Complete Box Score

BROOKVILLE, N.Y. – The Gannon football team tried to end the 2011 season with consecutive victories for the second time in three campaigns, but the Golden Knights were unable to hold onto a 10-0 lead Saturday afternoon and dropped a 33-15 decision in the season finale at C.W. Post.

The start of the season's final game looked promising as Gannon jumped out to a 10-0 lead. Neither team was able to generate points through the first five possessions, before the Golden Knights took advantage of a poor punt to score first.

Grayson Laurino's eight-yard punt set Gannon up at midfield late in the first quarter. On the next play, Daniel Tapscott (Beltsville, Md./DeMatha Catholic) connected with Lawrence Coleman (Warren, Ohio/Warren G. Harding) for a 41-yard pass play. Jansen Jones (Rochester, N.Y./Penfield) then carried the ball into the end zone from nine yards out for a 7-0 lead with 2:51 left in the quarter.

Gannon used great field possession to extend the lead early in the second quarter. A personal foul penalty and a false start forced C.W. Post to punt from its nine-yard line. Laurino's 31-yard punt went out of bounds at the Pioneers' 40-yard line and another personal foul put the ball at C.W. Post's 25-yard line. Gannon's drive eventually stalled after picking up one first down, forcing Matt Szczupakowski (Spencerport, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) to kick a 26-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead at the 7:34 mark of the second quarter.

The field goal seemed to wake C.W. Post up as the Pioneers immediately responded with a 52-yard drive that resulted in a touchdown. The drive was set up with a short kickoff to the C.W. Post 36-yard line that was returned 12 yards. The first six plays picked up small amount of yards between three and eight, before a 22-yard pass put C.W. Post on the two-yard line. Anthony Brunetti then found paydirt from two yards out, cutting the deficit to 10-7 with 7:34 left in the first half.

The home team tied the game at 10 with Marc Montana's 31-yard field goal at the end of its next drive that lasted 12 plays and moved 58 yards. C.W. Post later had a chance to take a lead into halftime, but Chris Cook (Cleveland, Ohio/Shaw) blocked a 34-yard field goal attempt as time expired to preserve the halftime tie.

The second half belonged to C.W. Post. The Pioneers produced large advantages in first downs (14-4), rushing yards (83-3) and total yards (192-113) during the last two quarters. As a result, the squad held the ball for 19 minutes and 10 seconds of the final 30 minutes.

Midway through the third quarter, C.W. Post snapped the tie with a five-yard touchdown run by Brunetti and a 17-yard touchdown pass from Steven Laurino to Grayson Laurino on back-to-back possessions.

Gannon stopped the surge for a brief moment when Cook blocked his second kick of the game on the extra point. Khayree Connors-McChristian (Sicklerville, N.J./Winslow Township) picked up the loose ball and raced the length of the field for two points, leaving the Pioneer lead at 23-12 with 4:02 left in the third quarter. It represented Gannon's first PAT returned for a score since John Chisolm performed the feat against Slippery Rock in 2009.

However, it was as close as Gannon would get the rest of the way. C.W. Post added 10 more points in the final quarter on a Steven Laurino 23-yard touchdown pass to Joe Botti at the 10-minute mark and a Montana 26-yard field goal with 2:05 left in regulation. Szczupakowski's 28-yard field goal midway through the final frame accounted for Gannon's lone fourth-quarter points.

C.W. Post finished the game with advantages in first downs (26-9), rushing yards (175-49), passing yards (227-191), total yards (402-240) and time of possession (36:55-23:05).

Jones led the rushing attack for the second consecutive week with 57 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries. Tapscott finished 13-of-30 for 191 yards. Abraham Ocasio (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes), Justin Caliste (Roseville, Calif./Oakmont) and Jones hauled in two catches each.

Connors-McChristian headlined the defensive effort with a season-high 12 tackles, reaching double digits for the fourth time this season and falling one tackle shy of his career-high.

Kevin Borton (Orange, Calif./El Modena), Randy Colling (Arcade, N.Y./Pioneer) and Cook added eight tackles each. Colling concluded his collegiate career just shy of two Gannon all-time records. The senior defensive lineman's 25 career sacks left him behind only Mitchell Hanlon's (2001-04) school record of 28.5 takedowns. Colling's 48 career tackles for a loss came up just shy of Hanlon's school-best 54.5 tackles for a loss. He also finished 12th all-time at Gannon with 220 total tackles.

On Gannon's single-season charts, Colling's 21.5 tackles for a loss this season was one-half TFL shy of George Allen's record of 22 set in 2002. His nine sacks this season was second only to David Leven's 11 sacks in 1994.

Cook also complete his career among Gannon's best tacklers, finishing 13th all-time with 217 career stops. His 13 career interceptions go down as the third-best career total in school history.

Chris Jahnke (Island Lake, Ill./Wauconda) will go down in the record books. The senior punter finished tied for Gannon's all-time record for career punting average. He averaged 38.1 yards on 67 career punts. It ties the mark set by Ken Ciolek.

Caliste concluded a tremendous freshman season on special teams by breaking the school's single-season records for kickoffs returned (29), kickoff return yards (640), punt return yards (318) and punt return average (17.7). His 1,160 all-purpose yards were just 10 yards shy of the school's single-season record set by Sterling Pierce in 1998.

Coleman had already broken Gannon's single-season record for receiving touchdowns with nine this year.

Gannon completed the 2011 season with a 4-7 overall record, finishing fifth in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division with a 3-4 mark. C.W. Post moved to 7-4 with its seventh victory in the final eight contests.