UTICA, NY - Pioneer Football will travel to St. John Fisher tomorrow afternoon for their regular season finale against the Cardinals. Tomorrow's matchup will take place in Rochester, NY and will see a clash of ECAC hopefuls looking to notch a win on the final day of the regular season and stuff their resume enough to earn their way into an ECAC Bowl Game. The contest will begin at 1:00 PM tomorrow afternoon.
 
How to Watch: Follow along live with this Saturday's action by clicking the "Watch" tab on our football schedule page, or by following the link below.
You can stream this weekend's contest here: https://www.empire8network.com/stjohnfisher/
 
Live Statistics: Get live statistics updates for every Football matchup by following the link below, or by selecting the "live stats" tab under each matchup on our 2024 football schedule page.
Follow along with Live Statistics here: https://sjfathletics.com/sidearmstats/football/summary
 
Vs Hilbert Recap: Pioneer Football traveled to face Hilbert this past Saturday in the penultimate matchup of the season. Utica, looking to right the ship in a major way, did just that to start the matchup, taking their opening-drive straight down the field for six in a display of what would be to come for the Central New York squad against their western counterparts. The Pioneers came out firing, scoring on their first six drives to establish an almost-insurmountable lead by halftime. Utica held strong in the second half, giving up zero points in the last 30 minutes to come away with a 36-6 victory.
 
Matt Brantley got everything he wanted and more on Saturday, achieving a hat trick of rushing touchdowns through the first half. The Pioneers' workhorse back had 146 yards rushing and the three touchdown scurries by the halftime buzzer, finishing the matchup with 150 yards and the trio of scores after his day ended early in the second half due to the large lead.
 
Also scoring for the Pioneers during the blowout were Antonio Cianfarani and Logan Kraft who each caught a receiving touchdown during the action.
 
Brett Fuller spent the day targeting lots of high-percentage looks, finishing 12 of 15 for 122 yards and a single passing score.
 
Tommy Ziskin (Amsterdam, NY/Amsterdam) had the other passing touchdown of the afternoon, completing a pass of a trick play early in Saturday's game on the touchdown chuck to Kraft.
 
On defense Dameon Charles and Liam Horodnik ended with a team-high six tackles each.
 
Utica scored on their first six drives of the game, mounting five touchdown drives before the halftime break and notching a field goal on their first possession of the second half. The Pioneers first punt came with 5:36 remaining in the third quarter.
 
The visitors held strong in the second half despite only earning three points, shutting the Hawks out over the final half of play.
 
The Pioneers outgained Hilbert by a 391-130 margin on Saturday, racking up 199 rushing yards in the contest while only being forced to punt twice. They accomplished this feat despite holding the ball for only 26:51 due to Hilbert's triple-option offense.
 
Pioneer Prestige: Nicholas DeForrest (Rome, NY/Holland Patent) blocked yet another kick in the Pioneers matchup with Hilbert, marking the Sophomore's third blocked kick of the season. DeForrest broke through the line, getting a touch on the Hawks' first punt of the game and making an impact early on in the matchup. This block, coupled with a pair of huge punt blocks in both the Moravian and Alfred University games gave DeForrest a total of three blocked punts on the season, a new Pioneer record for single-season punt blocks.
 
The Sophomore from nearby Rome ascended to the top of the single-season blocked kicks list, passing former Pioneers Nick Woodman, Shawn Mitchell, and Sean Fontanez who each had two blocked kicks in the 2015, 2012, and 2010 seasons respectively. DeForrest's impact on the Utica special teams unit has been unprecedented, with the big linebacker barely missing out on a game-winning play after his block against Alfred University contributed to what was almost the game-winning score.
 
Brantley currently has the sixth-most rushing yards in a single season in Pioneer history, sitting at an impressive 822 yards on the season. Brantley will need a big effort in his final game to secure the record, and will likely need to see some action in an ECAC matchup to have a chance at achieving the most traveled rushing season in team history. Brantley is 253 yards away from the historic mark that was set by Malcolm Stowe in the 2018 season.
 
