The SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles concluded their season Saturday, Nov. 20, with a thrilling victory over Washington and Jefferson College to clinch the ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl. The Golden Eagles finished the season at 8-3 and held a record of 5-1 at home this season. Brockport defeated Washington and Jefferson with a final score of 20-7 to raise the banner at Bob Boozer Field.
The focus of the Brockport offense was once again junior running back Jala Coad. Coad had a whopping 50 carries on the day and 212 yards rushing, averaging 4.2 yards per carry. Coad also hauled in a 25-yard receiving touchdown from freshman quarterback Jack Cheshire, who had two scoring passes on the day, with the other going to Imhotep Cromer. Cheshire finished the day just shy of 100 yards passing and two touchdowns. Head coach Jason Mangone was happy with Chesire’s performance.
“When he [Cheshire] got hurt, he missed all of camp. To see what he can do today, and play tough, after a bad start with the fumble, was probably the most encouraging part of the whole day. We’re super excited about how he played and how he competed and what we can do with him going forward,” Mangone said.
“The pressure that they bring is so hard to handle, and it’s almost impossible to prepare for. You got to try to single-block Josh Greenwood, Hakeem Yaya and Jordan Harris, with Ben Damiani and Lawrence Jenkins blitzing off the edge. It’s goofy, it’s hard to emulate, and watching those guys gets everybody juiced up,” Mangone said.
Lawrence Jenkins took home the MVP honors for his performance with five tackles, a tackle for loss, two sacks and two forced fumbles. Jenkins has been a wrecking ball on defense all season. Mangone couldn’t be happier to see the senior from Derby, NY, win the award.
“He looks the part. His film is impressive, and not many kids can exceed the expectations set for them before they get here. He’s done it since the minute he got here. To see him go out this way with this game, was probably the most satisfactory part of this whole day. We have a lot of guys that represent this program well, and he’s one of those guys where you want everybody to be like him. That’s Lawrence Jenkins,” Mangone said.
The season didn’t bring home an Empire 8 championship like most of the past few years, but there is a lot to be proud of for the SUNY Brockport football team. Following a few early season losses, the team fought through adversity to bring home a bowl game victory. A vital part of the turnaround was the senior leadership in the locker room.
“You go 2017 and 2018 undefeated, you don’t know what it is to lose. The seniors are going to be the leaders, they’ll be the smallest group in terms of numbers, but the most powerful in terms of their leadership. All they did was work their tails off, and the rest of the team joined them,” Mangone said.
The Golden Eagles finished their 2021 campaign with a Clayton Chapman bowl victory and 15 players named to Empire 8 all-conference teams, with nine players on the first team, three players on the second team, two on the third team and Andrew Covais taking home sportsman of the year. They will look to reclaim their spot at the top of the Empire eight next fall.
