CORTLAND, N.Y. – Zac Boyes (Buffalo/Kenmore West) completed 14-of-19 passes for 383 yards and four touchdowns and Cole Burgess (Greenwich) and JJ Laap (Stony Brook/Ward Melville) each surpassed 150 receiving yards as Cortland improved to 9-0 with a 56-14 win over visiting St. John Fisher University.
Cortland, ranked ninth nationally by the AFCA and 11th by D3football.com, is the outright Empire 8 champion for the second straight year with a 6-0 league mark. Cortland wraps up the regular season next Saturday at noon versus Ithaca at Yankee Stadium in the annual Cortaca Jug rivalry game. Both teams will enter the game with 9-0 marks and as league champions; Ithaca clinched the Liberty League title this weekend.
Cortland set a school record with its 19th consecutive regular-season win. The Red Dragons were 10-0 in the regular season last year (11-1 overall).
Boyes passed for 346 of his 383 yards and three of his touchdowns in the first half on 12-of-16 passing. The rest of his passing came on the opening drive of the third quarter. Burgess had four receptions for 161 yards and two scores and Laap caught six passes for 158 yards and a score, all in the first half. Jaden Alfanostjohn (Westhampton/Westhampton Beach) ran 10 times for 62 yards, including Cortland's first two touchdowns.
Cortland finished the game with 611 yards of total offense – the third time this season the Red Dragons surpassed the 600-yard mark. The Red Dragons averaged 12.0 yards per play – 209 rushing yards on 25 carries and 402 passing yards on 26 attempts.
Cortland, which hasn't trailed this season, jumped out to a 7-0 lead just 33 seconds into the game. Boyes hit Laap on a 59-yard bomb on the game's first play, and Alfanostjohn ran 16 yards for a score on the next play. Fisher (4-5, 2-3 Empire 8) looked poised to tie the game with a drive to the Cortland 28-yard line late in the first quarter, but on the first play of the second quarter Devin McArthur (Saratoga Springs) intercepted a pass at the 21-yard line and returned the ball to midfield.
Cortland responded with a 9-play drive that ended with Alfanostjohn's 5-yard TD run. That score began a 28-point second quarter for the Red Dragons. Laap caught a 69-yard TD pass with 7:50 left and Burgess grabbed a 13-yard TD pass with 2:13 remaining to make it 28-0. Cortland got the ball back at its own 19-yard line with 33 seconds left after shutting down a Cardinals' drive, and on the first play Burgess turned a short reception into an 81-yard score with 20 seconds remaining to give Cortland a 35-0 halftime lead.
The lead grew to 49-0 in the third on Boyes' 24-yard TD pass to Rashad Tucker (Freeport) and a Mark Noel (Staten Island/Port Richmond) 30-yard interception return for a score. Fisher got on the board with 4:11 left in the third on Malachi Duvall's 9-yard TD run. Each team scored once in the fourth – Cortland on a Kyle Stracher (Pine Plains/Stissing Mountain) 51-yard TD run and Fisher on a 24-yard pass from Michael Krafty to Gabe Meloni.
Cortland kicker Mike Baloga (Cornwall/Marian Catholic (PA)) made all seven of his PAT kicks to give him a school-single-season record 53 this fall. He broke the previous record of 50 set by his current teammate Nick Guglielmo (Staten Island/St. Peter's) last year.
St. John Fisher starting quarterback Aaron Chase completed his first seven pass attempts and finished 17-of-23 through the air for 192 yards with three interceptions. Krafty was 5-of-9 for 49 yards. Maloni caught six passes for 91 yards and Brendan Gawel grabbed five passes for 50 yards.
Joe Ruggieri (Oceanside) led Cortland with 10 tackles, including two for lost yardage, and John Listwan (Putnam Valley) finished with nine tackles, seven solo. In addition to McArthur and Noel, Christian Legagneur (Brentwood/St. John the Baptist) also intercepted a pass. Matt Ferrer (South Salem/John Jay) registered two of Cortland's four sacks.
Anthony Manna recorded seven tackles and a pass breakup and Joe Miscia had six tackles and a forced fumble to lead the Cardinals' defense.
Cortland Improves to 9-0 with 56-14 Rout of St. John Fisher
/seasons/2022/boxscores/20221105_rnz5.xml
2022
St. John Fisher
14
Cortland
56
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. John Fisher (4-5) | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| No. 17 Cortland (9-0) | 7 | 28 | 14 | 7 | 56 |
Nov 05, 2022