Game 9 – The College at Brockport at Salisbury University
Saturday, November 8, 2014 – 12:00 pm
Empire 8 Game
Sea Gull Stadium - Salisbury, MD
This Week: The College at Brockport Football team makes its last road trip of the season but also the longest road trip of the year with a trip to Salisbury, Maryland to face the Sea Gulls for an Empire 8 at 12 pm Saturday. It's the first meeting between the two schools since 2007. The last road trip to Salisbury was in 2006 when Brockport posted a 21-3 win in the season opener.
Records and Common Opponents: Brockport enters the game with a 5-3 overall record and a 3-3 Empire 8 mark after a home 24-14 loss to Ithaca last weekend while Salisbury enters the game at 4-4 overall and 3-3 in the Empire 8 with a two-game losing streak with consecutive losses to Ithaca and Alfred. Salisbury and Brockport have five common opponents with mixed results. The Sea Gulls defeated St. John Fisher and Utica and both teams beat Hartwick and lost to Ithaca while Brockport has a win over Alfred and Salisbury lost to the Saxons last weekend.
Series History: Salisbury leads the all-time series 4-1 with three of the five games in Maryland and four of the five games featuring at least 40 combined points scored. The teams met for the first time in 1985 as Brockport lost a 43-0 decision under head coach Keith Moody at Salisbury. The teams met four consecutive years from 2004-2007 as members of the Atlantic Central Football Conference and have not met since Brockport moved to the New Jersey Athletic Conference. The teams will play an Empire 8 game this year but Salisbury will not be a member of the conference next year so another likely matchup is not in the foreseeable future.
Last Time in Maryland: Back in 2006, Brockport scored on the opening drive of the game with a three-yard TD pass from Zack Luke to tight end Mike Bond. Late in the second quarter, Bond caught a 30-yard scoring pass to give Brockport a 14-3 lead. The Golden Eagles defense was solid all day allowing just 74 yards passing and 115 yards rushing. Defensive End Al Lucci scooped up a loose ball and ran it in from 32 yards out in the third quarter for the final score of the game. Dale Buck led the defense with 12 tackles and a sack while Kyle Lackie had the lone interception for Brockport.
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 13-6 as the head coach. Sherman Wood is in his 16th season as head coach at Salisbury and is 112-57 for the Sea Gulls. Both coaches graduated from the schools they coach. Mangone is a 2000 Brockport grad and Woods graduated from Salisbury in 1984.
Next up for Brockport: The Golden Eagles will end the regular season with a matchup against Buffalo State for the I-90 Bowl and senior day at Brockport. The Golden Eagles and Bengals have met every season since 1982.
Punting Prowess: Ian Gilhousen has had a pair of great days punting the last two weekends against Hartwick and Ithaca. The sophomore had eight punts against each team for the same 322 yards each week for an average of 40.25 yards per kick. He had a long of 54 yards against Hartwick and a 66-yard boot against the Bombers. The 66-yard kick was the eighth longest in school history and the best since Collin Hoffmann's 67-yarder in 2005 against Cortland.
Running into a Brick Wall: Linebacker Jake Brickler tied his season-high and career-high with 14 tackles against Ithaca. The sophomore had 14 stops against Montclair as a freshman and has three 14-tackle days this season hitting the number against St. John Fisher, Utica and Ithaca. He currently leads Brockport with 89 tackles and is just two away from his team-leading 91 stops last year. With 20 more tackles this year, he will clear the 200-tackles milestone in his first two years. He will be the first to reach the milestone since Nate Bull totaled 269 tackles in 2009-2010. The school standard for tackles by a player in his first two seasons (freshman and Sophomore) is 199 by Steve Cook in 1988-89.
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 with his 132-yard day against Hartwick. He now has 2,687 career yards. He is currently in fifth position for reception yards in a season with 788 and can pass Jake Spalik for fourth place with 59 more yards and is 66 yards away from Matt Newman's 854 yards in a season. The all-time record is 947 yards by Dan Fichter in 1991.
Rushing Past Two Thousand: Sophomore running back Dan Andrews leads the Empire 8 in rushing with 910 yards and is just 90 yards away from becoming the first Brockport tailback to rush for consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. He passed the 2,000-career yard milestone with 185 yards on the ground against Hartwick and is 78 yards from Tyrone Nichols (2,224 yards) in the #4 spot for career rushing yards. He broke the freshman rushing mark with 1,276 last year and is 352 yards away from the Brockport sophomore rushing record set by Adam Rodger with 1,262 yards in 1996.
November Numbers: Over the past 10 seasons, Brockport is an impressive 17-7 in November games including four wins in the month of November last year. Since 2004 the Golden Eagles are also 9-3 in November road games.
Opposite Attacks: The Salisbury offensive numbers are lopsided toward the rushing game with 2,402 yards this season on the ground compared to just 528 passing yards. Brockport offers a much more balanced attack with 1,240 rushing yards and 2,058 yards through the air.
