Brockport football defeated the visiting Hobart Statesmen 14-10 in the Golden Eagles’ home opener. In a hard-nosed, highly defensive battle, it was junior running back Isaiah Simmons who finished with 175 yards and two rushing touchdowns including the game-winner with 2:13 left to lift Brockport to victory.
“The defense got stop after stop and gave us an opportunity and we took advantage of it,” Simmons said. “With that, I expect to keep doing what I’m doing and with this O-Line it shouldn’t be too hard.”
Simmons was the only constant for the Brockport offense all game. After going down 7-0 following a two-yard touchdown rush from Hobart quarterback Tru Styles in the first quarter, Simmons responded with a 16-yard touchdown rush.
Those were the only touchdowns of the game until the fourth quarter go-ahead score from Simmons. The Brockport offense couldn’t find their rhythm. Junior quarterback Ben Gocella had five completions for 52 yards along with two interceptions at the start of the third. After sophomore corner back Corey Rock picked off Gocella in the third for the second of the day, Gocella got benched for sophomore quarterback Anthony Vino.
Despite the quarterback change, Brockport still did not mount any momentum or drives together. Thankfully for them, constant three and outs from the national ranked Brockport defense kept the Golden Eagles in the game. Leading the defense was captain linebacker Luca Friedman who led Brockport with 11 tackles and a sack.
“In the first half, we were playing good defense, but we felt like the energy wasn’t where it had to be even though we were making stops,” Friedman said. “We’re not doing bad, but we got to have more energy, no matter what happens on the result of the play, we have to celebrate that. Then in the second half, every tackle we made, we were celebrating, keeping the energy up and I think that really helped because you’re going to get tired, but our energy kept going up.”
As the energy went up, so did the defensive pressure. It came to a head with 9:02 remaining in the fourth, as senior defensive tackle Vinny Pisa broke through the Hobart offensive line bringing instant pressure to sophomore quarterback Aidan Conrath on the throw. The pass was then picked off by sophomore cornerback Kyle Slywka to shift momentum permanently for the rest of the game.
After the interception, Brockport had one more chance to score. After sitting the whole third quarter, Gocella was called back in the game to lead the game-winning drive.
It started with a couple quick passes to get the junior’s confidence back. That’s when Gocella delivered a 42-yard bomb down the right sideline to sophomore receiver Nathan Williams to put Golden Eagles in Hobart territory.
From there, it was all Simmons as the running back rushed for 23 yards in three plays to find the endzone for the eventual game-winner. Despite being benched, Gocella came in and delivered, finishing 8-14 for 111 yards, with 59 of them coming on the game-winning drive.
“I wasn’t on top of my game in the first half, and I knew that, I think everyone in the stands knew that it was pretty obvious,” Gocella said. “The offense starts with me, and it wasn’t looking good in the first half, but you just got to keep fighting, show resilience and that’s what we did in the last drive.”
Up 14-10 with two minutes left, The Golden Eagles needed one more stop. After punting in their own endzone, Hobart started with the ball at midfield, but smothering coverage and instant pressure was too much for Conrath and the Statesmen offense. Hobart had a turnover on downs as a result of its last drive, earning Brockport the victory.
Last year, Brockport only had one game with a final score within four points of each other, a 29-28 loss in the Empire 8 Championship to Cortland. With a victory that went to the final drive, this only helps Brockport build momentum and be even more prepared for situations like this later on in the season. The Golden Eagles can say they’ve been here before.
“I think it exposes mistakes on offense. Defensively, we played good, we didn’t play great, and that’s the fun part, is that we can do better,” Brockport head coach Jason Mangone said. “We’re that talented so I think that’s the big thing is that again, you sometimes overshadow the mistakes in a win. We are not, and I can assure you we are going to go back to attention to details and figure this thing out and come back better in the next one.”
To go along with Simmons, Gocella and Friedman, Anthony Vino finished with 51 yards. Williams led the way with two receptions for 48 yards while freshman wide receiver Sal Weller finished with four receptions for 29 yards.
Defensively, Alan Ramirez-Jiminez ended with six tackles including two for loss and one sack. Nazhier Wilson finished with six tackles while Jahmere Clarke, Brady Schnell, Liam Nealy and Darius Cervi collected five tackles apiece. Marist transfer Kanye Davis also made four tackles and a sack on the day.
For Hobart, Conrath finished 14-31 for 170 yards and an interception. Wide receiver Marcus Peterson led the way with 91 yards on four receptions while running back EJ Taylor added 90 all-purpose yards (58 rushing, 32 receiving). Defensively, Alex Smith led the way with 10 tackles and an interception
With the win, Brockport improves to 2-0 while Hobart falls to 0-2. The Golden Eagles look ahead to Saturday, Sept. 20, as Brockport travels to Rensselaer Polytechnic Intstitute to take on the Engineers. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.
