PITTSFORD, N.Y. – Depending on the time of year, dozens, if not hundreds, of people unknowingly walk past perhaps the greatest image in St. John Fisher football history every day.
Located on the right side of the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Athletics Center lobby, it’s impossible to miss. The time capsule shows Jimmy Smith crossing the goal line on his 56-yard punt return touchdown that put the Cardinals ahead of Rowan 7-0 late in the first quarter of the 2006 NCAA Division III East Region Final. In the background, Father Joseph Lanzalaco, an honorary member of the St. John Fisher Athletics Hall of Fame, and a boisterous, packed-to-the-gills Growney Stadium crowd can be seen celebrating the play that commenced a 31-0 drubbing that sent Fisher to the NCAA Semifinals.
“It’s arguably the best moment in Fisher history,” Rob Kramer, the starting quarterback on that team, said. “You have Father Joe raising his arms in the end zone. It’s an iconic picture for Fisher football. You see the people in the background jumping and screaming. You see Father Joe raising his hands. That is the photo.”
No doubt, that moment, along with so many more, will be reminisced about this weekend as the 2006 team gathers to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the best season in program history. The group’s accomplishments will be honored during a ceremony at halftime of the Cardinals’ game against Hartwick on Saturday.
“We were really good in all three phases of the game – guys really believed,” Kramer said. “We were also so close and got along. That was a really big piece of it. You’ll see with the number of guys we have coming back that still stay in touch or are still around each other now. I think it’s a testament to that group.”
BUILDING TOWARD A SPECIAL SEASON
The Cardinals and head coach Paul Vosburgh, who led the program from 1991-2024, had been building toward a special season for years. After winning just five games between 1999-2001, Fisher took steps forward in 2002 (6-4) and 2003 (8-3 with an ECAC Bowl win) before its first big breakthrough in 2004. That year, the Cardinals, who finished 10-2 overall, won the Empire 8 Conference and played in the NCAA DIII Playoffs for the first time. They beat Muhlenberg in the first round before falling to Delaware Valley.
The 2005 season marked a fourth straight winning campaign (8-3 overall) for the Cardinals, but they lost to Alfred by six in the final week of the regular season and ended up in an ECAC Bowl game. It left everyone motivated for more in 2006, especially two-time All-America running back Mark Robinson, who had an injury-shortened 2005 season, and the rest of the senior class.
“We took it upon ourselves to do as much as we could back then in the offseason,” Robinson said. “We didn’t have spring practices or the time that teams have now to be around each other in the offseason. We had the dedication to the little things.
“Getting hurt my junior year made me want to come back my senior year and prove a point. We carried that through the offseason. All of the seniors, we wanted to have the best year we could have.”
Former sports information director Norm Kieffer recalled the feeling most had about the Cardinals before the 2006 season.
“Going into 2006, everyone kind of felt, ‘This should be the year,’” Kieffer, now St. John Fisher’s Senior Director of Development, said. “We had a lot of seniors and a lot of key players back on offense and defense.”
HOW THE SEASON UNFOLDED
The Cardinals made it clear from the jump that they had the makings of a special team, as they began the season 7-0 for the first time in program history and did so in mostly dominant fashion. They won six of those first seven games by three scores or more with three shutouts: a 30-0 win over King’s, a 55-0 win over Mt. Ida and a 32-0 win over Norwich. The impressive start also featured a home win over No. 8 Ithaca during which St. John Fisher erased a 10-0 halftime deficit by outscoring the Bombers 34-0 in the second half.
All of it set the stage for a key midseason Empire 8 Conference showdown at Growney Stadium against Springfield, which entered the late October contest 6-0. Both teams were ranked in the top 20 in various Division III polls.
“Springfield is one of the first things that comes to mind as far as the games that season,” Gene Lang, an All-American linebacker, said.
Then-defensive coordinator Blaise Faggiano, now in his 19th season as Utica’s head coach, added, “That Springfield game is a story in and of itself.”
For all the wrong reasons.
Springfield, which ran a triple-option offense, carved through St. John Fisher’s defense for 493 yards rushing and eight touchdowns in a 55-38 victory. Quarterback Chris Sharpe accounted for 280 yards and seven touchdowns, putting together a highlight reel that ended up on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
“I felt responsible for getting Chris Sharpe on ESPN,” Faggiano said.
The Cardinals’ offense did its best to keep the game interesting, gaining more than 500 total yards, which made a poor performance that much more frustrating for Faggiano’s defense. Quarterback Nick Suchyna, who entered the game after Kramer suffered an injury in the first half, completed 12-of-15 passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns. Robinson rushed for 123 yards and a score.
“That one was really on the defense,” Lang, who totaled 325 career tackles, said. “I remember taking a lot of pride in knowing the offense could count on us. We always kind of had their back. We felt like we let the team down after that game. The offense always did their job. We always could trust them. That was the one game they could not trust us.”
Vosburgh recalled the Cardinals missing a handful of key defensive players due to injury that day, including All-American defensive back Steve Stepnick, who watched the game from the press box.
“I remember being so frustrated,” Stepnick said. “To be a defensive player and not be able to do anything to help the team, it sucks.”
The Cardinals didn’t let it linger, though, rebounding from the loss with a pair of blowout road wins (64-0 over Utica, 41-13 over Alfred) to finish the regular season. They were one of seven teams that earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, and as fate would have it, their placement made a rematch against Springfield likely. St. John Fisher drew Liberty League champion Union in the first round, while Springfield drew Curry College.
