Furious rally leads W&J past Brockport in ECAC Bowl
PHILADELPHIA – Pete Coughlin threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Keriotis with 13 seconds remaining in the game to finish off a furious comeback by Washington & Jefferson in a 38-31 victory over Brockport Friday night in an ECAC Bowl game at Franklin Field.
W&J (9-2) trailed 31-16 entering the fourth quarter but scored the game’s final 22 points as Coughlin completed 52 of 73 passes for 473 yards and four touchdowns with four interceptions.
Braydon Toy began the W&J comeback by recovering a Brockport (7-4) fumble at the Presidents’ 32 with 11:10 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Coughlin quickly maneuvered the Presidents into scoring range and threw a 4-yard TD pass to Jesse Zubik to cut the lead to 31-23.
Brockport returned the ensuing kickoff to the W&J 40, but turned the ball over on downs with 6:44 remaining at the W&J 36. The Presidents went three-and-out, but pinned Brockport back at its own 20 with a punt.
The would prove critical as the Presidents forced a three-and-out as Luke Merhaut returned the ensuing punt 32 yards to the Brockport 28 with 3:48 remaining in the game.
W&J converted a fourth-down play and Coughlin threw a 3-yard TD pass to Jake Cullen, then converted a two-point attempt with a pass to David Kincaid to tie the game at 31-31 with 1:48 remaining on the game clock.
O’Shea Anderson then intercepted a pass at midfield and returned it to the Brockport 47 with 53 seconds remaining to set up W&J with excellent field position to go for the win.
Cody Hearst caught 12 passes for 125 yards for the Presidents, while Zubik had 13 grabs for 97 yards and two scores and Jake Cullen added 10 catches for 82 yards and a touchdown.