Week 8 – Brockport vs. Ithaca College

Saturday, November 1, 2014 – 1:00 pm

Empire 8 Game

Bob Boozer Field at Eunice Kennedy Shriver Stadium - Brockport, NY

This Week: The College at Brockport Football team returns home to face Ithaca College for an Empire 8 at 1 pm Saturday. It's the first meeting between the two schools since a 2011 season-opening loss for the Golden Eagles 19-14 in Ithaca.

Records and Common Opponents: Brockport enters the game with a 5-2 overall record and a 3-2 Empire 8 mark after defeating Hartwick 17-14 last weekend while Ithaca comes in with the same 5-2 overall record and a 4-2 record in conference play. The Bombers had lost two straight conference games before rebounding to beat Salisbury, 32-7 last week at home. The two straight losses were to Buffalo State (38-27) and Frostburg (38-37 in OT). In Empire 8 play, both teams have wins over Alfred and Hartwick while Ithaca defeated Utica and lost to Frostburg while Brockport had the opposite results against those two opponents.

Empire 8 Standings: With most schools having three games left in conference play, St. John Fisher is at the top of the standings with a 4-1 record. The Cardinals have Buffalo State and Ithaca at home and Alfred on the road to finish the season. Four teams, including Brockport and Ithaca are in second place with two losses each. Buffalo State and Salisbury are both 3-2. Ithaca only has two games remaining in conference play with the Brockport game and a trip to St. John Fisher next week.

Series History: The Golden Eagles are on the short end of a 22-8-2 overall series record with Ithaca in a series that started in 1950. The teams met every year until 1963 and then started another streak of games from 1996-2007.  Ithaca has four straight wins in the series and has won six of the last seven meetings. Brockport, however is 3-1 in the last four home games against the Bombers.

2011 Opener: In 2011, the teams opened the season on a very hot and humid day in Ithaca. After a scoreless first quarter, Ithaca scored twice in the second to take a 13-0 lead into halftime. Maurice Brown ran back an interception 61 yards early in the third quarter and Jordan Hogan hauled in an 81-yard TD pass as Brockport took a 14-13 lead. Ithaca's winning drive started in the third quarter and ended at the start of the fourth quarter on a 13-play, 64-yard drive. Andrew Mrozek had five catches for 47 yards, Tyrone Nichols had two carries for four yards and Anthony Bianchi had four tackles in their first game as Golden Eagles.

Coaches: Head Coach Jason Mangone starts his second season at the helm after establishing the best first-year coaching season record in Brockport history with the 8-3 record and is currently 13-5 as the head coach. Mike Welch is in his 21st season as head coach at Ithaca and is 158-65 overall. He played high school ball in Dansville before moving on to play at Ithaca where he played on the same team with Brockport assistant Bob Ellis. Welch coached at Rush-Henrietta, the University at Albany and Washington University (St. Louis) before returning to Ithaca as an assistant under Jim Butterfield in 1984.

Next up for Brockport: The Golden Eagles make the longest road trip of the year with a 12 PM game at Salisbury University in Maryland. Brockport hasn't played Salisbury since 2008 when the teams were both members of the Atlantic Central Football Conference (ACFC) and have not made the trip to Salisbury, MD since 2006. The Golden Eagles will finish the regular season Nov. 15 at home against Buffalo State for the annual I-90 Bowl game and senior day.

Mrozek's Records Watch: Senior Andrew Mrozek is already the Brockport record-holder for most career TD catches (23 and counting) and also broke the career reception yardage record last week with his 132-yard day against Hartwick. He now has 2,620 career yards. He is No. 2 all-time for career receptions with 140 but needs 80 more to catch Spalik's career total of 220 catches. He is also currently in fifth position for reception yards in a season with 721 and can pass Felipe Diaz for fourth place with 51 more yards. The all-time record is 947 yards by Dan Fichter in 1991. Mrozek also needs four more TD catches to tie Fichter's record of 11 in a season.

Rushing Toward the Record Book: Sophomore running back Dan Andrews has already made a name for himself at Brockport, setting the freshman record with 1,236 yards last season. He passed the 2,000-career yard milestone with 185 yards on the ground against Hartwick and is 48 yards from the #5 spot in the Brockport record book for career rushing yardage and 152 yards from Tyrone Nichols (2,224 yards) in the #4 spot.

1,000-yard Rusher (again): Andrews is also 164 yards from his second straight 1,000-yard season. He would become the only Brockport runner in history to post consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and just the third running back with Adam Rodger and Greg Smith to have two 1,000-yard seasons in their career. Rodger holds the sophomore rushing record with 1,262 yards in 1996.

Around the Empire 8: There are three other games this weekend involving Empire 8 teams as Alfred (4-3, 2-3) is at Salisbury (4-3, 3-2) at Noon, Buffalo State (5-2, 3-2) is at St. John Fisher (6-1, 4-1) with both games starting at Noon. Frostburg (3-5, 1-5) is at Hartwick (2-5, 1-4) for a 2 pm contest.

Former Golden Eagle Inks Deal: Offensive Lineman Bruce Doyle is now officially a pro football player signing a contract earlier this week to play for the Tampa Bay Storm in the Arena Football League. One of the original Arena Football franchise teams (originally the Pittsburgh Gladiators), the Storm had won four ArenaBowl titles. The Arena Football season begins in March and runs through July with playoffs in August.

Get Your Tickets Now: This year, fans will not have to wait until game day to get their tickets to Brockport games. The Athletic Ticket office has added the option for online ordering of tickets at www.brockportTickets.com. Fans can purchase and print tickets at home and have their tickets scanned at the gate for quick and easy access to the stadium.

Long Gains: Brockport has had 42 offensive plays of at least 20 yards this season with 11 coming in the last two games. Andrew Mrozek has seven of eh 11 long gains in the Alfred and Hartwick games with three going for long TDs (67, 45 and 48 yards).

Turnovers = Points: The Golden Eagles have forced 15 turnovers so far in 2014 and nine of the turnovers have led directly to points for Brockport. Seven of the scoring drives that started with a turnover resulted in touchdowns and two have ended in field goals.