Football | 10/24/2026 8:50:00 PM
CORTLAND, NY - Quarterback Mike Rescigno (Arlington) ran for 103 yards and three touchdowns as nationally ranked Cortland battled past visiting St. John Fisher, 28-20, to remain unbeaten in Empire 8 play.
Cortland (7-0, 5-0 Empire 8), ranked 11th by the AFCA and 12th by D3football.com, extended its conference winning streak to 38 games; this was only the second time during that streak that the Red Dragons' margin of victory was eight points or less. St. John Fisher dropped to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
Rescigno finished with 20 carries to average just over five yards per rush. He was, however, limited to 6-of-16 passing for 104 yards. Ethan Gallo (Minisink/Minisink Valley) ran 17 times for 67 yards, including a touchdown less than two minutes into the game for his school-record 46th career rushing score. He broke the record set by Jaden AlfanoStJohn from 2021-24.
Memphis Ferguson (Whitesboro) recorded a team-high 10 tackles, Sonny Mayo (Mastic Beach/William Floyd) finished with eight tackles and Aidan Lochner (Ravena/Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk) had seven tackles. Joe Galea (Cross River/John Jay) totaled six tackles, a sack and an interception, which he returned 32 yards to set up Cortland's first score. Nazair Jean-Lubin (Freeport) finished with three pass breakups and Chris Carter Jr. (East Greenbush/Columbia) broke up two passes.
Gavin Dandrea (Port Jefferson Station/Comsewogue) averaged 51.3 yards on three punts. His 70-yard punt in the second quarter is only the sixth punt in school history (the fifth since full records were first kept in 1963) to cover at least 70 yards.
St. John Fisher quarterback Ryan Whitney ran 22 times for 79 yards and a score and completed 15-of-29 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown. Jackson Cusack caught seven passes for 59 yards. Eric Sparkman and Jack Tanoory recorded 11 and 10 tackles, respectively, followed by Kyle DaMore with nine stops and Timothy Vanderbrink with eight. Micah Harshfield returned an interception for a touchdown, and Colin Clark broke up two passes.
Cortland finished with 299 yards of total offense to the Cardinals' 246. The Red Dragons held a 195-107 advantage on the ground, while Fisher had a 139-104 edge through the air. Both teams scored touchdowns on all of their red-zone appearances - Cortland four times and Fisher twice.
On the game's third offensive play, Cortland defensive tackle Joe Russo (Hasbrouck Heights, NJ) hit Whitney to force a wobbly pass that Galea picked off at the Fisher 33-yard line. Galea appeared to score a touchdown on the play, but was ruled down at the 1-yard line, and on the next play Gallo took a direct snap and scored for his record-setting touchdown with just 1:39 elapsed.
Later in the quarter Fisher held Cortland on downs at the Cardinals' 27-yard line, then proceeded to march 73 yards in 15 plays for the tying score. Fisher converted three third downs during the drive, including a Whitney 13-yard run on 3rd-and-7 to the 6-yard line. Whitney then ran for five yards over the next three plays, setting up 4th-and-goal at the 1-yard line, and he ran again and just got over the goal line with 12:57 left in the half.
Cortland quickly responded with a 74-yard TD drive that took only six plays. Rescigno hit Jacque LaPrarie (Smithtown/Smithtown West) for a 21-yard gain on 2nd -and-7 from the Red Dragon 29-yard line, and two plays later Rescigno ran 24 yards to the Fisher 22. Josh Kama (Farmingdale) gained nine yards on the next play, and Rescigno ran in from 13 yards out to put Cortland back on top, 14-7.
Dandrea's 70-yard punt later in the second pinned the Cardinals at their own 3-yard line. Galea's 11-yard sack on 3rd-and-6 from the 20-yard line forced a punt that set up the Red Dragons at the Fisher 44-yard line with 1:50 left. An 18-yard LaPrarie reception on 3rd-and-9 put the ball on the Fisher 13. Rescigno ran for nine yards, then for no gain, with some confusion as to whether a first down had been achieved on each run. As time expired, Rescigno ran right for a 4-yard touchdown and Cortland led 21-7 at halftime.
Midway through the third quarter, Harshfield intercepted an overthrown pass and returned the ball 42 yards for a score to cut Cortland's lead to 21-14. That score remained until less than five minutes remaining in the fourth. Cortland began a drive at the Fisher 45-yard line with 7:14 left. LaPrarie caught a 12-yard pass, and Gallo ran for a combined 29 yards over the next four plays to advance the ball to the Cardinals' 4-yard line. Three plays later, Resicgno ran for a 2-yard score and Cortland was up 28-14 with 3:32 left.
Fisher quickly moved upfield on a series of Whitney passes and runs and had the ball at the Cortland 19-yard line. The Cardinals eventually faced 4th-and-5 from the 14 and Whitney found Marc Dellaquilla in the right side of the end zone for a TD pass with 1:15 left. George Gjelaj (Bedford/Byram Hills) blocked the PAT kick and Cortland led 28-20.
Fisher attempted an onside kick that went 10 yards straight ahead into a pile of players. The ball was loose briefly before squirting out of the pile toward the Cortland bench, and Jayson Zeva (East Northport/St. John the Baptist) fell on the ball to secure the Cortland win.
Cortland plays its final regular-season home game next Saturday at 1 p.m. against Alfred State in league play. The Red Dragons' final two regular-season games are at Brockport on Nov. 7 and versus Ithaca in the Cortaca Jug game at Yankee Stadium on Nov. 14.