St. John Fisher Stops Hobart 34-14
The St. John Fisher College football team jumped to a 24-0 lead before the Statesmen could answer and never looked back, defeating host Hobart 34-14 on Saturday night at the Statesmen’s inaugural night game at Boswell Field in Geneva, NY.
The Cardinals’ offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage in the rout, allowing Fisher’s offense to produce 473 yards of total offense.
FuQuan Borum was the name of the game, as the rookie rushed for 180 yards and three touchdowns on the night. Quarterback Tim Bailey passed for 248 yards in the win.
The Cardinals opened the first quarter holding the Statesmen to a failed field goal before turning around to be held to a field goal themselves. A 12-play, 74-yard drive would leave Cardinal kicker Chad Monheim with a 23-yard field goal, giving the Cardinals the 3-0 lead on Fisher’s first field goal attempt of the season.
Hobart went three-and-out on the next play, handing the ball off with a 34-yard punt. After two incomplete passes, Ryan Schmidt grabbed the first down on a 10-yard pickup, setting the Cardinals up at the 50. Borum broke through tackles in the middle for a 23-yard run to bring it to the Hobart 19. Scott Allis recorded an 11-yard reception to bring it to the eight, setting Borum up to rush it up the right side for his first touchdown of the night on a seven-play, 81-yard drive.
Two scoreless drives later and still up 10, Gabe Wells booted a 32-yard punt, fumbled by Junior Woodward at the Hobart 42, and recovered by Fisher’s Artie Bigsby to return the ball to Fisher immediately, carrying over to the second quarter.
A Bailey rush up the middle after the fake to Borum set up first and goal at the Hobart 2. Another Borum rush up the middle nabbed him his second touchdown of the night after a 9-play, 42-yard drive, giving Fisher the 17-0 lead.
Looking like they were going to go three-and-out, Hobart faked the punt on the next drive unsuccessfully, as Fisher’s Kyle Macey jumped in for the block and recovered it at Hobart’s 41.
Fisher’s next seven-play drive produced another seven points as a 23-yard reception Schmidt set up first-and-goal at the 7. After a carry by Borum to bring it to the three-yard line, Bailey carried the ball to the right side before passing forward to Scott Biehl, who snuck in for the touchdown.
The Statesmen retaliated immediately after on a 61-yard pass complete to Steven Webb, scoring his first touchdown of the night. With a good extra point by Conor Callahan, the Statesmen made it 24-7.
The rest of the half went scoreless as the teams traded drives for the last six minutes. What looked like it would be an entirely scoreless third quarter ended with the second of Fisher’s field goals on the night, a 25-yard kick made good by Monheim to give the Cardinals a 20-point lead.
The fourth quarter opened with a 10-play, 64-yard drive that resulted in Borum’s third rushing touchdown of the night, bringing the ball in on three separate carries from the Hobart 15.
Webb scored his second touchdown of the night to close out scoring in the game and give the Statesmen another seven points on a seven-yard rush into the Cardinals endzone.
Borum led the Cardinals with a career-high 177 yards on 33 carries for three touchdowns.
Bailey went 23-for-39 for 248 yards passing and rushed for an additional 22 yards.
Ryan Francis led receivers with 88 yards on 10 receptions, while Schmidt grabbed six passes for 62 yards and Ryan Kramer tallied 60 yards on three catches.
Brenden Moore led the defense with nine tackles, seven solo, while Shawn Masood and Joe Leavell each tallied six tackles. Burdick tallied one interception along with two tackles-for-losses, while Byron Rhone recorded Fisher’s lone sack of the night for a loss of two yards.
Webb led the Statesmen in both rushing and receiving with 14 carries for 103 yards, and 109 yards receiving on three passes.