Gerber leads Golden Eagles Flag Football to first home win in program history
- Victor Menendez
- 21 hours ago
- 4 min read
By: Dylan O'Loughlin
Brockport Women’s Flag Football was back on its home turf hosting the Hartwick Hawks in Empire 8 action. Senior quarterback Megan Gerber did it all, finishing with six total touchdowns and 442 yards, pacing the Golden Eagles to a 38-19 victory.
“Monstrous,” Brockport Flag Football head coach Charrise Everett said about Gerber’s performance. “I didn’t even know she had that but every quarter, every time she comes off the field, I tell her to trust herself. She knows what she’s doing. Trust herself, trust her team and we’ll be fine. I give her keys, she picks it up, she implements it and she’s the superstar that she is.”
The first quarter scored 31 of the 57 points on the day as both teams scored on two of their first three possessions. Hartwick’s Heaven Levere opened up the scoring after taking a hand-off 22 yards to the endzone, but Gerber responded with a 41-yard quarterback run of her own to take a 7-6 lead after the opening possessions.
After back-to-back punts, Hartwick’s quarterback Audra Doll said that she could do better, as the first year scrambled for 56 yards to the house for the Hawks second touchdown of the first quarter to take a 12-7 lead.
But, Gerber did it again, as on the following possession the senior broke out another 50-yard dash for the Golden Eagles second score of the day. The point-after-attempt was successful and Brockport took a 13-12 lead that it kept the rest of the way.
“I would say that first quarter we were reading to see exactly what they were doing and that’s when we made an adjustment,” Everett said. “In the second quarter, we realized that the quarterback had wheels. She’s fast, so we went to a containment to slow her down which allowed the rest of our defense to beat her.”
After forcing a Hartwick punt, Brockport had one more chance to score before the end of the first quarter and the Golden Eagles capitalized. It was Gerber again as after rushing for 22 yards to get into the redzone, the senior then scored her third touchdown of the day with a three-yard run.
“It was a little unfortunate that they got the first touchdown on us, but it just gave us motivation to keep pushing,” Gerber said. “The running was open, I had the opportunity, I had a lot of space and I used that to my advantage. I did run a lot, but we needed it and that was how to do it.”
From there it was all Brockport as the Golden Eagles forced two punts and a turnover on downs the next three possessions on defense. Brockport looked to capitalize on the turnovers as the Golden Eagles reached the red zone once again after a completion to first year Caitlynn Haugh, but the Hartwick defense held strong as Kendra Charland got the pass-breakup on fourth down to prevent the score.
No teams found pay dirt until under a minute remaining in the second quarter. That’s when Gerber notched her fourth touchdown of the day, this time through the air as the senior connected with first year Addy VanDewater in the back of the endzone to increase Brockport’s lead to 14 at halftime.
Brockport received the ball out of half and stayed hot. Gerber scored another one on the ground to start the third quarter for her fifth of the day. Then with 11 seconds remaining after multiple stops from the Golden Eagles defense, the senior capped off her historic day with a 49-yard dash into pay dirt for her sixth touchdown of the day.
In the fourth quarter it was highly defensive as neither team could get into the redzone. With just under four minutes remaining in regulation though, Hartwick found the back of the endzone one more time as Charland threw a dot to Anne Stanavich for a final score of 38-19.
Gerber rushed for 318 yards and five touchdowns on 22 attempts while going 13/22 through the air for 124 yards and a touchdown to lead the way for the Golden Eagles. The Brockport Women’s Soccer athlete showed her dual-threat abilities in the victory.
“It’s a collegiate sport, they’re both collegiate sports,” Gerber said. “This one is newer and I’ve been on that team for four years now, so I know what it’s like to play. I know what it’s like to run a lot and recovery plays a big role in it so I think I’ve been doing that well.”
Haugh led the receivers with three receptions for 38 yards while Hannah Roxstorm followed with three catches for 35 yards. Grace Guarino hauled in four passes for 27 yards while VanDewater tallied two receptions for 20 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, Ariana Kennedy led the way with 12 tackles including three for loss and three PBUs while Lauren Cundra posted eight tackles and three PBUs. Ava Seelbach followed with seven tackles including one for a loss while Analysia Sosa notched six tackles, four for a loss and one sack. Cymbri Jefferson finished with six tackles and two PBUs while Ava Leyh tallied four tackles with two being for a loss.
“We go all the time. We say it’s all gas, no breaks and we play every down,” Everett said. “That’s our mentality. It doesn’t matter if we’re up or down in the game, we go hard every single down.”
For Hartwick, Doll led the way with 183 yards, 105 on the ground and 78 through the air. Levere finished with 24 yards on the ground and one reception for 12 yards while Stanavich recorded five carries for 23 yards and one reception for an eight-yard touchdown. Bailey McCoy led the receivers with four catches for 21 yards while Ellie Kalbach added two receptions for 18 yards and led the defense with 11 tackles.
With the win, Brockport improves to 4-2 overall and 3-1 in Empire 8 play while Hartwick falls to 3-3 and 2-2 in conference play. The Golden Eagles have a quick turnaround for tomorrow as Brockport hosts Russell Sage, but the mentality remains the same.
“All gas no breaks and we’re going to win,” Gerber stated.
Kickoff is scheduled for noon at Bob Boozer Field on Saturday, April 11.
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