Football | 10/21/2023 11:59:00 PM
PITTSFORD, NY - 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.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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