PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College football team locked horns with the College at Brockport on Saturday in the 15th annual Courage Bowl to benefit Camp Good Days and Special Times as the Cardinals fell to the Golden Eagles 17-0 in front of over 5,000 fans inside Growney Stadium.  With the loss, Fisher moved to 3-2 on the year and 0-1 in the Empire 8 standings while Brockport, which is receiving votes in the latest D3football.com national poll, improved to 4-1 and 1-0, respectively.

After forcing the Golden Eagles to punt on their opening possession of the game, Fisher was unable to handle the kick cleanly as Brockport came up with the fumble to earn a second chance.  With new life and the ball inside Fisher territory, Brockport strung together 11 plays and moved 41 yards capped off by a two-yard scramble into the endzone to take a 7-0 lead.

Trailing by a touchdown midway through the first quarter, Fisher was aided by a pair of pass interference calls to extend its drive.  With the ball on the Brockport 27 and fourth down upcoming, Fisher looked to air it out, but the Golden Eagles came away with a sack to force the turnover on downs and keep the Cardinals off the board.  From there, Brockport bridged the first and second quarters with a nine-play, 65-yard drive that resulted in a 23-yard field goal to open up a 10-0 edge.

Ahead by two scores, the visitors would force Fisher to kick the ball away, however, they muffed the ensuing punt as the Cardinals pounced on the loose ball with a fresh set of downs in their corner.  After a four-yard rush on an pitch to Chris Park, Fisher would give the ball right back as the Golden Eagles picked off Hunter Walsh before marching 48 yards on just four plays highlighted by a 34-yard run up the gut to take a 17-0 cushion into halftime.

Coming out of the break, the Cardinals received the ball, but couldn't find any rhythm on the offensive side of the ball as head coach Paul Vosburgh's squad punted four times in the quarter to head into the final 15 minutes of play still trailing by three scores.

The Cardinals continued to look for a big play as the fourth quarter progressed, but it would never come as the Brockport defense held the Cardinals off the board to pick up their first conference win of the year.

Walsh was 17-of-33 in the loss for 138 yards and an interception.  The freshman hit four receivers on the day with Will Blake leading the way with seven catches for 52 yards.  Pat Galer finished with four catches and 42 yards while Johnathan Letta added five grabs for 26 yards. 

On the ground, Dahmir Pross carried the ball 13 times for 29 yards.

Defensively, Justin Wheeler led the way with nine tackles including five solo stops.  Cameron Bellino, Tony Silvanic and John Cleary each had seven tackles while Evan Strassberger had five stops, a sack and a fumble recovery.  Devin William was credited with half a sack while Sam Maddi had three tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Joe Dotterweich punted a career-high nine times and averaged 36.3 yards per punt.

The Cardinals will look to right the ship at 1 p.m. next Saturday when they travel to Utica College for another Empire 8 test.