The Brockport Golden Eagles put together their most complete performance of the season against St. John Fisher. A dominant performance in all three phases of the game led to a 35-0 victory in the Courage Bowl. Brockport moves to 3-1 on the season after the win.
“You’ve got to give your home fans something to celebrate and something to be proud of to come and see,” Brockport head coach Jason Mangone said.
This particular game is bigger than football. The Courage Bowl serves as a platform for these two schools to raise awareness for childhood cancer in partnership with Camp Good Days. Four honorary coaches along with four honorary cheerleaders are picked to represent each team.
Brockport’s second drive of the game went seven plays, 73 yards and was capped by an Isaiah Simmons’ nine-yard rushing touchdown. The Golden Eagle offense leaned on Simmons early as he scored twice in the first quarter. His second score was a 60-yard dash to double the Brockport lead. Simmons finished a dominant performance with 19 carries for 177 yards and two scores.
“These guys are staying hungry and not resting on what they have done and they’re trying to find ways to get better,” Mangone said.
Defensively, the Golden Eagles completely shut down St. John Fisher’s run game which averaged 158 yards per game entering the Courage Bowl. The Cardinals had just 17 rushing yards and averaged 0.6 yards-per-carry. St. John Fisher’s inefficient passing attack only worsened their woes. Sophomore quarterback Ryan Whitney finished the game 12-26 for 171 yards and threw two interceptions for the Cardinals.
Brockport controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball throughout the game. The physical play up front from the Golden Eagles was a massive factor in the win.
“There’s a reason why Brockport is always known for having one of the best defenses in the nation because it’s got a great mind behind all of it with Coach (Mike) Fox,” Brockport linebacker Mike Talbert Jr said.
Talbert Jr. stuffed the stat sheet with seven tackles, an interception, two and half sacks and three and a half tackles for loss.
On the other side, Brockport’s sophomore quarterback Ben Gocella threw three touchdown passes. He has 329 passing yards and six touchdowns in two Courage Bowl starts.
“Me being a sophomore, it feels a lot better than when I was a freshman and the game speed is starting to slow down,” Gocella said. “I’m just trusting my guys and it doesn’t matter who I throw to.”
The game slowed down in the third quarter with both teams putting together long drives that ended in turnovers. St. John Fisher opened the second half with a 10 play, 38-yard drive that ended with a turnover on downs. The Cardinals were deep in Brockport territory but back-to-back sacks from the Brockport defense on third and fourth down ended the drive. Brockport then marched down the field with a 14 play, 55-yard drive that ended with an interception in the end zone thrown by Gocella.
Those two drives chewed 12:05 off the third quarter clock.
The scoring was capped off midway through the fourth quarter, with Gocella tossing his third score of the day to sophomore wideout Nolan Slywka who got his second touchdown grab of the game. The seven-yard score came from a simple goal-to-go slant route, leaving St. John Fisher corner Jake Storen in the dust for an easy completion. Slywka’s first score was a 16-yard jump ball where he also beat Storen.
“It’s a focus that we want to be a two-headed monster,” Mangone said. “It’s nice to have weapons that all could go to the house on any given play.”
Brockport looks ahead to a road trip to Oneonta next week where they will take on the 1-3 Hartwick Hawks. Hartwick will be coming off a rough 65-7 loss to Utica. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
