Junior Shireem Cobb (Valley Stream, NY/Sewanhaka) ran for 119 yards and one touchdown leading The College at Brockport Football team to a 17-7 victory over Kean University Saturday afternoon in a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) game on Bob Boozer Field at Eunice Kennedy Shriver Stadium in Brockport.
Brockport (4-3 Overall, 3-1 NJAC) ran the ball 51 times for a total of 197 yards in windy and rainy conditions as neither team was able to game more than 150 yards in passing offense.
The Golden Eagles scored the only points of the first half as freshman kicker Tyler Perna (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) booted a 22-yard field goal with less than 1:30 left in the first quarter as the Brockport defense kept the Cougars (1-6, 0-4) off the scoreboard for the first 30 minutes of the game.
In the second half, freshman Dan Andrews (Rochester, NY/Franklin) capped a short Brockport dive with a 10-yard scoring run for the first touchdown of the game. The Golden Eagles added a second TD in the third quarter when Cobb bulled his way into the end zone on a three-year run giving Brockport a 17-0 lead.
Kean scored its only points of the game with five minutes remaining with a two-yard run at the end of the nine-play, 85-yard drive. The ensuing on-sides kick was recovered by Brockport and the Golden Eagles were able to hold the lead down the stretch for the conference win.
The win puts Brockport in a tie for the lead in the NJAC standings as Cortland, Rowan and TCNJ all are tied with Brockport at the top of the standings with one loss each in the league. Brockport plays at TCNJ next weekend.
Against Kean, Brockport put together the longest drive of the game spanning 6:10. Cobb picked up a key first down early in the drive with a one-yard gain on a 3rd –and-1 situation and later quarterback Wayne Bonsell (Binghamton, NY/Binghamton) completed a five-yard pass to Eric Malave (Brooklyn, NY/Canarsie) on a 3rd-and-3 for another first down play. Three plays later, facing a 3rd-and-7, Bonsell found Darryl Thompson (Rochester, NY/Marshall) for a 17-yard gain and another third-down conversion to keep the drive alive.
Andrews put together two consecutive plays – a 19-yard reception and an 11-yard run to move the ball inside the 10-yard line but the drive stalled at the 4-yard line and Brockport sent out Perna for the short field goal attempt and the freshman converted the 22-yard kick giving Brockport the 3-0 lead.
The Golden Eagles looked to add to the lead late in the second quarter but Bonsell was intercepted in the end zone with one second remaining in the first half and the teams went into the locker room with Brockport leading 3-0.
Brockport started the second half with a three-and-out drive but on Kean's first play from scrimmage, Derrick Members (Rochester, NY/McQuaid) forced a fumble and freshman linebacker Cortland Haines (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown) pounced on the loose ball giving Brockport great field position starting the drive at the Kean 21 yard line.
Four plays later, Andrews carried the ball into the end zone on a 10-yard carry to put the Golden Eagles up 10-0 just 1:36 into the third quarter.
The Brockport defense forced another three-and-out drive on the next Kean possession and the Golden Eagles put together another long drive covering 84 yards on 11 plays and ending with a Cobb scoring run of three yards to put Brockport ahead 17-0. The key play in the drive was a fourth-down conversion as Bonsell connected with senior Jake Spalik (Johnson City, NY/Johnson City) for a nine-yard gain on a 4th-and-2 situation taking the ball all the way to the Kean 19 yard line. Two plays and two Kean penalties later, Brockport was in the end zone for the touchdown.
Kean managed to score late in the fourth quarter to trim the Brockport lead to 17-7 but later in the quarter had a drive stopped in Brockport territory as Haines made a tackle one yard shy of the first down marker on a 4th-and-4 play to end the drive.
Brockport took a knee for the final plays to end the game.
Cobb finished with a team-leading 119 yards on 26 carries while Andrews picked up 68 yards on 15 attempts. Malave led the receivers with four catches and 30 yards. Spalik had two receptions for 41 yards and is now 32 yards away from the 2,500-yard career reception milestone.
Defensively, Haines and fellow freshman Jake Brickler (Hilton, NY/Hilton) had 12 tackles each. Both players had a tackle behind the line of scrimmage and each also had a pass breakup.