A 31-yard scoring play from Chase Venuto (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) to Andrew Mrozek (Depew, NY/Lancaster) early in the second half cut the Salisbury lead to five points at 19-14 but the Seagulls scored twice in the third and started the fourth quarter with another TD leading to a 40-28 victory Saturday afternoon in an Empire 8 matchup in Sea Gull Stadium in Salisbury, Maryland.

Brockport (5-4 Overall, 3-4 Empire 8) rallied in the fourth quarter scoring twice in the final nine minutes to trim the lead but ran out of time to complete the comeback effort.

Venuto finished 28-for-41 for 235 yards and four touchdowns, Eric Malave (Bronx, NY/Canarsie) led the receivers with eight catches while Mrozek, Eddie Krecisz (Grand Island, NY/Grand Island) and Nate Wilkinson (Elma, NY/Iroquois) all had five catches each.

Defensively, Jake Brickler (Hilton, NY/Hilton) had a career-high 15 tackles while Tarik Bennett (Mt. Vernon, NY/Mt. St. Michael) and Anthony Bianchi (Rochester, NY/Aquinas) each added 11 tackles.

Salisbury (5-4, 4-3) scored twice in the first quarter with a seven-yard scoring pass and a 37-yard field goal to take a 9-0 lead.

Brockport scored late in the first quarter when Krecisz capped a short six-play drive with a 25-yard scoring catch. On the ensuing Salisbury drive, Bennett sacked quarterback Ryan Jones near the goal line on a third down play and a short punt led to great field position for the Golden Eagles.

Dan Andrews rushed four times moving the ball all the way to the Salisbury three-yard line but the Sea Gulls stopped two consecutive Brockport runs and took over on downs on their own two-yard line.

Salisbury moved out of danger but five plays later, fumbled the ball back to Brockport as James Rupp (Sayville, NY/Sayville) forced the fumble and Matt Szymanski (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) recovered the ball giving Brockport possession at the 41-yard line.

Venuto came in and completed a pair of passes to Malave but was hit hard after the second completion causing a roughing the passer penalty but also sending Venuto to the sidelines temporarily after being shaken up on the play.

Backup quarterback Kevin Carr (Highland Mills, NY/Monroe-Woodbury) fumbled on the first play and Salisbury recovered inside its own 10-yard line.

The Sea Gulls drove down the field and took a 12-7 lead on a 33-yard field goal and later, extended the lead with a short TD run capping an eight-play drive to take a 19-7 lead into the halftime intermission.

Venuto and the Golden Eagles came out of the locker room for the third quarter and promptly drove down the field with a 12-play, 75-yard drive highlighted by a 19-yard Wilkinson reception on a 3rd-and-16 play to keep the drive alive and capped by a 31-yard pass and catch from Venuto to Mrozek and the lead was trimmed to just five points early in the second half.

Salisbury answered with a six play scoring drive and a six-yard scoring run for the 29-14 advantage. After a three-and-out drive for the Brockport offense, Salisbury extended the lead with another six-play drive capped by a 16-yard TD pass and the Sea Gulls took a 33-14 lead.

On the ensuing drive, a long completion to Shireem Cobb (Valley Stream, NY/Sewanhaka) was called back on an ineligible receiver downfield penalty and the Golden Eagles were force to punt the ball back to Salisbury as the third quarter came to an end.

Salisbury scored four plays into the final quarter to extend the lead to 40-14.

On the next Sea Gulls drive, Szymanski recovered his second fumble of the day and the Golden Eagles drove down the field and capped the 10-play drive with a 1-yard TD pass on a crossing route to Mrozek to make it 40-21 with 8:37 left in the game.