St. John Fisher Survives Second-Half St. Lawrence Surge To Move To 2-0

Football | 9/13/2025 6:33:00 PM

PITTSFORD, NY – The St. John Fisher football team survived a second-half surge from St. Lawrence to improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2021 with a 28-23 victory in a wild game Saturday afternoon at Growney Stadium. St. Lawrence, which beat Norwich last week, dropped to 1-1. 

The Cardinals amassed nearly 400 yards of offense, rushing for 194 and passing for 193. Senior running backs Deante Hall and Camden Chance combined for 191 of those rushing yards and each found the end zone. 

St. Lawrence quarterback Will Lederman put on a valiant performance, accounting for 319 total yards of offense and three touchdowns. He completed 15 of 24 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 119 yards and a touchdown. 

How It Happened: First Half

• The Cardinals' offense came out firing, reaching the end zone on back-to-back drives in the opening quarter. 

• An 8-yard run from Chance and a Dominik Greco extra point put the Cardinals ahead 7-0 with 5:57 left in the first quarter. Junior quarterback Ryan Whitney completed 5 of 6 passes for 37 yards as the Cardinals traveled 81 yards on 12 plays. Fisher added another 44 yards on the ground, with 36 coming from Hall, during the drive, which spanned 5:47. 

• The Cardinals drove 96 yards on just four plays on their next drive, which Chance capped with a 28-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter. A 45-yard run from Chance and a 23-yard strike from Whitney to sophomore wide receiver Gavin Horton at the end of the first quarter got the Cardinals deep into St. Lawrence territory. 

• After forcing St. Lawrence to punt for a second drive in a row, the Cardinals had a chance to go ahead by three scores but gave the ball back to St. Lawrence after five plays. Saints linebacker Ryan Suroff tipped a Whitney pass in the air and caught it while falling to the ground for an interception. 

• On the next play, Lederman fired a dart to wide receiver Nicholas Huhtala for a 24-yard touchdown. Clayton Folger's point-after kick made it 14-7. 

• Suroff made another huge defensive play on 3rd-and-11 on Fisher's ensuing drive, forcing the football out while sacking Whitney. He recovered at the Fisher 31-yard line. 

• The Cardinals' defense responded and picked up the offense that time. With St. Lawrence in no-man's land – too far away for a field goal and too deep into Fisher territory to punt – the Cardinals allowed just nine yards on a 4th-and-14 to get off the field. 

• Fisher's offense went to work again as Whitney went 5 of 5 for 67 yards passing on a 10-play, 74-yard scoring drive that covered 3:55. The Cardinals went ahead 21-0 on Whitney's 21-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Jackson Cusack and Greco's extra point. Cusack had two catches for 36 yards on the drive. 

• A sloppy end to the half, which featured a pair of penalties with no time on the clock, allowed St. Lawrence to trim its deficit to 21-10 with a 38-yard Folger field goal. 

How It Happened: Second Half 

• The Cardinals put together another lengthy scoring drive (11 plays, 67 yards) in the middle of the third quarter. Whitney's one-yard sneak on a 3rd-and-goal and Greco's extra-point extended their lead to 28-10 with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter. 

• Less than a minute later, St. Lawrence cut the Cardinals' lead to 28-17 on Lederman's 37-yard touchdown pass to Matt Ciesielski and Fogler's point-after kick. 

• The Cardinals turned the ball over again early in the fourth quarter when Suroff again strip-sacked Whitney on a 3rd-and-4 from the Fisher 40-yard line. Saints linebacker Savino Morelli scooped the ball up and ran 14 yards to the Fisher 26. 

• The Saints pulled within five points three plays later on Lederman's 3-yard touchdown rush. Fisher kept the score at 28-23 with a stop on St. Lawrence's two-point conversion attempt. 

• The Saints, after a shanked St. John Fisher punt that traveled 14 yards, started their final drive of the game at the Fisher 37 and drove inside the 10-yard line with ease. A 14-yard Lederman rush and a 13-yard Lederman pass to Joseph Silver set the Saints up with a 1st-and-goal. 

• The Cardinals' defense showed up when it mattered most, stuffing Lederman's rushes for a loss on 3rd- and 4th-and-goal. Sophomore defensive lineman Dom London (third down) and junior linebacker Alexander Hofmann made the game-saving tackles. 

• The Cardinals' offense drained the final 5:07 off the clock to secure the victory. 

Game Notes

• Hall recorded his second straight 100-plus yard rushing performance, amassing a career-high 110 yards on 19 attempts. He's averaging 6.5 yards per carry through two weeks.

• Whitney, who finished 20 of 30 for 193 yards, completed passes to nine players. Cusack led the group with six catches for 62 yards and his second collegiate touchdown.  

• Whitney had six completions of 10 yards or more. 

• Horton set career highs in catches (4) and yards (59). 

• Junior safety Timothy Vanderbrink led the Cardinals with a career-high 12 tackles (0.5 for a loss). 

• Junior defensive lineman Jedrek Olkowski had his first collegiate multi-sack game, recording two on the day. 

Up Next

The Cardinals head across town for a 1 p.m. kickoff against the University of Rochester next Saturday, Sept. 20.