Senior Andrew Mrozek (Depew, NY/Lancaster) caught six passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns and junior quarterback Chase Venuto (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) was 17-for-23 for a career-best 351 yards and four TDs as The College at Brockport Football team scored an early lead and held on for a 45-42 victory Saturday afternoon in an Empire 8 game at Alfred.
The high-scoring game had an amazing finish as the Brockport (4-2 Overall, 2-2 Empire 8) defense helped the cause with a 33-yard interception return for a TD by defensive lineman Derrick Members (Rochester, NY/McQuaid) that gave the Golden Eagles a 45-35 lead with 1:36 left in the fourth quarter.
Alfred (3-3, 1-3) drove down the field and scored on a quarterback scramble by Ty Johnson to trim the lead to three points with 20 seconds on the clock.
The ensuing on-sides kick traveled 11 yards and a battle for the loose ball became a chaotic situation when the field judge ruled Alfred had recovered the ball and just a few seconds later the side judge ruled Brockport recovered as one of the Golden Eagles came out of the pile with the ball.
After a long discussion by the officiating crew, it was ruled Alfred ball with 17 seconds to play. The Saxons completed one pass and had two Hail Mary passes toward the end zone but one fell incomplete and the second was intercepted by Colby Morabito (Rochester, NY/Hilton) and the Golden Eagles celebrated the victory on Homecoming Day at Alfred earning revenge from the opposite outcome at Brockport's Homecoming game last year.
Alfred opened the scoring with the first drive of the game with an eight play, 83 yard drive but Brockport answered quickly as Venuto completed a 67-yard TD pass to Mrozek on the third play of the ensuing drive.
The Golden Eagles made it a 14-7 lead just moments later as Jake Brickler (Hilton, NY/Hilton) scooped up a fumble by Johnson and ran it 25 yards into the end zone as Brockport scored 14 points in less than a minute.
The next Brockport drive stalled at the Alfred seven-yard line on a fourth-and-1 play as Dan Andrews (Rochester, NY/Franklin) was held to no gain and Alfred took over on downs.
Three plays later, Brickler forced another fumble and sophomore linebacker James Rupp (Sayville, NY/Sayville) recovered giving Brockport great field position as the opening quarter came to an end.
Brockport drove down to the Alfred four-yard line but a tackle for loss and a Golden Eagle penalty forced a 22-yard field goal attempt and sophomore Tyler Perna (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) made the kick giving Brockport a 17-7 advantage.
Alfred took over and drove 11 plays and 65 yards for another TD on a short run by the quarterback cutting the lead to 17-14.
Venuto opened the next Brockport drive with a 44-yard pass and catch to Mrozek but the play was brought back due to an offensive pass interference penalty. Five plays later, Mrozek and Venuto connected again – this time for a 45-yard TD pass as Brockport regained the 10-point lead at 24-14.
With time running out in the first half, Alfred drove down to the Brockport 12-yard line before Morabito intercepted a pass in the end zone stopping the drive with 31 seconds left in the half.
On the first drive of the second half, Venuto completed passes to Andrews for 20 yards and Eric Malave (Brooklyn, NY/Canarsie) for another 26 yards before capping the drive with a six-yard TD pass to Malave as Brockport stretched the lead to 31-14.
Alfred answered with another touchdown on its next possession capping the six-play drive with a 22-yard scoring run and cutting the lead to 31-21.
Brockport had its first non-scoring drive of the game with a three-and-out on the ensuing drive and the Saxons answered with a long 13-play, 84-yard drive to make it a 31-28 game with a minute left in the third quarter.
The teams exchanged punts to start the fourth quarter before Venuto engineered another long drive with the help of Mrozek. Venuto completed the first pass of the drive to Mrozek for a gain of 12 yards and three plays later, completed another pass to Mrozek for a 58-yard gain taking the ball all the way to the Alfred nine-yard line.
After a holding penalty and a quarterback sack, Venuto completed a 17-yard scoring pass to Andrews out of the backfield up the middle of the field and a 38-28 Brockport lead.
Alfred put together a short two-minute drive for another rushing TD as the lead was trimmed to three points again at 38-35 with less than six minutes left to play.
Venuto drove the Golden Eagles into Alfred territory but had a pass intercepted inside the Saxon 20-yard line and Alfred took over with 3:05 on the clock.
After a pair of short passes, Alfred was whistled for intentional grounding and on a 3rd-and-17 play, Johnson was intercepted near the line of scrimmage as Members read the screen play and faded back to make the interception before rumbling 33 yards into the end zone to give Brockport the 10-point lead late in the game.
Venuto finished with 351 yards for the 11th best passing day in school history while Mrozek collected 230 receiving yards which is second only to his 252-yard effort against Western Connecticut in 2012 in the Brockport record book.