Brockport Football Drops Opener To Cortland

[DJRamFan]

Red Dragons earn first win at Bob Boozer Field since 1995



BROCKPORT-The SUNY Brockport football team (0-1) dropped a 20-10 decision to SUNY Cortland (1-0) this afternoon at Special Olympics Stadium. The loss marked the first time the Red Dragons had defeated the Golden Eagles on Bob Boozer Field since 1995, and was just the second loss for Brockport in the last 10 meetings in the series.

Cortland methodically controlled the tempo of the game, holding the Golden Eagles without a third down conversion until late in the third quarter, and just three third down conversions in 18 attempts. The Red Dragons converted on five of their 18 third downs offensively.

After trading punts in the first quarter, senior Brian Wise (Newfane/Newfane) caught a Jimmy Cunneen punt at the Cortland 48-yard line, and returned it 29 yards to set up a 37-yard field goal by junior kicker Adam Lanctot (Pittsford/Pittsford Mendon) to give Brockport a 3-0 lead.

Cortland took the ensuing kickoff, and put together a 14-play, 70 yard touchdown drive, culminated by a two-yard Matt Rickert touchdown run, giving the Red Dragons a 7-3 lead. Cortland converted three third downs on the drive, including a third-and-11, taking 7:11 off the clock.

With just 3:18 remaining in the first half, Rickert struck again, running for a 57-yard touchdown, pushing the Red Dragon's lead to 14-3. The Red Dragons added a pair of field goals in the second half to stretch their lead to 20-3

With just 1:37 left in the contest, the Golden Eagles converted a fourth-and-six at their own 48-yard line on the way to their only touchdown of the game. After junior quarterback A.J. Covella (Rochester/Spencerport) set Brockport up with second-and-goal at the one-yard line with a seven yard scramble, he found junior tight end Mike Bond (Fairport/Fairport) in the endzone, pulling Brockport to within 20-10.

Linebacker John Walther (Dansville/Dansville) led the defense with 14 total tackles, and Damien Aliseo (Toms River, NJ/Toms River So.) had 13 tackles. Junior punter Collin Hoffmann (Oneonta/Oneonta) averaged 42.1 yards on nine punts. Bond hauled in five passes for 55 yards, while Wise caught five for 39 yards. Covella connected on 21 of his 38 passing attempts for 175 yards, one interception, and led the Golden Eagles with 19 rushing yards.

Rickert paced Cortland's offense with 136 rushing yards on 19 carries.

The SUNY Brockport football team will return to action next Saturday, when they host Salisbury University at 1 p.m. in their Atlantic Central Football Conference opener.