Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
PITTSFORD, N.Y. - Zac Boyes (Buffalo/Kenmore West) connected on 18-of-24 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns and ran 11 times for 92 yards and a score as nationally 17th-ranked Cortland defeated host St. John Fisher, 42-14, in an Empire 8 matchup.
Cortland improved to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference, while the Cardinals dropped to 4-3 and 1-2. Cortland travels to Hartwick next Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
JJ Laap (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) caught five passes for 67 yards and two scores and Jaden AlfanoStJohn (Westhampton/Westhampton Beach) ran for 70 yards and a touchdown. Jack Winey (Lindenhurst) made 16 tackles, JC Mertz (Wanaque, NJ/Lakeland Regional) ended with eight tackles and Junius Keys (Queens/Eagle Academy) led the team with 1.5 sacks. Mark Noel (Staten Island/Port Richmond) and Sam Cotton (Fulton/G. Ray Bodley) each intercepted a pass and Alex DeRosa (Webster/Webster Schroeder) blocked a punt.
Aaron Chase was 21-for-26 passing for 197 yards and a score for the Cardinals. Peyton Nolan carried the ball 14 times for 84 yards and a score and Nate McGoldrick caught seven passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. DeAndre Green and Joe Miscia led the hosts with 13 and 12 tackles, respectively.
Boyes scored on a 1-yard run on 4th-and-goal to give Cortland an early lead. Fisher responded with a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive capped by Nolan's 44-yard TD run to tie the game at 7-7.
Cortland fumbled at the Fisher 1-yard line on its next possession, with the Cardinals recovering the ball in the end zone. Two plays later, however, Cotton forced a fumble that the Red Dragons recovered on the Fisher 23-yard line. Cortland converted a 4th-and-2 at the 15-yard line when Ashton Capone (Saratoga Springs) ran for five yards, and three plays later Boyes hit Laap on a 6-yard TD pass to put Cortland up 14-7.
The lead grew to 21-7 in the second quarter on an 11-yard connection from Boyes to Laap. On Fisher's ensuing drive, the Cardinals marched from their 30-yard line to the Cortland 3-yard line. On third and goal, however, Nolan took a handoff, ran toward the line, then stopped and threw a pass into the end zone that Noel intercepted and returned to the 14-yard line. Cortland then went on an 11-play, 86-yard scoring drive that culminated with a 13-yard TD pass from Boyes to Omari Kendrick (Greenburgh/Woodlands) with 34 seconds left before halftime and Cortland led 28-7.
Cortland extended its lead to 42-7 with two third-quarter touchdowns - an AlfanoStJohn 7-yard run with 7:58 left in the quarter and a Capone 1-yard run with 21 seconds left. Fisher closed the scoring on Chase's 4-yard TD pass to McGoldrick with 1:08 left in the game.