Football | 11/11/2022 10:55:00 AM

PITTSFORD, NY – The St. John Fisher University football team is set to celebrate their seniors in their final game of the regular season, in a matchup against Utica University. The game will be played at Growney Stadium at 1 p.m. The Cardinals enter the week with a 4-5 record, having gone 3-1 on their own turf this season, with their only loss coming in the tightly contested 10-3 loss to Morrisville on October 8.

Last Time Out: In the loss to Cortland last week, the Cardinals saw the Red Dragons jump ahead early in the first quarter. In the second drive of the game, Fisher would go down the field 52 yards over 11 plays, though the drive was unable to result in a score off a Red Dragon interception. A 10-play, 75-yard drive helped Fisher score their first touchdown in the third quarter, and a connection with Gabe Maloni in the fourth quarter secured the second touchdown of the day for Fisher. The Cardinals would drop the contest 56-14 over nationally ranked Cortland.

Scouting Utica: Utica enters the week with an 8-1 record, with their only loss coming against SUNY Cortland. The Pioneers are coming off a 65-16 win over Alfred University, a game that saw Utica gain 617 total yards of offense, 407 of which came in the air. Fisher will look to snap a three-game skid against the Pioneers, as the Cardinals last win against the Pioneers came in a high-scoring fashion, 39-36, during the 2017 season.

Offensive Player to Watch: The offensive player to watch this week is senior Brendan Gawel, This has been a career year for Gawel, who has 15 receptions for 146 yards across six games. The nursing student has two touchdowns this season, the first of his collegiate career. Gawel is averaging 24.3 yards per game, and is coming off a game against Cortland where he had a career-high 50 receiving yards.

Defensive Player to Watch: Senior Kyle Vachon is once again the defensive player of the week to watch after racking up four more tackles in the loss against Cortland. Vachon has 45 tackles this season over nine games, including 24 solo tackles. The senior has played in 29 games overall, posting 107 tackles, 49 of which have been credited as solo tackles.

Celebrating Seniors: The Cardinals are set to honor 29 seniors and seven graduate students on Saturday. Over the last four years, the Cardinals have gone 13-16, not including the limited 2020 pandemic season. In programmatic history, Fisher has gone 287-209-5.

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