Football | 11/17/2025 4:42:00 PM
PITTSFORD, N.Y. – For the first time since 2016, the St. John Fisher football team has a postseason game on its schedule, and, for the first time in more than a decade, it will be played at home.
The Cardinals have been selected to play in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Clayton Chapman Bowl game against the RPI Egineers at noon on Saturday at Growney Stadium, the ECAC revealed on Monday afternoon during the D3FBHuddle Selection Show.
The ECAC has three other bowl games this season. Utica will host Rowan in the Asa S. Bushnell Bowl; SUNY Brockport will host Geneva College in the Scotty M. Whitelaw Bowl; and Maritime College will host Hobart in the James Lynah Bowl.
The Cardinals have been one of the best turnaround stories in Division III this year under head coach Ed Raby Jr., who came to Fisher from SUNY Morrisville last winter to take over a team that finished 3-7 (2-5 Empire 8) in 2024. On Saturday, the Cardinals dominated Alfred State 41-14 at Growney Stadium to improve to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in Empire 8 Conference play, their best marks since going 8-2 overall and 6-2 in the league in 2016.
RPI ended the regular season 7-3 overall and 5-2 in Liberty League play. The Engineers won seven of their first eight regular-season games before dropping their final two, 24-23 to Ithaca and 28-21 to Union.
Saturday's game will mark the Cardinals' 10th ECAC Bowl and first at Growney Stadium since 2014. The Cardinals own a 6-3 record in ECAC Bowl games and have faced RPI in two of them. Fisher fell 26-22 to RPI in the 2005 Northwest Bowl and dominated the Engineers 56-13 in the 2010 Northwest Bowl.
Fisher is 3 and 12 all-time against RPI but won the most recent meeting, which came early in the 2022 season at Growney Stadium. Kyle Farewell made a 26-yard field goal for the game's lone points in the first quarter, and Fisher's defense limited RPI to just nine first downs and 218 total yards.
Ticket information for Saturday's game will be released later this week.