“We knew we could handle Union,” Kramer said. “We knew we were going to get a rematch right when we saw it go up on the board.”
The Cardinals thumped Union 49-21 at home behind a four-touchdown performance from Robinson and a strong performance from their defense. Fisher limited then-NCAA DIII rushing yards leader Tom Arcidiacono to just 10 yards on 11 carries.
“Arcidiacono was close to 5,000 career yards,” Faggiano said. “He ran outside zone on one of the first plays of the game, and (Gene) Lang shot through to get him for a loss (of yards). He got up and was telling him how many more yards he needed (to get to 5,000).”
A few hours east of Growney Stadium, Springfield took care of Curry, 42-14, guaranteeing the Cardinals a second crack at the Pride.
A much healthier and better-prepared Fisher team traveled to Springfield the following weekend and advanced to the East Regional Championship with a 27-21 victory. The defense got some measure of revenge, holding the Pride to 220 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Sharpe (69 yards, two touchdowns) still made some plays but not even close to as many as the first go-around.
“We beat them at their house,” Vosburgh said. “They could run the triple-option better than anybody. We forgot about the other game and didn’t dwell on getting beat at home. They said, ‘No, we’re going to win this game.’ And we did.”
Lang made 11 tackles (6 solo, 1 for a loss), while Stepnick, who Vosburgh moved to free safety for that game, tallied five.
“Coming back for that game in the playoffs, I had a chip on my shoulder,” Stepnick said. “It was the first time I was seeing that team. I wanted to make sure we got it done.”
Lang said, “It was such an exciting win. It made it feel that much better to get them back in the playoffs. I think the coaches came up with a much better game plan the second time, and the players just executed a lot better."
Robinson and Kramer were the offensive stars in that meeting. Robinson rushed for 120 yards and three scores, and Kramer passed for 178 yards with a touchdown to Matt Kelly.
“The offense had confidence that it could do what we did in the first game again,” Robinson said. “We just had so much confidence going in there. We knew that when we were fully manned, we were tough to take down.”
Kieffer, who traveled with the team for just about every road game, remembers an already rowdy postgame celebration becoming more jubilant when news broke that Rowan had upset Wilkes. That meant the Cardinals would be hosting Rowan in the East Regional title game.
“It was another celebration on top of the celebration,” Kieffer said.
Known back then as ‘Beasts of the East,’ Rowan advanced to the national semifinals 10 times and played in the national title game five times between 1992-2005. But the Profs’ elite stature mattered very little to the Cardinals on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006.
“We were fired up about that and being able to play them at home,” Vosburgh said. “That was really, really important. They thought that when they beat Springfield, they would be able to win the next game. We were confident because we put the hard work in. That’s the key. When you work hard, you are ready to go. They had a great work ethic and played hard together.”
The Cardinals recorded their fifth shutout win of the season on that brisk afternoon, holding the Profs to 120 total yards and forcing three turnovers. Kramer completed 13-of-20 passes for 160 yards with three touchdowns, one each to Smith, Corey Jackson and Chris Harmon.
“The hill behind the end zone was full. You had the stands packed. People were four or five deep on the railings,” Kramer said. “...It wasn’t even a game. We flat-out dominated them. In front of that crowd, we knew we were going to win.”
WHAT THE PROGRAM PROVED IN 2006
The Cardinals gave Division III powerhouse Mount Union all it could handle in the national semifinals at Kehres Stadium in Alliance, Ohio. A few plays loomed large in the end.
With the game tied 7-7 late in the first half, a high snap on a punt resulted in a safety that gave Mount Union a 9-7 lead. In the fourth quarter, with the Cardinals trailing 19-14, Mount Union blocked Chris Pierri’s 33-yard field goal attempt and went ahead 26-14 a handful of plays later on running back Nate Kmic’s third touchdown of the day.
“It was a very close game,” Vosburgh said. “Those plays made a big difference for them. …I know after the game, the Mount Union coach (Larry Kehres) had nothing but high praise for our team. Our kids did a great job and put Fisher football on the map.”
That, more than anything else, was the prevailing sentiment across St. John Fisher’s locker room. Players and coaches felt immense pride in what they had accomplished – a program record 12 victories, a magical postseason run and, finally, a seat at the table with the nation’s strongest teams.
“The season was over, and there were some tears, but everyone was proud,” Kieffer said. “We felt like we belonged and that we put ourselves in the conversation to be a national contender.”
The Cardinals remained in that discussion for a decade, extending their streak of winning seasons to 15 (2002-2016) and making three more appearances in the NCAA Tournament. They opened the 2007 season ranked No. 3 in the country and returned to the regional championship game.
“When we went toe-to-toe with Mount Union the way we did, I think the respect started to take shape,” Kramer, who coached at Fisher for 13 years after graduating, said. “It was no longer Cortland, it was no longer Ithaca, it was no longer a state school coming out of New York. It was this private school in Rochester that is home to the Buffalo Bills' training camp.”
And on Saturday, many of the players and coaches who made it happen will be back at Growney Stadium, sharing stories, laughs and, of course, several toasts.
“We built great bonds that have lasted all this time,” Lang said. “I still talk to all of those guys pretty regularly. St. John Fisher is a small school – everyone is tight. It was such a special group of guys.”
