BROOKVILLE, N.Y. – Sophomore Joey Tolgyesi (Miami, Fla.) capped a game-winning 11-play, 58-yard drive with a 34-yard walk-off field goal to give LIU Post a hard-fought 27-24 win over Bentley University in Northeast-10 Conference football Saturday afternoon at Bethpage Stadium.

The loss spoiled an outstanding performance by Bentley sophomore Drew Mahoney (West Suffield, Conn./Suffield Academy), who recorded the fourth highest receiving yards total in program history, finishing with 13 catches for 225 yards and a game-tying touchdown with 2:16 left.

Down seven (24-17) with 3:16 to play after Tolgyesi misfired on a 35-yard field goal, Bentley tied the game up in a hurry with Mahoney's 50-yard TD catch capping a four-play, 80-yard drive that took exactly a minute.

The Falcons took possession at their own 20 and quickly moved to midfield on an 11-yard pass from senior QB CJ Scarpa (Andover, Mass./Andover HS) to Mahoney and a 19-yard run up the middle by senior tailback George Craan (Hyde Park, Mass./Concord-Carlisle Reg. HS).

Scarpa, who had his first career 300-yard passing game, hit Mahoney on a short pass to the left side. The Falcon receiver made a spin move to elude the defender and raced the distance to the end zone for the score. Freshman Grant Buchanan (Holliston, Mass./Holliston HS) tacked on the extra point to even the score.

LIU Post (4-0, 3-0 NE-10), which amassed over 360 second-half yards, responded with a drive engineered by senior QB and two-time conference Offensive Player of the Week Jeff Kidd (Salem, Ore.). He completed eight passes on the march before being flagged for an illegal forward pass with 15 seconds left.

That penalty, LIU Post's 13th of the game, brought the clock down to five seconds after a ten-second runoff and set the stage for the team's left-footed kicker. Tolgyesi knocked it through from the right hash mark, handing the Falcons their first conference loss of 2016.

The game was tied at 7-all at the half with each team scoring a second-quarter TD after a scoreless opening period. Following the first of two blocked punts by LIU Post, Kidd teamed up with junior Kyle Ward on a 40-yard scoring pass.

Bentley responded on its subsequent possession, junior QB Mack Lowrie (Foxborough, Mass./ Roxbury Latin HS) going deep to a wide open Chris Calvanese (Norfolk, Mass./Xaverian Bros. HS) for a 69-yard TD.

The second half scoring began with a LIU Post safety after the Pioneers blocked a punt and it went out of the end zone. The home team made it 16-7 with 2:53 left in the third on a seven-yard scoring pass from Kidd to senior Shane Hubbard (St. Albans, N.Y.).

Bentley pulled back within two a little more than two minutes later with sophomore Michael Correia (Fall River, Mass,/Durfee HS) winning a jump ball in the end zone for a 28-yard TD thrown by Scarpa, who had scrambled to elude trouble.

Following an interception from Falcon sophomore Nick Athy (Holliston, Mass./Holliston HS), Buchanan bounced back from two first-half missed field goals by making one from 32 yards, giving Bentley its first lead, 17-16.

The lead was short-lived as a 52-yarder TD pass from Kidd to Hubbard put the Pioneers back in front. Kidd ran in a two-point conversion and it was a seven-point advantage for the home team with 9:39 to play, 24-17.

Scarpa finished 21 of 30 for 301 yards, two scores and no interceptions. Lowrie, who saw time in the second and third quarters, was four-for-five for 92 yards, the TD to Calvanese and one interception. Mahoney, who totaled 231 all-purpose yards, registered the most prolific receiving day by a Falcon in 15 years.

Kidd threw for 377 yards, three TDs and two interceptions while completing 36 of 51 attempts. He also led his team in rushing with 80 yards. Hubbard led eight receivers for LIU Post with 14 catches for 167 yards.

Bentley senior linebacker Bryan Hardy (Barnstable, Mass./Barnstable HS) led all tacklers with a dozen, including the 250th of his career. He also forced a third quarter fumble that was recovered by junior defensive end Dan Catalano (North Reading, Mass./Austin Prep HS).

While the game's outcome was undecided until the final play, LIU Post doubled Bentley in first downs, 34-17, The Pioneers ran 87 plays and outgained the Falcons 584-443 in a game which saw a total of 21 penalties assessed for 218 yards (13 for 120 by LIU Post).

Bentley, 2-2 overall, will be back home the next two weeks, the homestand beginning next Saturday with a 2 pm Homecoming Day game against Pace University.