Liv Metz
Brockport earned a 48-14 victory over Alfred State to improve to 4-2 on the season.
The Brockport Golden Eagles hosted the Empire 8 newcomers Alfred State Pioneers coming off of a bye week. After sitting on a tough 31-24 overtime loss against St. John Fisher in the Courage Bowl the past two weeks, the Golden Eagles scored 21 unanswered points in the first quarter to keep a lead it never relinquished in a 48-14 victory.
“It was good, you always wonder how a team is going to respond from a loss A, and then a bye week B, and our kids came out with a ton of energy,” Brockport Football Head Coach Jason Mangone said. “Last week, we shortened our practice by about 25 minutes to kind of get the best out of them and they responded well. Then this week it carried over. Two weeks off is a long, long time, and we don’t play much. We want to play as often as we can so the bye week is good to get healthy, but in terms of energy, our kids have been awesome.”
This isn’t the first time Brockport has won by five-plus touchdowns after a loss. Just a couple weeks ago on Homecoming Weekend, the Golden Eagles shutout Hartwick 56-0 after a 30-24 overtime loss against RPI.
But Alfred State is not the Hartwick Hawks. The Pioneers came into week seven with a top 10 rushing offense in the nation led by junior running back Noah Currier. Currier headed into Brockport leading the nation in all purpose yards with 1,149 and touchdowns with 15 averaging 229.0 yards per game with 131 coming on the ground.
Brockport had other plans though for Currier. The seventh best rushing defense in the nation held the DIII-leading back to just 39 yards on the ground and 66 through the air for 105 total yards, 124 yards less than the junior’s average.
Leading the way for the Golden Eagles was four-year starter, senior defensive tackle Jayson Thomas. Thomas got through the offensive line bringing pressure every drive, finishing with five tackles on the day.
“We came and wanted to stop this guy (Currier),” Thomas said. “We knew that he could run the ball a lot, but with us, that’s the goal of the week, hold him under 50 yards and that’s what we did.”
Offensively, the Golden Eagles came out firing. After a 20-yard run by junior running back Isaiah Simmons to start the opening drive of the game, junior quarterback Ben Gocella threw a screen pass to senior wide receiver Daniel Manneh. Manneh then made multiple defenders miss, taking the pass 66 yards to the house to give Brockport a 7-0 lead.
Despite that being the only touchdown for Manneh, the senior was a consistent factor in the Brockport offense today finishing with nine receptions for 182 yards and a touchdown.
“The game plan was pretty simple: Let’s do what we know how to do,” Manneh said. “We already set the standard for ourselves to be physical, be fast and just play football.”
Manneh got the train rolling as it was all Brockport from there. The Golden Eagles forced another three and out which led to the offense driving right down into the red zone. From there it was Simmons who ran it in for a 10-yard touchdown to give Brockport a 14-0 lead with 9:55 to play in the first.
The 5’9, 180 lb junior finished the day with four touchdowns and 83 yards averaging 4.6 yards a carry.
“There were times where we didn’t give him a touchdown when in the red zone in past games and we scored, but you just need to feed number two,” Mangone said. “And I think one of his greatest strengths is how tough and strong he is. People look at his stature and it makes you think he’s not as strong as he is, but he just keeps getting better as the game actually progresses which is an awesome thing. So the more you give him the ball, the more the defense will wear down and the more he will keep going.”
The final touchdown of the quarter came off an amazing one-handed grab from senior wide receiver Tyler Ronk. Gocella placed the ball only to where only the senior could get it in the back of the endzone to make it 21-0. Ronk went on to finish the day with three receptions for 82 yards and a touchdown averaging 27 yards a catch.
From there it was all Brockport. Gocella finished the game 16/17 for 360 yards and three touchdowns with his only incompletion being a one-handed high point snag from Pioneers sophomore corner back Evan Bowen. The junior finished with a 94% completion percentage, only increasing his overall percentage of 68%, second in the Empire 8.
“It feels good when I can just go through my reads and not really worry about which receiver I’m throwing to,” Gocella said. “I’m just trusting my guys and it’s a really good feeling.”
In the two games that Brockport has lost this season, the biggest factor in both of those losses have been the turnovers. In the two games between RPI and St John Fisher, Brockport combined for five turnovers. During the bye week, it was a focus for the Golden Eagles to clean up the self-inflicted wounds.
“We’ve slowly been getting better day after day and it’s been a process,” Mangone said. “We’re having three new receivers, there’s got to be a chemistry level there between your quarterback and them and we are playing a handful of quarterbacks at times, so there’s a lot to get on the same page. But Ben (Gocella), everyday you can see growth and it’s kind of fun to call pass plays now. He got the reps and every ball he threw today was on the money, it was a rarity that somebody had to stop and catch the ball. So now we’ve got to carry that over to next week and build upon it with Morrisville.
The secondary also shined for the Golden Eagles. After allowing an average of 171 yards a game, Brockport held the Pioneers to 109 yards with an interception from sophomore linebacker Chamarr Ware.
“It’s been a focus for our guys, staff wise and player wise, to get the back end as strong as we can get it,” Mangone said. “We got young people out there, first year starters and freshmen so the more time we can get these guys Monday through Friday prepared for what we need to do and give them reps, the better they’re going to come out here on Saturday.”
Brockport kept control of the game scoring another touchdown in second and three more in the third quarter for a total of seven on the day.
To go along with Gocella, Simmons and Manneh, freshman receiver Sal Weller added three receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown while freshman quarterback Zymier Jackson ended with 61 yards on the ground and 22 through the air.
Defensively, senior defensive tackle Vinny Pisa led the way with eight tackles while Liam Nealy followed with seven including a tackle for loss. Freshman edge rushers Nahzier Wilson added two TFLs while Jayden Ferrell garnered one to add their total of five tackles on the day along with senior linebacker Luca Friedman. Sophomore safety Colton Thorp notched two tackles and led the Golden Eagles in passes defended with four.
To go along with Currier or Alfred State, senior quarterback Justin Horvath finished 15/35 for 109 yards and an interception. Tight end Liam Rogers finished with five receptions for 31 yards while senior running back Josh Graham ended with 53 yards on the ground.
Defensively, Ryan Heinz led all players with 11 tackles including a TFL while Bowen finished with four tackles, a pass break up and an interception.
Brockport improves to 4-2 on the season with the win while Alfred State falls to 3-3. The Golden Eagles hit the road to take on the Morrisville Mustangs next Saturday, October 25th. Kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m.