Fisher Storms Back To Win Courage Bowl XII
Nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College rallied from a 28-7 halftime-deficit, as the Cardinals battled back for a 42-38 win over the College at Brockport in Courage Bowl XII on Saturday in an Empire 8 Conference football matchup played in front of over 8,400 fans.
Proceeds from Saturday's game went to Camp Good Days and Special Times, a not-for-profit organization that provides thousands of children with cancer the opportunity to come together in a residential camping experience to be with the only ones who could truly understand what they were going through – other children with cancer. The camp has impacted more than 45,000 campers from 22 states and 29 countries. With a small group of paid employees, Camp Good Days is a volunteer-based organization. To avoid placing any additional financial burden on the families served, all of the programs are offered free of charge for the participants.
The victory marked the largest deficit overcame in a win in Fisher history with senior quarterback
Matt Naton's one-yard dive with 17 seconds left, clinching the win.
With the win, Fisher, ranked 16
th in both the D3football.com national poll and the national coaches poll, improves to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Empire 8. The Cardinals are a perfect 12-0 all-time in Courage Bowls.
Brockport took the lead on the game's opening drive as
Brian McKean connected with
Nate Wilkinson for a 12-yard gain to get Brockport to the 33-yard line. A pass to
Jerry Thompson was good for seven-yards and a fresh set of downs at the five-yard line.
Dan Andrews took it from there, running in for his first score of the game.
Brett Renzi's kick attempt was good to put Brockport ahead 7-0 after their first possession of the game.
Fisher answered with a 5-play, 70-yard drive with
Dylan Harrington scoring on a 21-yard pass on a fourth-down play to tie the game at seven at the 8:13 mark.
On the ensuing drive, Andrews carried the ball six times for 45-yards.
Marquez Jackson-Allen tabbed an 11-yard run, and Andrews rushed another six-yards to put Brockport ahead by six. Renzi converted the extra point to add to the Brockport lead, at 14-7.
The Brockport defense came up big during the Cardinals next drive, forcing a turnover on downs. Facing fourth and seven,
Ed Suriano sacked the quarterback for a loss of four, and the turnover on downs gave Brockport the ball back at their own 46-yard line.
Joseph Ortiz caught an eight-yard pass from McKean and a roughing the passer penalty gave Brockport an additional 14-yards to get them inside the red zone. McKean was then sacked for a loss of 11-yards.
Facing fourth-and-26, Brockport went for it and drew a passer interference penalty for a first down at the Fisher 14-yard line. McKean got Brockport another first down after rushing for eight-yards, falling just short of the goal line. Andrews ran in for a one-yard td and Renzi converted the extra point for Brockport's third straight touchdown and a 21-7 lead.
The Golden Eagles got the ball back less than a minute later as the defense forced a three-and-out after two incompletions.
Ian Gilhousen caught a pass for 53-yards and took it to the house for Brockport's fourth and final touchdown of the first half. Renzi converted the extra point and Brockport took a 21-point lead to the half.
Fisher took the opening possession of the second half 75 yards on 11 plays with Naton scoring his first rushing touchdown of the day on a 1-yard keeper up the middle.
After forcing Brockport to punt for the first time in the game, the Cardinals made it a one-score game with
William Coon winning a jump-ball in the back-left corner for a 12-yard touchdown, capping a 13-play, 80-yard drive.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Naton found a wide-open
Wyatt Stehle, who rumbled 50 yards, knotting the game at 28s.
Brockport got inside the red zone on the ensuing drive but was unable to get a TD. Renzi converted a 24-yard field goal to put the Golden Eagles ahead by three.
Fisher regained the lead 32 seconds later with Coon getting behind the Golden Eagle secondary and scoring on a 68-yard strike down the left sidelines to give Fisher the lead back at 35-31.
Brockport drove 74 yards on the ensuing drive, using over seven minutes of clock with Dan Andrews scoring his fourth touchdown of the day to make it 38-35 with 1:35 left.
It was more than enough time for the Fisher offense to produce its fifth touchdown of the half.
Will Blake got the ball into Brockport territory with a 14-yard out, and moments later, Naton rushed 14 yards to the Brockport 10 with under 30 seconds left. A nine-yard slant to
Mike Collichio put the ball at the Brockport 1, and two plays later, Naton took a quarter-keep and bounced off the pile and dove left for the game-winning score to give Fisher the 42-38 lead
The game ended with
Chris Smith bringing down the quarterback at the Brockport 34.
Brockport outrushed the Cardinals 229 to 115, but the Cardinals held the advantage in total yards, 501 to 482.
Naton led the Fisher offense with 386 yards on 27-of-41 passing and four touchdowns (all career-highs). He also rushed for 42 yards and two scores. Collichio snagged eight passes for 62 yards, while Coon caught five passes for a career-high 140 yards. Blake finished with four receptions for 48 yards, while Stehle finished with receptions for 65 yards.
James Chambers rushed for 69 yards, caught three passes for 19 yards and returned five kickoffs for 106 yards.
McKean finished with 18 completions for 253-yards including one TD pass for Brockport. Andrews tabbed 131-yards off of 31 carries, scoring four times.
Marquez Jackson-Allen ran for 5-yards off of 10 carries. Gilhousen led Brockport receivers with 81-yards off of three receptions for one td.
DJ Logory led the Fisher defense with 23 tackles, tying the College's single-record set in 1993 by All-American Todd Lexer.
David Carroll registered 13 tackles, while
Evan Majewski and
Anthony Lee each finished with double-digit totals. Majewski,
Aaron Jones and
Cole Ansley-Purpura each recorded one sack.
On the Brockport defense,
Sean McKean paved the way with 10 tackles while
Ryan Johnson tabbed nine.
James Rupp recorded eight tackles while
Jake O'Connell and
Matt Szymanski each had seven. Suriano and
Dennis Thomas III each recorded one sack, both for a loss of four-yards.