ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Tim Bailey completed 24-of-41 passes for 256 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 70 yards and a score as host St. John Fisher defeated Cortland, 34-20, in the ECAC Div. III Northwest Bowl. The Cardinals complete the season at 7-3 and Cortland finishes the year at 7-4. The Red Dragons were making their 15th postseason appearance and seventh in eight years.
Alex Smith (Niagara Falls/Niagara Wheatfield) connected on 25-of-41 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns for the Red Dragons. Eric Hajnos (Grand Island) caught 11 passes for 90 yards and two scores and defensive end Bryan Wiley (Cape Vincent/Thousand Islands) caught a short touchdown pass that gave the Red Dragons a 20-13 lead with 5:06 left in the third quarter.
Hajnos set a new school single-season record with 10 touchdown receptions and tied the school career TD catch record with 23, previously set by Neal Heaton Jr. from 2001-04. Smith tied the school record for career touchdown passes with 48.
D.J. Romano (Newburgh/Newburgh Free Academy) led Cortland's defense with 11 tackles and Will Schroeder (Rockville Centre/Holy Trinity) made nine tackles. Bobby Somerville's (East Greenbush/Columbia) interception set up Cortland's go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter.
Fisher tied the game at 20-20 with 2:48 left in the third quarter on Bailey's 7-yard pass to Paul Deckard. A 23-yard TD pass from Bailey to Dan Witkowski gave the Cardinals a 27-20 lead with 14:05 left. Cortland drove into Fisher territory on its next two drives but were stopped on interceptions by Dave Vosburgh at the 5-yard line and Mike Leavell at the 27-yard line.
Fisher responded with a 65-yard scoring drive, capped by a Brad Carlton 2-yard TD run with 2:19 left. Cortland pushed one final drive to the Fisher 20-yard line but eventually a fourth-down sack by Chris Sawyer sealed the Cardinals' victory.
The hosts took a 6-0 lead on the game's first drive, a 70-yard march ending with Bailey's 10-yard TD run. The extra point was wide. Cortland tied the game later in the quarter on a Smith 4-yard pass to Hajnos, but the Red Dragons' extra point also missed wide and the game was knotted at 6-6.
Smith's 11-yard TD pass to Hajnos witih 5:45 left in the half put Cortland ahead 13-6. Fisher knotted the game at 13-13 on a Bailey 11-yard pass to Ryan Schmidt with 38 seconds left before intermission.
Dom Sair (Huntington) rushed 20 times for 76 yards for Cortland, while Wayne Wheeler (Memphis/Jordan-Elbridge) caught four passes for 37 yards. Deckard and Carlton each caught seven passes for Fisher, while Nick Krajacic and Andy Episcopo finished with 11 and 10 tackles, respectively.
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