PITTSFORD, N.Y. – The St. John Fisher College football scored 35 unanswered points in the second half and improved to 3-0 on the season as the Cardinals celebrated Alumni and Family Weekend by taming the Lions of The College of New Jersey on Saturday, 40-16, in a non-conference bout inside Growney Stadium.  With the win, Fisher has now come out on top in in last five contests dating back to last season while TCNJ fell to 0-3 to begin the 2019 campaign. 

Senior receiver Will Blake had a career day as the Webster native hauled in a team-leading 12 catches for a career-high 140 yards to go along with two touchdowns.  Junior Pat Galer nabbed four balls for 46 yards and a score while Chris Park made two grabs in the win for 19 yards. 

Freshman quarterback Hunter Walsh was 22-for-36 for 208 yards, two touchdowns and a pick while Jake Thompson made the most of his one snap on the day with a 28-yard touchdown strike.

After taking a 3-0 lead early in the first quarter on a 35-yard field goal by Joe Dotterweich that capped off a 12-play, 39-yard drive, Fisher found itself in a two-score hole as the Lions produced 13 straight points with touchdowns on back-to-back drives in the second quarter to hold a 10-point edge.

As time wore on in the period, the Cardinals were able to pin the Lions deep in their own territory as Dotterweich sailed a punt to the TCNJ 7-yard line.  With the offense backed up, junior LeMar Peters burst through the line and dropped the Lions' signal caller in the end zone for a safety to make it 13-5.  However, TCNJ would answer on its next drive with a 27-yard field goal that staked the visitors to a 16-5 advantage to close out the first half.

Coming out of the break, both teams swapped possessions until the Cardinals took over on downs with 3:44 remaining in the third quarter.  From there, Walsh and the Cardinals' offense picked up five first downs and marched 72 yards before the signal caller hooked up with Galer over the middle for an 18-yard touchdown pass to cap off a 12-play drive and make it 16-11.  Fisher would go for two, but was unable to cross the plain as it remained a five-point gap.

As the fourth quarter got underway, the Cardinals still faced an uphill climb with the Lions driving.  After completing a pass to the sideline for nine yards, TCNJ would go to the ground needing just one yard to move the sticks.  Fisher, however, would not bend as the Cardinals came up with two big stops to force a punt on fourth-and-one at the Lions' 26.  With the momentum beginning to swing in the home team's favor, junior transfer TySean Sizer brought the crowd to its feet as the Irondequoit native corralled a 50-yard punt at the Cardinals' 24 and broke free for a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown to turn a five-point deficit into a one-point lead.  Johnathan Letta would close out the drive with an end around that resulted in a two-point conversion to make it a three-point affair with nearly 13 minutes left to play in the game.

From there, the Lions took the field facing their first deficit since early in the first quarter.  After just one play, TCNJ aired it out only to have Jason Rodriguez come away with an interception that gave Fisher the ball deep inside the visitors' territory.  The Cardinals' drive, however, would stall as the Lions forced Fisher to go for it on fourth-and-eight at the 28-yard line.  With a new quarterback in the game after Walsh was forced to exit for a play, Thompson uncorked his first career passing touchdown with a 28-yard pass to the back of the end zone that found Blake for six to lift the Cardinals to a 26-16 edge.

On its next possession, TCNJ was unable to string together a long drive as Rodriguez once again found himself in the right spot as the Corning native jumped a route and came up with his second pick of the game and fifth of the season as the Cardinals' offense trotted back onto the field.

Ahead by two scores and over nine minutes still remaining in the contest, Fisher kept its foot on the gas as Walsh found Blake three times over eight plays including a five-yard touchdown pass to open up a 33-16 cushion.

With just over five minutes still showing on the clock, Fisher took over on downs again and needed just four plays to rack up 32 yards with Dahmir Pross breaking the goal line for his fifth rushing touchdown of the year to put head coach Paul Vosburgh's squad on top 40-16 as the final whistle sounded.

As a team, Fisher limited the Lions to just 80 yards on the ground.  The Cardinals applied the pressure all game with three sacks and three quarterback hurries.  Justin Wheeler led the team with 11 stops in the win including a sack while Evan Strassberger finished with nine tackles to his credit.  Tony SIlvanic had eight tackles at the linebacker position including 2.5 stops for a loss while Max Bates added seven tackles.  Peters finished with four tackles, a sack and a safety while Rodriguez accounted for three tackles, two picks and 38 return yards.  Durrel Hutcherson added six tackles and two pass breakups on the day.

On special teams, Dotterweich averaged 45.2 yards on five punts and pinned the Lions inside their own 20 three times.  Sizer finished with 105 return yards overall.

The Cardinals will look to make it four wins in a row at 1 p.m. next Saturday when they travel to Ithaca to take on the No. 22 Bombers in a non-conference tilt at Butterfield Stadium.