BROCKPORT, N.Y. – In front of over 7,000 fans on Saturday night, the St. John Fisher College football team was unable to topple nationally-ranked The College at Brockport as the Cardinals fell in Courage Bowl XIV, 49-7, at Bob Boozer Field.  With the loss, Fisher fell to 0-3 on the season and 0-1 in the Empire 8 standings while the Golden Eagles, who are ranked fourth in the latest D3football.com national poll, remained unbeaten at 4-0 and climbed to 1-0 against conference competition. 

Both defenses looked sharp to begin the opening quarter as each was forced to punt the ball away on its opening drive.  After holding Fisher at bay, the Golden Eagles were aided by a 30-yard punt return to set up a fresh set of downs at the Fisher 20.  From there, Brockport wasn't able to get much going as its offense was backed up with a holding call followed by a nine-yard loss on a sack by Evan Majewski. 

After taking over on downs at the Fisher 33, Joshua Michels found a groove as the junior quarterback completed 5-of-6 passes to move the chains four times as the Cardinals worked their way down to the Brockport 18.  The momentum would turn quickly, however, as a sack pushed the Cardinals back to the 28 before an errant pass landed in the hands of a Brockport player as the Golden Eagles sprinted 73 yards for the pick six to open up a 7-0 lead.

Trailing by a touchdown, Fisher went back to work, but managed just two plays before the Golden Eagles came away with another pick as the home team took over at the Fisher 31.

Following a six-play, 31-yard scoring drive that pushed the lead to 14 points, Fisher strung together nine plays to begin the second quarter, but was unable to come away with points on the board as a 31-yard field goal attempt was blocked to keep it at 14-0.

The Golden Eagles added to their advantage as the quarter wore on with a pair of touchdown drives as the Cardinals headed into halftime trailing, 28-0.

Coming out of the break, neither team was able to generate much on the offensive side of the ball, however, Brockport would tack on another touchdown courtesy of an 85-yard punt return to make it 35-0 heading into the fourth quarter.

Following another Brockport score, Fisher got on the board midway through the final stanza as Alejandro Utset aired out his first-career touchdown pass to Cam Cleveland who scurried 75 yards untouched to make it 42-7.

Michels was 11-for-18 in the game for 107 yards while Jake Thompson completed 12-of-24 passes for 100 yards.

Fisher had six receivers catch a pass led by Cleveland who contributed a career-high nine receptions for 158 yards and a score.  Pat Galer had six receptions for 59 yards while Will Blake grabbed five catches for 51 yards. 

Defensively, Cameron Bellino was credited with a team-leading 13 tackles to go along with a pass breakup while Brennen Thompson made 10 stops in all with two pass breakups.  Justin Wheeler picked off a pass and made nine tackles including a half sack while Majewski had seven stops with a sack.  John Cleary and Anthony Manna each forced a fumble.

Michael Burton tied his own program record on Saturday with 10 punts for 343 yards including a 51 yard kick.   

The Cardinals will continue their search for their first win of the season at 2 p.m. on Saturday when they travel to Utica to take on the Pioneers.  Last season, Fisher and Utica locked horns in what ended up being the longest game in Fisher's history as the Cardinals emerged with a 39-36 win in the fifth overtime period.

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