Box Score The College at Brockport Survives 51-48 thriller over TCNJ

FINAL SCORE:; The College at Brockport 51, The College of New Jersey 48
The College at Brockport (2-3, 2-2 NJAC) vs. The College of New Jersey (2-3, 2-2 NJAC)
October 11, 2008; Bob Boozer Field at Special Olympics Stadium, Brockport, NY

Brockport, NY (10/11/08) –Senior Garet Lynch (Valley Stream, NY/Springville Gardens) rushed for 184 yards on 33 carries and tied a College at Brockport school record with four touchdowns and 24 points scored in a game as he led the Golden Eagles to a 51-48 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) victory over The College at New Jersey Saturday on Bob Boozer Field at Special Olympics Stadium in Brockport. The 99 total points scored in a game smashed the old Brockport record by 20 points. The old record was set in 1981 when Brockport and Cortland combined for 79 points.

Brockport (2-3 Overall, 2-2 NJAC) took a 16-13 lead at the end of the first quarter when Cevon Carver (Bronx, NY/Dewitt) ran a kickoff return back 77 yards for a touchdown. The kick return came on the heels of a blocked extra point attempt by TCNJ's junior Marc Zucconi (Marlton, NJ/Holy Cross) by Neil Fay (Olean, NY/Olean) that he returned 87 yards for the defensive extra point after TCNJ (2-3, 2-2) had taken a 13-7 lead with 11 seconds left in the first quarter. Fay's defensive extra point was the first since 1997 when Jeremi Bauer had a 74-yard return against Frostburg State.

The Brockport maintained its first quarter lead for the remainder of the game and held a 10-point cushion for most of the final three quarters after Lynch converted his longest run of the day for a 19-yard touchdown as he dove into the front corner of the endzone three minutes into the second quarter to give the Golden Eagles a 23-13 lead.

TCNJ cut the lead to three points at 23-20 with 39 seconds left in the first half when quarterback junior Bill Picatagi (Hamilton, NJ/Hamilton West) scored his second TD of the day on a 14-yard run.

In the third quarter, Felipe Diaz (Syracuse, NY/Onondaga) scored twice with receptions of 6 and 15 yards to boost Brockport's lead to 37-20 before TCNJ scored late in the quarter to cut the lead back to 10 points at 37-27.

Lynch opened the fourth quarter by capping a nine-play, 60-yard drive with an 11-yard TD run giving Brockport a 44-27 lead. After the Lions scored a minute later to cut the lead back to 10-points, Lynch went in from 11 yards out for his school record-tying fourth TD and 24th point of the day.

Again, TCNJ wasted little time scoring to cut the lead back to 10-points with a three-play, 59-yard drive ending with quarterback, junior Chris James' (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) third TD of the day – this time from 12 yards out with 7:33 left in the final quarter.

Brockport took over possession at its own 26 and ran the ball twice with Tim Hall (Depew, NY/Depew) who gained seven yards and then Hall caught a third-down pass but was forced out of bounds one yard shy of the first-down marker. Facing a fourth-and-one, Brockport handed the ball to fullback Aaron Erickson (Jamestown, NY/Falconer) who was stopped at the line of scrimmage for no game and the Lions took over possession at the Brockport 35-yard line.

One play later, TCNJ was in the endzone with a 35-yard TD reception as James hit junior Jeff deZutter (Bedminster, NJ/Bernards) and the Brockport lead was trimmed to just three points at 51-48.

With 5:21 to play in the quarter, Brockport put together an eight play drive with quarterback Zack Luke (Cambridge, NY/Cambridge) completing three passes for first-down yardage including one to Diaz setting up a first-and-goal from the TCNJ four-yard line.

After a five-yard false start penalty against the Golden Eagles, Lynch took the handoff the plowed up the middle for an eight-yard gain but fumbled the ball into the endzone with the Lions recovering for a touchback. TCNJ took over at the 20-yard line with 1:26 to play.

The Lions drove all the way to the Brockport 10-yard line and after an incomplete pass with four seconds left, lined up for the game-tying 27-yard field goal attempt. The snap was off center forcing the holder to reach behind to catch the ball but he was still able to place the ball down. The kick was long enough but drifted wide to the right ending the game.

Lynch finished with 184 yards on 33 carries and four TDs while Diaz collected nine passes for 125 yards and two scores. Luke was 23-for-31 passing for 243 yards, two TDs and no interceptions.

For the Lions, James was 16-25 with two touchdown passes and 270 passing yards, while finding deZutter six times for 108 yards. Junior Cam Richardson (Burlington, NJ/Burlington Township) hauled in eight catches for 153 yards with a TD. On the ground, junior Chase Misiura (Holmdel, NJ/Holmdel) had 14 carries for 76 yards.

TCNJ's senior Zach Rinaldi (Burlington, NJ/Florence) added four punt returns for 36 yards, while returning eight kickoffs for 193 yards with a long of 36 yards.

TCNJ's junior Paul Mychalczuk (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) added 10 tackles with a forced fumble and a fumble recovery for the Lions on defense. Junior defensive back Ryan Flannery (Galloway, NJ/Absegami) racked up eight solo tackles with a pass breakup.

Defensively, Jarett Woodfork (Syracuse, NY/Bishop Ludden) led Brockport with nine tackles including two behind the line of scrimmage and Fay chipped in six solo tackles, two interceptions, a blocked kick and the 87-yard return for the defensive extra point. For the Lions,

TCNJ returns to action on October 18 hosting NJAC opponent William Paterson University at 2 p.m. in Lions' Stadium.