The SUNY Brockport football team hosted Hartwick college on Saturday, Oct. 23 to kick off the campuses Homecoming festivities. The Golden Eagles offensive line was dominant, clearing the way for their team to rush for 206 yards and cruise to the 41-14 victory.
Brockport struck first after a quick three and out by Hartwick on the opening drive of the game. On second down, wide receiver Jared Maurino burned his man down the sideline for a 53-yard touchdown to give the Golden Eagles an early 7-0 lead. Maurino would finish with three receptions for 76 yards and a touchdown.
A 41-yard bomb to wide receiver Imhotep Cromer would give the Golden Eagles their first RedZone trip of the day. Unfortunately, they couldn’t cash in and turned the ball over on downs after a failed trick play attempt. Running back Jala Coad faked as if he was going to run and then threw it to James Altenburger who dropped the ball in the back of the endzone.
However, Hartwick running back Josh Destin would fumble on the very next play giving the Golden Eagles the ball right back in striking distance. Josh Greenwood forced the fumble adding to his impressive resume of team leader in sacks and second in tackles for loss. The Hartwick defense got another RedZone stop forcing Brockport to settle for three giving them a 10-0 lead.
The Hartwick offense responded with a long 18 play drive down the field and found themselves on the goal line. However, penalties would back them up causing their kicker to miss a 33-yard attempt leaving them scoreless.
The Golden Eagles would find themselves in the RedZone again after a flea-flicker left Cromer wide open for a gain of 49 yards. Cromer had three catches for 94 yards on Saturday. Kicker Nate Wigent would drill his second field goal of the night from 21 yards out after the Golden Eagles couldn’t find the endzone to give his team the 13-0 lead.
The Brockport defense forced another three and out which was followed by an 11-play touchdown drive by the offense. Coad ran the ball in from three yards out earning his first touchdown of the day and giving his team a 20-0 lead going into halftime. Coad leads the conference in total touchdowns with 12, and points scored with 72.
Lawrence Jenkins opened the half with a 72-yard return giving Brockport the ball inside the five-yard line. However, penalties backed them up causing a missed field goal wasting Jenkins impressive return. Brockport had a total of 16 penalties against them for 205 yards. After the game, coach Mangone spoke on what the team must do to limit their penalties going forward.
“Well, the holding calls we definitely have to clean up,” Mangone said. “We just have to figure out what we’re doing wrong and watch film. Is it too long, are we not reaching? Is our foot placement not right? We just have to figure it out, so we’ll look at it and analyze it.”
After punts back and forth by both teams, defensive back Raylens Boutin picked the ball off and returned it 35-yards for a touchdown giving Brockport a 27-0 lead. Boutin is following up his 2019 Empire 8 Rookie of the Year with an equally impressive sophomore season. Boutin leads the team in pass breakups and recorded his fourth interception of the season Saturday.
Coad topped off another Brockport scoring drive with his second touchdown run of the game from 26-yards out making the lead 34-0. Coad had another impressive outing finishing with 109 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries.
Hartwick would finally score their first points of the game midway through the fourth quarter cutting the lead to 27 again. Yet, the lead would go back to 34 just minutes later after backup running back Gino Fontanarosa’s 63-yard touchdown run.
“Obviously Jala is a terrific back and our O-line has played outstanding all year so, you know we’re going to feed the beast a little bit,” Mangone said. “And obviously because of what he’s done it, opened up a little more of the passing game today. So, hopefully it’s playing off each other and we’ll continue to do both, but you know it’s fun when we can run the ball.”
Hartwick would score another touchdown in garbage time giving Brockport the 41-14 victory. Their record improves to 5-2 with a 3-1 conference record. The Golden Eagles will travel to Buffalo for their next game to take on the 0-7 Bengals at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30.
