UTICA, NY - The St. John Fisher College football team held Utica College to a school-record 76 yards of total offense Saturday en route to a 17-10 Empire 8 Conference victory on the turf at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.

With the win the Cardinals improved to 6-3 overall and 4-1 in conference play while the Pioneers dropped to 2-6 overall and 1-3 in the E8. The Pioneers have never beaten the Cardinals in eight meetings all-time. In fact, UC had not scored an offensive touchdown against Fisher dating back to Oct. 30, 2004 when Utica lost 27-10. The Pioneers were shut out in the last two meetings against Fisher and only scored two points in their meeting against the Cardinals in 2005.

Fisher opened the scoring when senior kicker Ricky Tatar (Gates Chili/Rochester) knocked down a 23 yard field goal on their first drive of the contest to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead at the 5:43 mark of the first quarter. The game's opening drive, which spanned 9:17, was 16 plays and 53 yards.

Fisher's defense controlled the pace of play in the first half and also gave the Cardinals a commanding 10-0 lead after junior linebacker Andy Episcopo (Webster/Webster) scooped up a fumble by UC sophomore wide receiver Sean Halligan (Minoa, NY/East Syracuse-Minoa). Senior Josh Gottleib (Fox Lane/Pound Ridge) delivered the hit on Halligan that jarred the ball loose and Episcopo took the recovery 20 yards for pay dirt just under a minute into the second quarter.

Both teams then exchanged punts before the Pioneers were able to close the gap on the Cardinals. Sophomore linebacker Terrell Cunningham (Rochester, NY/Marshall) sparked the comeback by picking off a Tim Bailey (East Aurora/East Aurora) pass and returning it 41 yards down to the Fisher 29 yard line. The Pioneers offense capitalized on great field position by using just four plays to punch in the touchdown and cut the Cardinal lead to three points, 10-7. Junior receiver Cody Elliot (Sloan, NY/John F. Kennedy) rushed for 18 yards on the scoring drive, while freshman William Northey (Sherburne, NY/Sherburne-Earlville) punched in his first collegiate touchdown with just under two minutes left in the half. Junior kicker Casey McNulty (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook) knocked down the extra point to complete the drive.

The Pioneers tied the game up in the third quarter when McNulty knocked down a 32 yard field goal to knot the game up at 10-10 with 2:32 left in the quarter. The 13 play 60 yard drive took 6:17 off the clock.

With 12:54 left to go in the contest the Cardinals found themselves with great field after a Pioneer punt. Just two plays later Fisher sophomore quarterback Tim Bailey connected with senior stand out receiver Tim Marion (Warwick Valley/ Warwick) for a 45 yard pass. Marion was tackled at the Utica seven yard line which set up the game-winning touchdown on the next play. Junior running back Brad Carlton (Monohasen/Schenectady) scampered into the end zone from seven yards out to give the Cardinals a 17-10 lead with 11:43 left to play in the game.

Junior captain Eric Kahl (Lockwood, NY/Spencer-Van-Etten) led the way for the Pioneer defense with a game-high 14 tackles. Sophomore Kevin Hennion (Dumont, NJ/Dumont) added 11 tackles for UC, while junior Sean Dixon (Sherill, NY/Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) tallied 12 tackles of his own. Cunningham, a sophomore linebacker, finished the evening with six stops and one interception.

Eriscopo tallied a team-high 12 tackles and broke up one pass for the Cardinal defense while Gottlieb added seven tackles. Sean Trapper (St. Francis/Cheektowaga) totaled two of Fishers' four sacks on the day. Freshman Dave Vosburgh (East Rochester/Pittsford) intercepted a pass in the final moments of the contest to end the Pioneers bid at a game-tying drive.

Carlton finished the day with a game-high 120 yards on 30 carries for Fisher while Bailey completed 16-of-30 passes for 169 yards in the air. Marion caught a game-high six passes for 76 yards in the Cardinal victory. Elliot rushed 26 yards on the ground for the Pioneers while freshman quarterback Michael Clark (Fulton, NY/Fulton) completed 11-of-22 passes for 33 yards. Freshman Joshua Mason (Schenectady, NY/Schenectady) caught a team-best three balls for 21 yards to pace the UC air attack.

The Pioneers return to action Saturday when they host Norwich University in an Empire 8 Conference contest at 1:30 p.m. Live video, audio and stats can all be found at www.ucpioneers.com. Fisher has a bye next weekend before traveling to Alfred for their final regular season contest of the year at 1 p.m.