UTICA, NY - The Utica College football team snagged the 75th win in the history of the program on Saturday. The Pioneers darted out to a 34-14 lead at the dawning of the fourth quarter, then held off a comeback attempt by visiting St. John Fisher with three straight quarterback sacks in the final minute as Utica prevailed by a 34-28 score in the third annual New York State Tool Believe Bowl at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.

The win improves Utica's record back above the .500 mark at 3-2 overall while halting a two game slide. It also lifts the Pioneers to a 1-1 record in the Empire 8, where they currently sit fourth at the conclusion of Saturday's games.

Utica snagged its 75th win in the 19 year history of the program while also winning a third straight home meeting against St. John Fisher. The Pioneers have defeated the Cardinals at home in 2016, 2018, and 2019 to mark their first three wins in the all-time series against their perennial Empire 8 rivals.

The Pioneers improve to 2-1 in the Believe Bowl since the event's 2017 inception. The game serves to benefit the missions of the Believe 271 Foundation and the Thea Bowman House.

Senior defensive back Elijah Belle (Plainfield, NJ/Plainfield) wrote his way into the college's career record books with an interception return touchdown in the second half of the game. His 49 yard runback was his second of the season, and the third of his career. In the process, he became the only Pioneer in program history to run back two in a single season, and he broke Rob Alexander's career record of two interception return touchdowns in a career. Belle has done all of this in just his last six games played, with his first coming in last year's ECAC Bowl win.

As a unit, the Pioneer defense kept the Cardinals to just 349 yards total, with just 101 coming on the ground. Turnovers and the pass rush played a major part in the proceedings when the Cardinals had the ball. The Utica defense managed to wrestle away three fumbles from St. John Fisher on the day, while also sacking Fisher quarterback Hunter Walsh eight times. The three fumbles recovered ties a program record, while the eight sacks is tied for the third most in program history alongside a 2015 homecoming win over Ithaca. 

Antonio Scala (Coram, NY/Longwood) and Jordan Weaver (Goshen, NY/Goshen High School) each got to the quarterback twice on the afternoon. Weaver and Jack Derby (Fonda, NY/Fultonville Fonda) each forced a fumble. John Nish (Canastota, NY/Oneida) had an impressive thrteen total tackles, followed by defensive back Anthony Beaubrun (West Hempstead, NY/West Hempstead) with nine.

On offense, Utica was led on the ground by running back Jamarious Morgan (Utica, NY/Thomas R. Proctor). Morgan had his second career 100 yard rushing day in the win, and has eclipsed the century mark in back-to-back home games. He ran for 112 yards and a touchdown this afternoon. In the passing game, the Pioneers were aided by the familiar connection of Logan Wilcox (Utica, NY/Proctor) and Peyton Miller (Chemung, NY/Waverly). Wilcox completed 14 of 27 passes for 170 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those scores were to Miller, who had seven catches for 87 yards. Kevin Warmack (Utica,NY/Utica Notre Dame) made three receptions for 39 yards as the former Notre Dame star continues to round into form as a potent offensive weapon. JJ O'Connor had 27 receiving yards and a touchdown.

Maki Medici (Watervliet, NY/Shaker) punted five times for an average of 39.8 yards. His longest kick of the day eclipsed 50 yards. He also held opponents inside the 20 twice, and did not allow a punt return yard to be recorded by the opponent for yet another week.

Walsh threw for 248 yards for the Cardinals, while Will Blake had 134 yards receiving. Running back Dahmir Pross rushed for 110 yards as Fisher fell to 3-3, and 0-2 in the Empire 8 after also losing to Brockport a week earlier.

The passing games were vibrant for both sides in the early going of the matchup. After Fisher won the coin toss and deferred their option to the second half, the Pioneers received and embarked on a surgical six play drive that went 63 yards. That drive was capped by a touchdown pass from Wilcox to Miller from a distance of fourteen yards, and the Pioneers led 7-0 on their opening series. Fisher responded to tie the score just as quickly as Will Blake caught a 48 yard deep ball from Walsh for an early tying touchdown.

The Pioneers had one more aerial score waiting before the end of the first quarter of play. With 2:14 to go before the end of the frame, Wilcox zipped a ball into the hands of a wide open John James O'Connor (Auburn, NY/Weedsport) for O'Connor's third receiving score of the year to put the hosts ahead 14-7 after one quarter.

Both sides turned to the ground to pile up points in the second quarter. Walsh scored on a quarterback scramble to re-tie the score at 14-14 early in the quarter. The Pioneers offered their reply with just 29 seconds to go before the break as Morgan plunged into the end zone to cap a drive that started at midfield and re-establish a one touchdown lead. Utica nearly doubled up their advantage before halftime as they recovered a fumble with a short field on the third play of the ensuing series, but the Cardinals effectively defended a reverse play by the Pioneer offense to keep the halftime score at 21-14.

Utica began to pull away towards a prospectively comfortable victory in the third quarter. Belle entered the history books while putting up his team's first points of the half. With less than two minutes elapsed in the second half, Walsh dropped back to pass and was immediately pressured. That pressure forced Walsh to throw right into the hands of Belle for the interception. Belle then darted down the far sideline for a 49 yard return and his record breaking touchdown to put Utica up 28-14. In the fourth, Utica increased its lead as Wilcox connected with Miller from nine yards out on a pass to fortify a 34-14 lead. That pass finished off an 80 yard scoring drive.

A significant fourth quarter lead for Utica soon gave way to crunch time bedlam. Chris Park became the catalyst for a Cardinal comeback as Walsh hooked up with Park for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to trim Utica's lead down to just six points.

With the Cardinals threatening to steal the game late, the Pioneers turned to multiple key defensive plays to help slam the door on a multitude of Fisher chances. On the heels of a three-and-out by the Utica offense with just over three minutes to go, the Pioneers got some immediate help to get the ball back. Defensive lineman Jack Derby (Fonda, NY/Fultonville Fonda) forced a fumble on the first play of the series, which Utica recovered in Fisher territory on the 38 yard line.

The Pioneers strung together three straight rushing plays of two yards to chew up the clock and force the Cardinals to burn their final timeout, but again the Utica defense would get tested with just moments left in the contest. After the offense was unsuccessful at converting on fourth down, Scala, Derby, and Robbie Schempp (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) each dropped Walsh in the backfield once for the Pioneer defense to thwart any possibility of a last ditch rally by the visitors as Utica claimed the Believe Bowl trophy for a second time.

The Pioneers will cap a two-game homestand on Saturday, October 19th against Morrisville. The game will be played as part of Utica College's 2019 Homecoming Festivities.