CORTLAND, N.Y. - St. John Fisher jumped out to an early 21-3 lead and held off a late Cortland charge with two Demarre Nelson red-zone interceptions in the final three minutes as the 21st-ranked Cardinals defeated the 15th-ranked Red Dragons, 31-24, in the Empire 8 opener for both teams.
Fisher (3-0, 1-0) spotted Cortland an early 3-0 lead after a fumbled punt set up a Shane Cronin (West Nyack/Clarkstown South) 30-yard field goal less than four minutes into the game. The Cardinals, however, drove 75 yards for a touchdown, capped by a Matt Naton 2-yard pass to Wyatt Stehle, and a fumble on the ensuing kickoff set up a 27-yard scoring drive that ended with a James Chambers 2-yard TD run and a 14-3 lead with 4:35 left in the first.
The advantage grew to 21-3 on the first play of the second quarter on Tony Fusco's 1-yard TD run that closed a 6-play, 85-yard scoring drive. The drive featured back-to-back passes of 34 and 42 yards by Naton to William Coon.
Cortland mounted a 12-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with a DeAngelo Walker (Buffalo/Kenmore West) 5-yard TD run with 10:07 left in the half. On that drive, however, starting quarterback Steven Ferreira (West Sayville/Sayville) left the game with an injury after a roughing the passer call and did not return.
Fisher led 24-10 at halftime behind a Devin Dzikowicz 35-yard field goal with 5:02 remaining in the second. Cortland closed to within seven points twice in the second half. On the first drive of the third quarter, Kyle Schneider (Hillsdale, NJ/Pascack Valley) hit Jake Smith (Albany/Guilderland) on a 77-yard bomb on 3rd-and-12 to cut Fisher's lead to 24-17. The scored stayed that way until Mike Collichio caught a 30-yard TD pass from Naton, breaking tackles inside the 10-yard line in the process, to put the Cardinals up 31-17 with 22 seconds left in the third.
On Cortland's second drive of the fourth quarter, the Red Dragons converted on 4th-and-5 at the Fisher 34-yard line on a 7-yard pass from Schneider to Smith, and three plays later Alex Wasserman (Closter, NJ/Northern Valley Demarest) broke through the line for a 15-yard TD run to pull Cortland within 31-24.
Cortland started its next possession on the Fisher 47-yard line and drove to the 12, but after being pushed back to the 19 on a penalty and a rushing loss, the Red Dragons turned the ball over when a pass sailed just high off a receiver's hands and was intercepted by Nelson at the 9-yard line with 2:49 left.
The Red Dragons held and got the ball back with 54 seconds left and no timeouts at midfield. With the ball at the Cardinals' 34-yard line and less than 20 seconds left, Nelson again intercepted a pass, this time at the 17-yard line, to seal Fisher's win.
Naton finished 16-of-27 passing for 241 yards and two touchdowns for Fisher. Coon caught four passes for 95 yards and Chambers rushed for 88 yards on 19 carries. DJ Logory led the team with 10 tackles, Alec Montillaro broke up three passes, and Chris Smith had 4.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Schneider finished 17-of-27 through the air for Cortland for 213 yards and a touchdown after Ferreira went 8-of-13 for 94 yards. Walker was 1-of-4 passing, but led the Red Dragons with 66 rushing yards on 15 attempts. Smith caught 11 passes for 167 yards, including his 77-yard score, and Anthony Pintabona (Oceanside) made five catches for 69 yards. Carson Lassiter (Madison, NJ) finished with 12 tackles, nine solo, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery, and Matt Goodman (Closter, NJ/Northern Valley Demarest) also had 12 tackles and a fumble recovery. Ike Schannauer (West Lawn, PA/Wilson) totaled 2.5 sacks and six total tackles.
Cortland outgained Fisher in total offense, 436-397, but was assessed 15 penalties for 124 yards compared to the Cardinals' eight penalties for 71 yards.
Cortland will travel to Utica College next Saturday at 1 p.m. for a league contest. The game is scheduled to be televised regionally on Time Warner Cable Sports Channel.