PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College football team earned its first win of the season in thrilling fashion as the Cardinals downed Utica College on Saturday night, 39-36, in the fifth overtime period at Growney Stadium.  The game, which marked the longest in Fisher's history, took over three-and-a-half hours and featured nearly 170 total offensive plays as the Cardinals moved to 1-5 on the season and 1-3 in the Empire 8 Conference.  Utica ended the day at 2-4 overall and 1-3 in the conference standings.

After both teams failed to get anything going in the first quarter, the Cardinals would open up a 3-0 lead in the second period courtesy of a 22-yard field goal by Zack DeAngelis.  The Pioneers countered, however, with a quick strike of their own after needing just one play to march 44 yards downfield for a touchdown.  After the ensuing extra point sailed wide, the Pioneers enjoyed to a 6-3 edge.

As the second quarter ticked down, Fisher's defense forced the Pioneers to punt the ball away after pinning them inside their own 10.  The Cardinals took over with just over two minutes to go before intermission and worked an eight-play 51-yard drive capped by a one-yard run from freshman quarterback Johnathan Letta to hold a 9-6 lead.  Alejandro Utset would put the Cardinals up by five after converting on the two-point conversion to make it 11-6 at halftime.

Coming out of the break, Utica cut the lead to 11-9 with a 27-yard field goal, but Fisher would turn defense into offense as Brennen Thompson blocked a Pioneer punt inside the five yard line before recovering the loose ball in the end zone for the touchdown and an 18-6 advantage.

Fisher's defense continued to fill the gaps in the fourth quarter after coming up with three straight stops on their own one yard line to take over on downs, but Utica's defense answered after coming away with a safety to make it a one possession game. 

After receiving the punt, Utica tied the game up at 18-18 after stringing together an 11-play 54-yard drive capped by an 11-yard pass to the middle of the end zone.

With just 35 seconds left in regulation, Fisher nearly ended the game, however, Joshua Michaels Hail Mary pass was knocked out a Cardinals' receiver's hands as both teams readied for overtime.

Utica won the coin toss and earned the right to send its offense out first as the Pioneers nailed a 33-yard field goal to hold a slim lead, 21-18.  Needing three points to keep the game alive, Fisher was up to the task as Devin Dzikowicz was true from 27-yards out to knot things up at 21 points apiece.

As the second overtime got underway, Fisher found itself facing another fourth down situation as Dzikowicz once again came up in the clutch, this time converting a 30-yard field goal to put Utica in the hole, 24-21.

With the ball at the Fisher 25, Utica went to the ground game, but Fisher's defense allowed just six yards as Utica braced for a 36-yard attempt.  With the wind at their backs, the Pioneers snapped the ball as the kick sailed through the uprights to extend the game into a third overtime period.

After failing to reach the end zone in its first two attempts, Utica punched it in on its third with an 11-play drive, but was unable to convert on the two-point conversion as Fisher took over at the Utica 25 needing a touchdown to keep its hopes afloat.  It took the Cardinals just three plays to tie the game as James Chambers hauled in a 13-yard completion before reeling off two straight runs including an eight-yard scramble that found pay dirt to make it 30-30.

Heading into the fourth overtime period, Fisher again started with the ball at the Utica 25, but was only able to move the ball to the Pioneer 16 before Dzikowicz booted a season-long 33-yard field goal to put Utica's back against the wall.

Needing three points to stave off the loss, Utica buried a 31-yarder and would take the lead on its next possession after coming away with a 39-yard field goal, but Fisher was not to be outdone as Letta moved the chains with back-to-back runs before Chambers broke free and scampered 10 yards into the corner of the end zone to lift Fisher to its first win of the season.

As a team, Fisher ran 71 plays resulting in 267 yards of total offense.  The Cardinals had 15 first downs. 

Individually, Letta was 4-for-12 passing and picked up another 71 yards and a touchdown with his legs.  Chambers, who became just the seventh back in Fisher's rich history to eclipse 2,000 career rushing yards, broke the goal line twice and earned 123 yards on the ground.  Dylan Harrington had 32 rushing yards on three carries. 

Defensively, David Carroll set a new career-high with 20 tackles while Cameron Bellino made 16 stops in all.  Evan Majewski had 15 stops including two for a loss while Justin Rivera also made 15 tackles in the win.  Thompson had 12 tackles and junior corner back Demarre Nelson came up with his fifth pick of the season to go along with 55 return yards.  John Horne finished the game with seven tackles to his credit and forced one fumble. 

Dzikowicz was perfect on the day and converted all three of his field goal opportunities. 

Fisher will step out of conference play at 1 p.m. next Saturday when it travels to the Ithaca to take on the Bombers at Butterfield Stadium.