UTICA, NY – The nationally-ranked No. 16 St. John Fisher College football team defeated host Utica College 42-7 in Empire 8 Conference action on Homecoming at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium Saturday.

Fisher racked up 533 yards of total offense, including 338 yards on the ground, as the Cardinals improved to 5-1 overall and 4-1 in conference play.  The Pioneers have now dropped three in a row, after starting the season 4-0, as their record fell to 4-3 overall and 2-3 in the E8.

Senior quarterback Connor Butkiewicz (Southington, CT/Southington) completed 19 passes for 127 yards, while senior captain Joseph Gerbino (Mahwah, NJ/Mahwah) hauled in a team-best five catches for 45 yards for the Pioneers.  Teddy VanGalen (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) came on in relief at quarterback and his first pass of the season, a 40-yard touchdown throw to Gregory Palmer (Richland, NY/APW), proved to be the only points of the contest for UC. 

The Pioneers look to get back on track when they travel to Buffalo State to take on the Bengals in a conference match up next Saturday at 2 p.m.

UC held the Cardinals to just seven points in the first quarter.  Fisher scored on its opening drive of the contest, a four play, 78 yard drive, capped by a 13 yard touchdown pass from Tyler Fenti to Nathan Nigolian to start the scoring on the afternoon.

Fisher added two scores in the final 8:09 of the second quarter to manage a 21-0 lead at the half.  Fenti had a 32 yard touchdown run and James Chambers added a 16 yard score with 1:02 left on the first half clock to send the Cardinals into the locker room with a 21 point lead. 

Utica senior linebacker Jon Treen (Ilion, NY/Ilion) led the Pioneers with nine tackles, while sophomore Juwan Wilson (South Ozone Park, NY/Holy Cross) added eight tackles.  Rob Alexander (Dobbs Ferry, NY/Dobbs Ferry) and James Lenahan (Mahopac, NY/Mahopac) each came away with seven tackles. Jawan Jenkins (Shirley, NY/William Floyd) added a career-high five tackles for the Pioneers.

Fisher essentially put the game out of reach in the third quarter, scoring twice to take a 35-0 advantage headed into the final 15 minutes of action. 

The Cardinals got on the board once again early in the fourth to go up 42-0, before Van Galen and Palmer hooked up with 4:01 left in the contest to spoil the shut out.

Tony Fusco led the ground game for the Cardinals with 14 carries for 145 yards and a third quarter touchdown.  Chambers added nine carries for 81 yards for Fisher. Fenti completed 15-of-21 passes for 194 yards and two touchdowns, while Nigolian caught a team-best five catches for 74 yards.

10 different receivers caught passes for the Pioneers.  Senior Anthony Acevedo (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford), the reigning Empire 8 Conference Player of the Week, caught five passes for 22 yards, while sophomore Jarred Beniquez caught three balls for 27 yards. 

Utica punter Dakota Peel (Alden, NY/Alden) had another nice afternoon, punting seven times for 201 yards (43.0 ypp), including a long of 63 yards.  He punted the ball inside the Fisher 20 yard line twice and forced three touchbacks