Kacz, Bengals hope momentum carries down I-90 into Brockport

Following a 49-31 victory over non-conference foe Cortland, the Buffalo State football team will go on the road to face another non-conference rival in the Brockport Golden Eagles on Saturday.

The Bengals defeated the Golden Eagles 51-30 last season after an entertaining first half that saw Buffalo State take a 48-23 lead into halftime. Quarterback Casey Kacz completed 22-of-31 passes for 290 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for two touchdowns and 74 yards on 11 carries.

"I think we just ran the right plays and we had a good week of practice and we came out and executed the right way," said guard Josh Jesonowski. "With their defensive line, we were just able to manhandle them all across the board. We had that good push up front."

Brockport finished last season with the top offense in the New Jersey Athletic Conference averaging 432.8 yards per game. They also averaged 252.6 passing yards and 29.1 points-per-game, marks that were good for second and third in the conference, respectively.

The Golden Eagles have three returning All-conference players in wide receiver Jordan Hogan, offensive lineman Bruce Doyle and defensive back Ross Ragonessi.

Also returning for the league's top offense from a year ago is quarterback Joe Scibilia and running back Tyrone Nichols. Scibilia finished last season completing 174-of-280 passes for 2,007 yards, 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Nichols rushed 121 times for 694 yards and seven touchdowns.

Brockport won its first game of the season 24-2 against Lycoming. Scibilia completed 21-of-34 passes for 324 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.3 Nichols rushed 21 times for 113 yards and a touchdown.

"They like to run mostly shotgun," said safety Matt Wesolowski. "I heard Coach Lewis say they only have one tight end that comes in as an offensive lineman that's there to block, but they usually go four-spread in shotgun. Their quarterback is pretty solid. He's good with his reads and he's very capable of running the ball, but as long as we play hard and play fast, we should beat them."

In recent years, the rivalry between Buffalo State and Brockport has been a high-scoring affair, but it should be interesting to see how the Bengals' offense will do against a Golden Eagles' defense that held Lycoming's offense scoreless last week.

Kacz is coming off a game against Cortland where he broke a school record with 579 passing yards and tied a school record with five touchdown passes. Wide receiver Caesarae Lewis had seven receptions for 156 yards and tied a school record with three touchdowns. Freshman wide receiver Ryan Carney had 12 receptions for 242 yards and two touchdowns in his first career collegiate start, three days after the Bengals learned that Mike Doherty suffered a season-ending injury.

"The one thing we emphasize as coaches all the time is that our backups have to be ready to play," said Offensive Coordinator Greg Forest. "Everybody has to practice like they're the starter and when a guy goes down like Mike Doherty did, Carney had to step up and that's what we need from everybody on the team whether you're a fourth team player or a first team player, you've got to practice every day like you're trying to be the starter."

The Bengals have defeated Brockport in each of the past two I-90 Bowls and will look to bring home a third trophy at Eunice Kennedy Shriver Stadium. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

A.J. Speier can be reached by email at speier.record@live.com.