Brantley also needs just two rushing scores to tie the school record and only three such scores to sit alone at the top of the single-season rushing touchdown rankings. Brantley has 10 and needs 12 to tie, 13 to have the record all to himself.
 
John Stroughn (Baldwin, NY/Holy Trinity) has been chasing the all-time sack record this season, with the Graduate Student inching closer and closer over each consecutive game. He was stymied last week in his efforts by a Hilbert squad that scarcely passed, giving him limited options to improve his QB takedown total. This week, he'll face a team with an average amount of passing attempts per game, meaning he has a great shot to jump into the record books. Stroughn currently has 28.5 career sacks, meaning he is just one single sack away from tying the record set by Nick Woodman who had 29.5 QB takedowns over the course of his 4-year career. Stroughn can stand alone as the Pioneer's sack champion with 1.5 sacks in tomorrow's contest.
 
Rewind Time: Utica and St. John Fisher met in last year's season finale, with the Pioneers stumping the Cardinal offense en route to a 14-0 victory. Here are some statistics from that matchup.
 

	St. John Fisher	Utica
1st Downs	13	17
Rushing Yards	47	140
Passing Yards	171	114
Total Offense	218	254
Punts	4	5
Time of Possession	29:02	30:58
3rd Down Conversions	5 of 12 (42%)	5 of 13 (38%)

 
 
2024 St. John Fisher Outlook: St. John Fisher is currently 3-6. They began their season by losing two of their three non-conference games, suffering defeats to Wilkes and the current #22 ranked team in Marietta. In conference they are currently 2-4, with lopsided victories over Hartwick and Hilbert. They have been very competitive in their Empire 8 losses though, dropping one possession games to both Alfred University and SUNY Morrisville.
 
St. John Fisher is a versatile squad, employing a balanced amount of rushing and passing attempts. They have a two-man backfield with Peyton Nolan and Camden Chance. Nolan has 105 rushing attempts, gaining 490 yards and five touchdowns on the ground. His running-mate Chance has carried the ball 75 times for 399 yards and eight rushing touchdowns, averaging over five yards per carry. Quarterback Ryan Whitney also contributed mightily to the Cardinals rushing game with his 442 yards and three touchdowns on 96 attempts, creating a three-headed monster in the backfield. Whitney also leads the Cardinal offense in the passing game. The Sophomore from Geneseo, NY has completed 130 passes in 218 attempts, notching completions at a 60% clip, while also racking up 1,678 yards and nine touchdowns through the air.
 
Jackson Cusack leads the Fisher receiving game. Cuasack has 23 receptions, for 327 yards, and two touchdowns. Jaylen Brantley is also someone to look out for in the Fisher receiving game. In only three games played Brantley has 12 receptions, for 333 yards, and two touchdowns.
 
Statcast: Here's a breakdown of Fisher and Utica's 2024 statistics.
 

OFFENSIVE	Fisher	Utica
Points Per Game	23.7	30.4
First Downs Per Game	20.1	18.8
Rushing Yards Per Game	147.4	149.6
Yards Per Carry	3.9	5.2
Rushing Touchdowns	16	13
Fumbles Lost	4	4
Passing Yards Per Game	208.6	216
Yards Per Attempt	7.7	6.3
Passing Touchdowns	10	19
Interceptions Thrown	12	7
Sacks Allowed	29	12
Total Yards Per Game	356	365.6
Total Touchdowns	29	38
Time of Poss. Per Game	34:01	29:47
3rd Down Conversions	55-120 (45.8%)	46-117 (39.32)
DEFENSIVE
Points Allowed Per Game	29	22.8
1st Downs All. Per Game	17.6	18.3
Rushing Yards All. Per Game	160.7	154.1
Rushing Touchdowns All.	14	16
Passing Yards All. Per Game	213	185.3
Passing Touchdowns All.	22	11
Total Yards All. Per Game	373.7	339.4
Touchdowns All.	37	11
Interceptions Created	7	8
Fumbles Recovered	5	9
Sacks	5	18
Record	3-6	4-5

 
After Hilbert: This matchup against Fisher will conclude the Pioneers' regular season.
 
Tune in this weekend when the Pioneers take on St. John Fisher!