PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College football team returns to action at 6 p.m. on Saturday under the lights at Growney Stadium as it hosts Utica College in an Empire 8 showdown. The contest marks the second straight home game for Fisher and will be the fourth road game for the Pioneers in their last five games.
Fans unable to make the trip to campus can still route for the Cardinals using the links below:
Learn even more about Saturday's matchup by reading the
FULL SET OF GAME NOTES.
SERIES HISTORY: Today's meeting will be the 17th installment of this series as Fisher owns a 15-1 mark against the Pioneers dating back to their first meeting in 2001. Entering last season's pairing, Fisher had won 15 straight meetings by an average of 28 points, but the Pioneers held Fisher to just six points in 2016 and came away with a 23-6 victory.
LAST TIME OUT: The Cardinals faced off with nationally-ranked Alfred University last Saturday and nearly came away with the upset win over the No. 18 Saxons. Fisher started the game off with a 13-play 73-yard scoring drive to take a 7-0 lead, but the Saxons countered with 21 straight points of their own to hold a 21-7 edge at intermission. Coming out of the break, Fisher would cut the deficit to seven points after JAMES CHAMBERS punched it in to pull Fisher to with 21-14 midway through the third quarter. From there, the Cardinals' defense held the Saxons to just 189 yards in the second half. Fisher also forced Alfred into three turnovers including an interception in the end zone to set up a final drive. Trailing by seven with time winding down, Fisher went to work and orchestrated a 12-play 63-yard drive, but was unable to capitalize on the red zone opportunity as the Saxons came away with a pick near the goal line to seal the win.
WHEN WILL THEY LEARN?: Sometimes what seems obvious to some isn't quite as clear to others. Avoiding DEMARRE NELSON, who was named the Empire 8's Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, seems obvious enough, though as the junior corner back leads the Empire 8 Conference in several defensive categories including interceptions (four) and passes defended (seven). Last week, the East Rochester native had two more INTs including one in the end zone that gave Fisher the ball back for one final drive in the fourth quarter. Heading into this weekend's matchup, Nelson has accounted for nine picks in his career and is already tied for eighth on the program's career interceptions list.
STUDENT BECOMES THE TEACHER: Head coach Paul Vosbrugh and Utica's head coach go back a long way. In fact, Blaise Faggiano served as Fisher's defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator for nine seasons and played a large role in helping turn the program into what it is today. With Faggiano on the sidelines, Fisher advanced to the NCAA Division III Football semifinals in 2006 and returned to the quarterfinals in 2007. Faggiano accepted the head coaching position at Utica prior to the start of the 2008 season. Since taking over, he has led Utica to 46 wins including 22 against non-conference competition.
BURTON'S BOOT: Junior punter MICHAEL BURTON has proven his worth this season as only eight of his 21 punts have been returnable and of those eight punts, returners are only averaging 2.7 yards. Burton, who ranks third in the Empire 8 Conference at 38.4 yards per punt, has pinned the opposition inside its own 20-yard line seven times with six more punts being fair caught.
MILESTONE WATCH: Senior wideout MIKE COLLICHIO is approaching some impressive milestones as the senior needs just five receiving yards to become just the fifth player if Fisher's history to surpass the 2,000 yard plateau for his career. His 138 career receptions is fifth all-time and he needs just 27 more catches to pass Nathan Nigolian for fourth place in the record book. Additionally, Collichio's 16 touchdowns is tied for the seventh-most in program history. His next touchdown will tie him with Jimmy Smith (2005-08) for sixth place. Senior back JAMES CHAMBERS needs 65 yards to becomes just the seventh back in program history to break 2,000 career rushing yards.
SCOUTING UTICA: The Pioneers bring a 2-3 mark into Saturday's game after recently defeating Hartwick, 28-24, courtesy of an eight-yard rushing touchdown by sophomore quarterback VINNY ALOI. Offensively, Utica's stats don't jump out at you, but defensively, the team is one of the Empire 8 Conference's finest as it's only allowing 19.8 points per game this season. Utica boasts a strong secondary as well with six interceptions against just three passing touchdowns to date.
Offensively, the Pioneers are set to start ALOI who will be making just his second career start on Saturday. Aloi was impressive during his debut, however, with two touchdowns through the air and another on the ground. Utica features four receivers that have accumulated over 100 yards through five games led by DARRELL JONES II's 198 yards. JOSH HOOD and ALEX DAMIANI have combined to catch 22 passes for nearly 260 yards and a touchdown while DONOVAN BRUNSON owns 12 catches for 117 total yards.
On the ground, Utica turns to NICODEMUS GAMBILL who has contributed 256 yards on 42 carries with two scores. Gambill has also proven to be a sound return man as the senior has speed...a lot of speed. In fact, Gambill is a 12-time Empire 8 Champion sprinter and has earned four All-American honors and eight NCAA qualifying times. He's not the only threat on the ground though as MALCOLM STOWE has produced nearly 200 rushing yards of his own.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Pioneers are surrendering 355.8 yards of offense per game, which ranks fourth in the conference. DERRICK SEKUTERSKI leads the team with 48 total tackles including six tackles for a loss while ANTHONY BIERRIA-ANDERSON and ERIK LYNDAKER have combined to make 61 stops. Utica has come up with 11 sacks on the season with ROBBIE SCHEMPP and SEAN McKEAN each being credited with two apiece.
HALL OF FAME NEWS: The St. John Fisher College Athletics Hall of Fame will see two former football players enshrined during an induction ceremony on November 3 at the Woodcliff Hotel and Spa as Noah Fehrenbach '06 and Gene Lang '07 will each be honored. A three-time All-Conference honoree and an All-American selection in 2005, Fehrenbach rewrote the record books at Fisher and is still the program's all-time leader in receiving yards with 3,083 (nearly 1,500 yards more than second place), receptions (205) and touchdowns (36). A two-time All-American, Lang was named to the Third-Team All-Decade Team by D3football.com at the conclusion of his career at linebacker. To date, he still ranks third all-time in total tackles with 325. Lang is a two-time First-Team All-Conference selection by the Empire 8 and was named the conference's Defensive Player of the Year in 2006 – the conference's first-ever player to earn that award. Furthermore, he was named All East Region by D3football.com twice and went on to be named the 2006 Don Hansen Gazette Linebacker of the Year.
ON THE HORIZON: After Saturday's game, Fisher will have just one more home contest on the docket. Next weekend on October 21st, the Cardinals renew their rivalry with the Ithaca College Bombers as the two teams will play a non-conference game for the first time in decades at Ithaca's Butterfield Stadium. From there, Fisher will host SUNY Cortland on October 28th in what will mark senior day before closing out the regular season with two road games at Morrisville (November 4th) and Buffalo State (November 11th).
