Trailing by 13 points with a little more than six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Brockport rallied for a pair of touchdowns and held off East High on downs on the final drive in 27-26 football victory. Brockport earlier clinched their third consecutive division crown and were the top-seed for the Section V playoffs for the first time in program history.
East High took an early lead following a 91-yard scoring drive on their first offensive possession. A two-point conversion made it 8-0 Orientals.
The Blue Devils countered early in the second quarter to finish off a 61 yard drive as T.J. Rowe took a swing pass 17 yards into the end zone. A Chris Carlson extra point made it 8-7 East.
Late in the first half, Brockport put together another long drive capped by a Carlson 22-yard field goal to give the Blue Devils a 10-8 halftime lead.
The Orientals scored two touchdowns in the third quarter, but failed on both two-point conversion attempts, to lead 20-10.
Carlson converted a 37-yard field goal that hit the crossbar and bounced over to pull the Blue Devils to within seven points early in the fourth before East again converted a 55-yard drive for a 26-13 lead.
Brockport extended their ensuing drive with three third-down and one fourth down conversions before quarterback Josh Michels found Carlton Ekiyor on a six-yard touchdown pass with 3:12 remaining.
The key defensive play for the Blue Devils came on the next East drive as Johovon Paige intercepted a pass on third-and-13 and returned it to the East 46 yard line to set up what became the winning drive.
“I just stepped in the zone – it was my time. I feel like we weren’t going to give up, but we needed something to turn it around and it worked out,” said Paige.
On second down, Michels stepped away from pressure and found Ekiyor open in the end zone for a 37 yard touchdown pass. A Carlson extra point put Brockport ahead 27-26.
“It worked out,” said Michels. “Most teams would be down in that situation down by 13 points with six minutes left, but we held our heads high and kept fighting forward.”
Ekiyor ended the next East drive with a second Brockport interception and the Blue Devils pooched a punt to the East High seven yard line after their drive stalled with 1:32 left.
The Orientals drove the ball to the Brockport 33-yard line, but Blue Devils defensive back Matt Prest broke up two consecutive passes and, on fourth down, Rowe knocked away a pass in the end zone to secure the Brockport win.
“It’s tough to simulate speed like they had with our scout team so it took us a little bit of time to adjust to that,” said Brockport head coach Scott Nugent. “And when we get a play like that (Paige’s interception) late in the game, it’s a great motivator and gets everyone believing.
“It seems like every one of our games this year have come down to the last two minutes or the last play or overtime and we’ve finally got a winning tradition here.”
Michels finished 7-13 passing for 162 yards and three touchdowns while Ekiyor caught four passes for 65 yards and two TD’s and Prest added three catches for 80 yards. Jake Fey led the ground game with 155 yards rushing on 23 carries with teammate Rowe adding 51 yards on nine carries.
Defensively, Damon Beaver had one sack with four tackles, Jaquan Paige had a sack, Prest led with seven tackles and Fey, Cam Calderelli and Adam Bonisteel each added six tackles.
Brockport was set to host Spencerport in the first round of the Section V playoffs.
10/27/13
