The SUNY Brockport football team jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first 26:59 of the contest, but host and nationally-ranked No. 19 SUNY Cortland rallied with 31 unanswered points as the Red Dragons earned a 31-10 victory over the Golden Eagles in Empire 8 Conference action on Saturday.  Brockport runningback's Jala Coad and Rashad Law combined for 164 yards rushing on the ground and Coad powered home the Golden Eagles lone touchdown of the afternoon in the first quarter. 

Brockport, which is receiving votes in the latest AFCA and D3football.com national polls, saw its record fall to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in Empire 8 play.  Cortland has now won five in a row and improved to 5-0 overall and the Red Dragons are now in the driver's seat in the league standings with a 2-0 record. 

Bport returns home next Saturday when it hosts Utica College for an Empire 8 Conference night game at 6 p.m.

The Golden Eagles posted 205 total yards of offense compared to the Red Dragons 292 and Brockport once again won the time of possession battle as it held the ball on offense for 35:51 of the contest with its consistent ground game. 
 
Senior linebacker Andrew Covais posted a team-best nine tackles and broke up one pass, while reigning Empire 8 Rookie of the Year Raylens Boutin posted seven tackles and added two pass break ups.  Alaan Montgomery added his third interception over the course of the last two games and also picked up three tackles for the Brockport defense.  Ben Marshall and Ben Damiani each added six tackles for the Golden Eagles. 
 
Freshman quarterback Jack Cheshire completed 16 passes for 142 yards, while Imhotep Cromer caught five balls for a team-best 47 yards.  Derrick Chance added five catches for 42 yards and Jared Maurino posted four catches for 39 yards.

Jala Coad got Brockport on the board first with his 23^rd career rushing TD as he punched in a four yard score to cap a 13 play, 75 yard drive with 7:27 to go in the first quarter of play.  Both teams were able to hold each other scoreless for the majority of what remained in the first half until Brockport freshman kicker Nate Wingent drilled a 30 yard field goal to cap a 12 play, 62 yard drive to hand the visitors a commanding 10-0 lead. 

Cortland answered before the half with a 23 yard field goal from the leg of Nick Guglielmo to make it 10-3 as the halftime horn sounded. 

The Red Dragons carried the momentum into the second half and rattled off four unanswered scores in the final 30 minutes to clinch the key Empire 8 matchup between the two regional powers. 

Ka'Sawn Veale got Cortland going when he hauled in a 45 yard touchdown pass from Brees Segala to knot the score at 10-10 early in the third quarter. 

Just over a minute later, Cortland took its first lead of the contest when Mark Noel returned an interception 32 yards for a score to hand the home team a 17-10 lead with 9:25 to go in the third. 

Cortland added two more fourth quarter scores to seal the win. Trevor Ash caught a 27 yard TD pass from Segala and Jaden Alfanostjohn capped the scoring with an 18 yard touchdown run with 7:07 remaining in regulation to make it a 31-10 ball game. 

Segala finished the day completing 16-of-30 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns. He also carried the ball 14 times for 67 yards on the ground.  Derek Cruz led all receivers with six catches for 57 yards for the Red Dragons.  Christian Legagneur, Stone Murray and Dylan Dubuque each posted 11 tackles for the home team.