FOOTBALL
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Brockport Wins Second Straight Late in the Game
Golden Eagles rally for non-conference win over Frostburg State
September 19, 2009
 Jake Graci sets a new school record in win over Frostburg(credit: Neal Kemp Photo)
The victory is the second consecutive game that the Golden Eagles (2-0) have come from behind in the fourth quarter and gone ahead for the victory with less than a minute to play in the contest. Brockport had scored a 22-19 win in the season opener with a field goal with 11 seconds to play against William Paterson.
The winning drive started on the Frostburg State (0-3) 44-yard line after a low kickoff was batted down by Brockport’s Daniel Bishop (Valley Stream, NY/Valley Stream South) as one of the front line players on the Brockport kickoff return team. With no timeouts remaining and just 1:43 on the clock, Graci went right to work completing a short pass to Hector Rosas (Angola, NY/Lake Shore). After a tackle behind the line of scrimmage, Graci scrambled for a five-yard gain and a first down, going out of bounds to stop the clock in the process.
Graci’s next pass was a 19-yard strike to Felipe Diaz down the sideline to move the ball inside the 15-yard line with 45 seconds left to play. Frostburg used a timeout to regroup but an 11-yard completed pass to running back Aaron Zurn (Sidney, NY/Sidney) moved the ball inside the five yard line and set up the final play of the drive. Graci took a short drop into the pocket and fired a three-yard touchdown pass to Rosas in the right corner of the endzone.
The scoring pass was the fifth of the game for Graci, setting a new Brockport school record for touchdown passes in a game. Jim Higgins tossed four TDs in two different games in 1990 and Zack Luke completed four scoring passes last season against Morrisville.
Graci finished with a career-high 344 yards on 26-for-37 passing and completed passes to six different receivers.
Brockport opened the scoring with a 23-yard field goal by freshman Emilio Genzano (Albany, NY/Guilderland) and took a 10-0 lead on a 31-yard TD pass from Graci to Diaz with five minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Frostburg scored the next 16 points with a pair of touchdown passes and a 25-yard field goal to take a 16-10 lead.
Brockport regained the lead with a minute to play in the first half when Matt Newman (Unadilla, NY/Unatego) pulled in a 23-yard scoring pass, but Frostburg marched down the field, scoring with 17 seconds remaining before the halftime intermission on a 22-yard pass completion for a 23-17 lead at the break.
In the second half, Brockport scored on the opening drive as Tamere Shannon (Buffalo, NY/McKinley) returned the kickoff 46 yards into Frostburg territory and Graci orchestrated an eight-play drive, capped by a six-yard scoring pass to Diaz.
After Frostburg’s next drive stalled at the Brockport 20-yard line with the Golden Eagles taking over on downs, Graci led another long drive with a 12-play 80-yard scoring drive that ended with a TD pass to Rosas. The pass was between Rosas and the defensive back but Rosas wrestled the ball away from the defender and trotted into the end zone for the score. The extra-point kick was wide but a roughing-the-kicker penalty gave the Golden Eagles a second shot at the kick and Genzano converted for the 31-23 Brockport lead.
Frostburg moved the ball down the field and scored on a five-yard TD pass with five seconds left in the third quarter to cut the lead to 31-29 as the two-point conversion attempt failed.
On the first drive of the fourth quarter, Brockport moved to midfield before Graci was intercepted, giving the ball back to the Bobcats. The turnover was the first of the season for the Golden Eagles.
Frostburg’s drive stalled at the Brockport 29-yard line on a fourth-and-one play as Alex Hayes (Fulton, NY/John C. Birdlebough) and Matt Mangona (Saratoga Springs, NY/Saratoga Springs) combined for the stop at the line of scrimmage giving Brockport the ball.
Brockport’s ensuing drive ended after eight plays on a fourth-down conversion attempt and Frostburg regained control of the ball with 6:29 left in the fourth quarter. The Bobcats drove to the Brockport six-yard line but could not push into the end zone on three straight plays and settled for an 18-yard field goal to take a 32-31 lead with 1:45 left on the clock.
Zurn led the Golden Eagles with 44 yards on the ground while Reidrick Alceus (Haverstraw, NY/North Rockland) added 35 yards. Diaz and Rosas each had eight catches and two touchdowns and Newman pulled down four catches and one TD.
Devensively, Nathan Bull (Brockport, NY/Brockport) had 13 tackles while Mangona and Hayes each finished with 11 stops. Nick Dadamio (Port Crane, NY/Chenango Valley) chipped in 10 tackles.
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