By Lucas Vargas
BROCKPORT, N.Y. — The Brockport Golden Eagles finished the 2024 season strong with a 42-23 victory in the ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl against the University of Rochester. After trailing at halftime, the Golden Eagles outscored the Yellow Jackets 35-7 in a comeback effort in front of the home crowd.
After back-to-back losses to the Cortland Red Dragons (29-28) and the Alfred University Saxons (23-14), the Golden Eagles entered this game looking to rebound.
The losses were partly due to the absence of quarterback Ben Gocella, who had been sidelined after suffering an ankle injury late against Cortland. Gocella, who came into the game with 1,826 passing yards and 17 touchdowns with seven interceptions, played through the injury but was not 100%. He made his mark early in this contest, as he connected with wide receiver Brian Caldwell Jr. for a touchdown that gave Brockport a 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
However, the first half did not go the Golden Eagles’ way. Brockport committed two turnovers, including a fumble by Caldwell inside the 20-yard line of the Yellow Jackets. Rochester capitalized as quarterback Creighton Wise drove the offense down the field and found wide receiver Samuel Nuamah in the back of the end to tie the game 7-7.
Later in the quarter, Gocella threw an interception that set up a 53-yard touchdown for Rochester, with as Wise connected with wide receiver Trey Johnson for the score and take the lead 13-7 after a missed PAT.
At halftime, the Golden Eagles trailed 16-7 but in the second half, Isaiah Simmons — the first-team Empire 8 running back — took over. Simmons ran for 168 yards and three rushing touchdowns, finishing with 183 all-purpose yards. The sophomore finished the season with 1,510 (3rd in DIII) rushing yards and 19 touchdowns (4th in DIII)
Simmons ignited the comeback early in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 16-14. Then it was wide receiver Daniel Manneh who gave Brockport its first lead since the opening quarter, catching a 69-yard touchdown pass from Gocella to make it 21-16.
"Dan [Manneh] absolutely ran one of the sickest routes. Great job by Ben identifying coverage and just dropped a dime, and then obviously Dan does the rest." Brockport head coach Jason Mangone said.
From there, the Golden Eagles scored two more touchdowns and added a pick-six from freshman defensive back Liam Nealy to seal the win.
Mangone's second half message to his team was loud and clear and the play showed in the final 30 minutes of the game.
"All we really think about, to be quite honest is your seniors," Mangone said. "It's cliche-ish, because I say it for the last probably seven weeks, but as we've told them, and this goes for any athlete in any sport, to be able to play four years of something and stay dedicated and stay committed and overcome all the adversity that sports kind of shows you and brings you, and then to get a postseason game is obviously something that we're proud of. It's obviously great for our seniors, our young guys, and to get a W on our home field for the sixth, you know, home game of the year is, it's pretty awesome."
The switch flipped for the Golden Eagles in the second half as the senior captain defensive back Kyle Haettich made his thoughts known.
"As seniors, we're, this is our last half of football, college football. So it's like, we tried giving out everything we could." Haettich said.
Linebacker Ben Robinson, another senior captain playing his final game for Brockport trusted his brothers even when the game got tough.
"I want to tell you the trust we've got in our defense, the trust we got with those guys, there is nothing like it. We really are a f***ing brotherhood and where we play together when we know what we got to do. When it's the biggest moment of the game, when it's a fourth down and we got to stop him, there's nobody in the world I trust more than these guys."
With the victory, Brockport has won its first postseason game in three years. The Golden Eagles last victory came against Washington and Jefferson College 20-7 in Brockport. Brockport finishes the season with an 8-3 record, including a 5-2 mark in conference play as they carry this momentum into next year.
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