ALFRED, N.Y. - Catholic football's two-game winning streak came to an end with a 45-15 road loss at Alfred on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals fall to 2-2 while the Saxons improve to 2-1 with a pair of victories over Landmark Conference teams. 

The Saxons only outgained Catholic 348-291, but three turnovers hurt the Cardinals. 

Catholic's first possession of the game started with great field position as an 18-yard punt set up the Cardinals at the Alfred 39. Joey Gulbin connected with Malachi Hansen for 17 yards on the first play before Gulbin rushed for nine yards to put Catholic in the red zone. Another completion to Hansen pushed the Cardinals inside-the-five, but two incompletions and a run stuff forced Andrew Petrino to boot a 20-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead. 

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Alfred would score the next 24 points, keeping Catholic off the board until the middle of the third quarter. 

Down 10-3 at the half, Catholic opened with possession and moved to the Alfred 46 after a 29-yard completion from Gulbin to Anthony Giordano. However, Gulbin's next pass was intercepted and returned 80 yards for a score by Adam Mietz to make it a 17-3 lead for Alfred. 

Now down 24-3 later in the quarter, Catholic ripped off a six-play, 75-yard scoring drive to trim the deficit to 24-9 with 7:05 left on the third quarter clock. Gulbin found Giordano for 31 to start the drive and completed another 19-yarder to the captain to move inside the red zone. Three plays later, Gulbin connected with Andrew Tabor for a 13-yard score on 3rd-and-5. 

The comeback effort was short-lived as Dion Anderson returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a score to push the lead to 31-9. Catholic would turn it over on its next drive, allowing the lead to build to 38-9. 

John Whelan entered the game in the fourth and orchestrated a scoring drive that finished with a 13-yard score to Giordano, his first of the year. 

Giordano finished the day with five catches for 91 yards and a score to lead the Catholic offensive effort while Tabor added his second score of 2024. 

Defensively, Mason Stillwell made five tackles, recorded Catholic's lone TFL, and forced a fumble. Samuel Dumas added the fumble recovery for the Cardinals. Michael Hopkins was credited with a team-high six stops. 

Catholic opens up Landmark Conference play next weekend as Susquehanna comes to D.C. for Saturday's Family Weekend contest.