Strong Second Half Not Enough for Brockport
After being held scoreless in the first half, The College at Brockport Football team rebounded scoring 17 second-half points but it was not enough as The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) scored a touchdown with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter to post a 26-17 victory Saturday in a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) game in Ewing, NJ.
Neither team was able to break into the end zone in the first quarter but TCNJ (4-1 Overall, 3-1 NJAC) kicked a short 20-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter to take a 3-0 lead. On the ensuing drive, Brockport (0-5, 0-4) went for a 4th-and-1 play near midfield but were stopped short giving the ball back to the Lions. Nine plays later, TCNJ was in the end zone and held a 10-0 lead.
Brockport fumbled the ball away on the second play of the next drive to give TCNJ good field position again but the Brockport defense held TCNJ out of the end zone after three plays inside the five yard line and the Lions settled for a 21-yard field goal and a 13-0 lead with 4:50 left in the first half.
In the second half, TCNJ took the opening kickoff and marched down the field scoring on a one-yard run but the extra point kick was no good and the Lions led 19-0.
After a 30-yard kick return by freshman Darrel Flores (Central Islip, NY/Central Islip), quarterback Joe Scibilia (North Tonawanda, NY/Starpoint) guided the Brockport offense inside the 10-yard line and Alex Hendrickson (Unadilla, NY/Unatego) broke into the end zone on a four-yard carry to put the Golden Eagles on the board.
Holder Schuyler Pero (Macedon, NY/Gonanda) threw a pass to Joseph Innes (Unadilla, NY/Unatego) for the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 19-8 with 9:02 left in the third quarter.
After a short TCNJ drive that ended in a punt, Brockport took over and again Scibilia drove the team down the field with six pass completions and capped the drive with an eight-yard run. The two-point conversion pass failed and Brockport trailed 19-14 with less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Brockport used a trick play to start the fourth quarter when backup quarterback Dylan Umbra (Sidney, Y/Sidney) completed a 31-yard pass to Scibilia and Brockport continued to drive down the field with a chance to take the lead. The drive stalled inside the Lion 10-yard line but a Bobby Giambra (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca East) field goal from 21 yards out trimmed the lead to 19-17 with 11:45 to play in the fourth quarter.
TCNJ took the ensuing kick and with four straight completed passes, had the ball inside the Brockport 10-yard line and scored on a six-yard run to increase the lead to 26-17.
Scibilia put together a 13-play drive on the next Brockport possession but the drive ended at the TCNJ 20-yard line with an intercepted pass with six minutes remaining in the second half.
The Lions took over and slowly moved the ball toward midfield eating up valuable time off the clock but the drive stalled at the TCNJ 46 yard line forcing the Lions to punt the ball away with less than three minutes to play. The punt return was fumbled and the Lions recovered to run out the clock and end the game with the 26-17 lead.
On the day Scibilia rushed for a team-leading 65 yards and one TD and was 28-for-41 for 232 yards through the air. Hendrickson ran for 23 yards and a TD and also caught a team-high six passes for 35 yards. Jake Spalik (Johnson City, NY/Johnson City), Andrew Mrozek (Depew, NY/Lancaster) and Jordan Hogan (Lockport, NY/Newfane) each had five catches for the Golden Eagles.
Defensively, John O'Hagan (Pearl River, NY/Pearl River) led the team with 13 tackles including eight solo stops while Maurice Brown (Brooklyn, NY/Grand Street Campus) and Alex Hayes (Phoenix, NY/John C. Birdlebough) each contributed eight tackles. Andrew McCormick (Peru, NY/Peru) had seven tackles a forced fumble and a pass break up and Kevin Schleyer (Rochester, NY/Eastridge) added seven tackles and two quarterback sacks.
Brockport returns home to face Kean University at 1 pm Saturday, October 15
