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By TIM IRVING
“These kids need to learn how to win. The last couple of years, we’ve struggled with numbers, struggled with just kids who are football players.”
Brockport football coach Scott Nugent saw his team come up just three points short of Eastridge last week and heading into a Thursday night match up at Greece Arcadia, the potential was there.
The Blue Devils lived up to that potential, as they jumped out to a 28-0 halftime lead and held off a late run to win 48-28 over the Titans.
Brockport clicked in all phases. After the defense stopped Arcadia on a fourth down attempt late in the first quarter, sophomore quarterback Landon Scott hit Tyler Judd for 50 yards and a 7-0 lead.
In the second quarter, Scott, whose brother Ashton led the Blue Devils to the 2015 Section V title, spotted Nathan Parker and the junior went 55 yards and a 14-0 lead.
“He’s a stud,” Nugent said of Scott. “He’s only gonna get better. He’s so smart, I can’t really say enough good things about his work ethic.”
The Blue Devils defense forced a three-and-out and then Brayden Spencer came off the right edge and blocked the punt. Parker scooped it and scored for a 21-0 lead.
With just over two minutes left in the half, Parker scored from the tailback position for that 28-0 halftime lead.
“He (Parker) is a three-year starter on defense and just has a lot of experience and you just see it all coming to fruition,” Nugent said. “He’s honestly my best overall football player.”
The Titans needed less than a minute to get on the board in the second half. Junior running back Dashaun McClemmon busted free on the left side and cut the lead to 28-6.
But Scott and Parker answered right back, connecting on a third down conversion that led to Parker’s fourth touchdown, all coming behind a makeshift offensive line.
“We had three injuries that happened yesterday. So, we had three new kids on the offensive line that weren’t starters…yesterday,” Nugent said.
After the defense stopped the Titans again, Spencer blocked another punt that set up Scott on an option keeper and a 41-6 lead.
The lead ballooned to 48-6 heading into the fourth quarter when Arcadia started taking advantage of the Blue Devils’ second team defense. Deshaun Caesar threw two touchdown passes to Jakson Schweigert, sandwiching an onsides kick recovery.
With two minutes left, a shotgun snap got away and the turnover led to Caesar hitting Xavier Smith to cut the lead to 48-28.
The Blue Devils then got the ball back and were able to kill the clock and earn their first victory of the season.
“These kids really bought in, they really committed themselves in the summer and I was just so…waiting for them to see rewards of it happening and everything kinda came together today, “ Nugent said.
Brockport next hosts Greece Athena a week from Friday.
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