The Brockport Golden Eagles football team closed out their regular season with a dominant showing over the Alfred Saxons on Saturday, Nov. 13 at Bob Boozer Field. Brockport honored its seniors who have racked up 40 wins in four seasons, clinching both Empire 8 titles and NCAA Tournament bids three times over the course of their time at Brockport.
Brockport picked up its seventh win of the season, and finished at 7-3 in the regular season and 4-2 in conference play. The Golden Eagles shut out Alfred in a blowout 38-0 victory as they hope to get a bid in the Eastern College Athletic Conference [ECAC] bowl game on Nov. 20.
Head coach Jason Mangone is proud of his seniors who have put in four years of commitment to excellence.
“It’s just great to send the seniors off on their last regular season home game on a high. The focus of this week was playing for those guys. We didn’t have a large number in terms of seniors, but we had a lot of talent, and it was great to get them out on a win,” Mangone said.
The first scoring play of the game came on a Rashad Law touchdown rush from one yard out, and Nate Wigent hit the extra point attempt and added a 20 yard field goal in the second quarter to give the golden Eagles a 10-0 lead going into halftime. Law would add another touchdown rush later in the third quarter to give him two on the day to go with 63 yards on the ground.
The Golden Eagles stormed out of the locker room in the second half and scored 28 third quarter points. Jala Coad had two touchdown carries and 120 yards rushing on the day, averaging 6.7 yards per carry. Coad has been a true feature back for Brockport and has had a dominant junior season. He finishes the season with 1,198 yards rushing and 17 touchdowns.
“It was good to get contributions from all phases. We get a blocked punt, defense gets all those turnovers and we get a short field and took advantage of it. We were able to get some guys in to play meaningful minutes that hadn’t during the year, so it’s nice when all three phases contribute to a win,” Mangone said.
The Brockport defense played lights out, getting their second shutout victory of the season. Josh Greenwood had eight total tackles, seven solo and four tackles for loss. He added two sacks to an already impressive stat line. Senior Alaan Montgomery had two interceptions, giving him nine total on the season, tying the college’s record for picks in a season. Andrew Covais had an interception of his own and seven total tackles. But the play of the game on the defensive side of the ball belonged to Lawrence Jenkins who intercepted a pass for a 30 yard pick six. Ben Robinson recorded a team high nine tackles in the win.
“That’s what our defense does, they create turnovers. Obviously, Alaan Montgomery ties the school record with 9 interceptions and he was coming in as one of the top guys in the country. It was a lot of fun watching him and that defense fly around,” Mangone said.
The Brockport seniors are Imhotep Cromer, Alex Benson, Alaan Montgomery, Andrew Covais, Nigel Bailey, Lawrence Jenkins, Josh Greenwood, Tyrone Brown, Conner Latimer, Ahmaad Johnson, Luke Lodini and Devonta Braithwaite.
Brockport awaits their ECAC bowl game and looks to add another bowl victory to an already illustrious list of accolades.
