by TYLER HATHAWAY
HONEOYE FALLS, N.Y– Watching warmups, Brockport head coach Paul Carella had a feeling his quarterback Mason Scott was going to have a special night.
“In pregame I thought he was throwing the ball so well,” said Carella. “I just thought, ‘man, his ball looks really good.”
Carella’s intuition was right. The senior quarterback tallied nearly 350 total yards and four scores, and with the game in the balance, took the Blue Devils offense 72 yards in 90 seconds to score a touchdown and a two-point conversion to give Brockport (4-2) a 29-28 road win over Honeoye Falls-Lima (3-3) on Friday night.
“That game went back and forth, it was a roller coaster,” said Carella of the win. (Honeoye Falls-Lima) is a super talented team, and I got a lot of respect for their coach and his guys. For us to come out on top, with how we executed our two minute offense. It just feels like a huge confidence booster for us moving forward.”
Scott finished the game completing 20-of-24 passes for 315 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 34 yards and two touchdowns, including a three-yard score on the ground with eight seconds left that made it a one-point game. Scott then added the two-point conversion to win the game on a sneak.
“He’s a third generation kid,” Carella said of his signal-caller. “His brother is the offensive coordinator, his father is the offensive line coach, his older brother was on the sidelines.”
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“He’s like a fifth coach for us. He runs the scout offense on defensive days. He directs, he coaches, and he’s been in the program for us. He’s learned so much in that time, and it’s paying dividends for us.”
Scott mustered the load for an offense that wasn’t able to run the ball with much success and was without a starting receiver. Giuseppe Marrocco was Scott’s top target, finishing with eight catches for 186 yards and two touchdowns.
“We usually have a lot more success running the ball,” said Carella. “Tonight we had more success throwing the ball, so I think that’s great for our team. We had one of our starting receivers at home with the flu tonight. But the other guys stepped up, and I’m proud of those guys for getting on the field and making plays.”
Carella originally sent his field goal unit out to kick the extra point to tie the game, but an offsides penalty on the Cougars and coercing from some of the seniors on the team led him to make the decision to try and win the game.
“I think it was the confidence of our guys,” the coach said of what got him to change his mind. “I decided to go for one, but our guys wanted to go for two. Then when the penalty happened, I’m like ‘oh man’. So then they surrounded me, and our senior captains were like, ‘coach, let’s go for two’. So let’s go for two. I saw the confidence in their eyes.”
Its the fourth win in five games for the Blue Devils. In each of those wins, they’ve scored over 27 points.
“At the start of the season, we’re not at our best,” said Carella. “You grow every week, find out what kids can and can’t do. We try to ensure success, and not put kids in a spot where they can’t do something. And as time goes on, we figure out what these guys can do. And I think right now, we’re just in a groove where we got guys in the right spots.”
Honeoye Falls-Lima led 21-14 with 9:14 left in the fourth quarter before Scott found Marrocco for a 63-yard touchdown to tie the game. The Cougars responded with a drive that lasted nearly seven and a half minutes to make it 28-21 with 1:37 left.
Isaac Kingsley, Morocco, and Wesley Childs each had catches on the final drive to help the Blue Devils march down the field to set up Scott’s winning score.
Jackson Scorsone led the defense with eight tackles. Owen Rabjohn had four and a half tackles and a sack.
For Honeoye Falls-Lima, Benny Feinberg completed seven of 13 passes for 106 yards and two scores while running for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Grady Goodberlet was on the receiving end of a 46-yard touchdown that gave the Cougars a 7-0 lead in the first half. Chase Harrison had a seven-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Brockport will finish its regular season with a home tilt against Batavia next Friday.
“I told my guys I’m super proud of them,” said Carella. “A wins a win, I told them coming out here that we got to power through. We knew that HFL was going to put up a big fight against us on their senior night. I knew it was going to be a dogfight, we just had to power through. I’m proud of our guys for doing that when they could have folded. They could have gave up, but they believed in themselves. They found a way.”
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