The SUNY Brockport football team hosted their Empire 8 conference rival, the Utica Pioneers, in a hard fought battle on Saturday, Oct. 16. The Golden Eagles came out on top and advanced to 4-2 on the season and 2-1 in conference play.
Brockport struck first with a 24 yard field goal from Nate Wigent that gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead with 7 minutes left in the first quarter. On the following drive, defensive standout Alaan Montgomery intercepted a pass from Utica quarterback Sonny Badyna to give Brockport the ball back. The senior defensive back collected his fifth interception on the season so far, averaging .8 takeaways a game, good for seventh best in the nation according to D3football.com
The Golden Eagles offense was paced by running back Jala Coad, who had a whopping 38 carries for 167 yards and two total touchdowns. The junior from Amityville, New York extended his scoring streak to six straight games and remains a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses. The first touchdown came on a 13 yard touchdown pass from Jack Chesire that gave Brockport a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Head Coach Jason Mangone had high praise for his star running back.
“He’s been huge. We ask him to play quarterback, tailback, I think he threw a pass last week. He calls all the plays on the line. He’s been monstrous for us, and we’re going to keep riding him,” Mangone said.
The Golden Eagle’s next scoring play came on an eleven play, 60 yard drive that resulted in senior receiver Imhotep Cromer take a handoff for a seven yard touchdown rush. Cromer entered the contest averaging 7.8 receptions per game, placing him twelfth in the nation in that category and leads the Empire 8 in receiving yards with 435, averaging 87.0 yards per game.
Brockport went into halftime up 17-0, but was met with a resilient second half showing from the Pioneers that forced the Brockport defense and special teams units to make some crucial plays down the stretch. A touchdown pass from Sonny Badyna to Nate Palmer made it a 17-7 game, and early in the fourth quarter, Badyna rushed for a two yard touchdown, shortening the Golden Eagles lead to just three points.
Coad’s second touchdown on the day extended the Brockport lead to 24-14 and the Eagles never looked back. The next Utica drive saw the Brockport special teams unit come alive as they blocked a Utica punt out of the back of the end zone making the score 26-14, delivering the dagger to the Pioneers.
Mangone attributed the success of his special teams unit to his assistant coach.
“Coach Matt Arrita has done a phenomenal job with those guys. We had the blocked punt on the safety and then had another error on the snap there and got the ball on the 2 yard line. It was just great to see our special teams do really, really well and make some huge plays,” Mangone said.
The Golden Eagles defense has been the backbone of this year’s team, and they were able to come up with some huge stops to get the Utica offense off the field late in the second half.
“We’ve been leaning on them all year. Obviously, we finally put some points on the board in the first half and then we stall so much in the second half, putting way too much on that defense. But they step up every week, and that’s what they are used to doing, and I’m sure they’re going to keep doing it the rest of the year,” Mangone said.
Brockport will look to keep their momentum rolling as they face Hartwick College on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 1:00 p.m. at Bob Boozer Field for Homecoming weekend.
