense (158.0 yards allowed per game).

            Kramer finished the game with 172 yards on 12-of-19 passing and three touchdowns (all career-highs).  Kramer also rushed for nine yards, while James Reile (Herkimer/Herkimer) totaled 42 yards on 15 carries.

            Nowicki finished the game with five receptions for 113 yards (both career-highs), while Harmon caught four passes for 33 yards.  Tim Marion (Warwick Valley/Warwick) snagged two passes for 17 yards, while Corey Jackson (Iroquois/East Aurora) also made a reception.

            Lang led the Fisher defense with 11 tackles, while Micah Norton (Elmira Notre Dam/Lowman) made eight tackles and blocked a field goal in the fourth quarter.  Steven Stepnick (Iroquois/Cowlesville) finished with seven stops.

            Pollock finished with five tackles, including a career-high two sacks.  Bill Fox (LeRoy/LeRoy) and Scott Miranto (North Tonawanda/North Tonawanda) also each made five tackles.

            Steve Flagler (Vernon-Verona-Sherill/Sherill) made four tackles, while Matt Maggio (Livonia/Livonia), Josh Gottlieb (Fox Lane/Pound Ridge) and Greg Pyszczynski (West Seneca East/West Seneca) each totaled three tackles.

            Ben Pokines (Westmoreland/Rome) recorded his first career sack on a third-down play in the third quarter.

            Fisher kicker Chris Pierri (Fairport/Fairport) went 4-for-5 on extra points, while punter Nate Smith (Hornell/Hornell) averaged 34.5 yards on four first-half punts.

            Fisher, off to a 4-0 start for the second time in the last three years, will return to action at 7 p.m. next Saturday and will host Hartwick College in the final game of a three-game home stand.

 

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