The St. John Fisher College offensive line was honored this week by D3football.com, the number one source of Division III college football information.
Left tackle Pete Soehner, left guard Vince Perrone, center Matt Lowney, right guard P.J. Colombo, and right tackle Corey Balcerzak were all named to the D3football.com Team of the Week for week six of the college football season. The offensive line was dominant in the Cardinals’ 40-17 win over the Ithaca College Bombers. They were a large part in Fisher becoming the second program since 1974 to beat Ithaca in four consecutive years.
On Saturday, Fisher accumulated 33 first downs and ran for 303 yards after rushing for 296 yards in the first four games of the season. The line led the way for the Empire 8 Offensive Player of the Week, running back Christian Zemaitis. He set a Fisher single-game record with five rushing touchdowns by carrying 18 times for 178 yards and scoring on runs of 50, 9, 4, 18, and 2 yards. He tied the Fisher record for touchdowns in a game with five (a record shared by All-American Mark Robinson, who scored five touchdowns - four rushing, one receiving - in a 65-20 win over Mt. Ida College).
The offensive line also helped the Cardinals gain a season-high 533 total yards of offense. After allowing 11 sacks on the year, the offensive line shined in their pass protection as quarterback Tim Bailey was not sacked and completed 28 of 40 pass attempts for 230 yards in the win.
“Offensive linemen usually don’t get the accolades that they deserve, but everything we try to do offensively, starts with that group,” says head coach Paul Vosburgh. “Pete, Vince, Matt, PJ and Corey all did a great job, as did Dominic Fotia and our tight ends, Jeff Same and Marcus Miles. If we’re going to continue our quest for an Empire 8 title, the O-line is going to have to continue blocking people.”
Fisher (3-2, 1-0 E8) will return to action at 7 p.m. on Saturday and will host Utica College (3-3, 0-2 E8) under the lights of Growney Stadium. The Cardinals lead the all-time series vs. Utica 8-0, including last year's meeting that saw the Cardinals pull out a 17-10 win, despite out-gaining the Pioneers 360-73.