There is probably only one thing more difficult than achieving greatness: doing it again.
However, that is precisely what the Stony Brook University football team will have to accomplish this fall semester. After conquering the Big South Conference and proceeding to the second round of the FCS tournament, the Seawolves have a lot to live up to.
It is the 11th season of Big South football, and Stony Brook will look to win its third conference title. The first came in the fall of 2009, when the Seawolves shared the championship with Liberty University. The second came last year as Stony Brook played Liberty once again in the final game of the regular season, defeating the Flames 41-31 to conclude as part of a nine-game win streak.
But that was then, and anyone paying too much attention to past success will forget that Stony Brook is now in the position of the ‘hunted,’ the inevitable result of being the champion. The rest of the Big South will look to dethrone them.
The Seawolves’ first test of the season will come on Sept. 1 at their home, LaValle Stadium, as they host their former Northeastern Conference rival, the Central Connecticut Blue Devils.
After a second home game against Pace University, Stony Brook will have an exciting month ahead with two games being braodcast on television. The first such game will be against Syracuse University at the Orange’s home on Sept. 15 on SNY. The second televised game will be against Army at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. That game will be at noon on Sept. 29 on CBS Sports Network.
Two weeks later, the Seawolves will begin their conference schedule with an away game at Coastal Carolina University on Oct. 13. It will be the first of five conference games for the team. After the first of these, Stony Brook will play two of them at home and two of them on the road.
Once again, Stony Brook will wrap up the regular season against Liberty. This time the game will occur in Lynchburg, Va., the site of the Flames’ crushing victory two years ago. This time, however, the Seawolves have no intentions of history’s repeating itself.
Going into the season, members of the Stony Brook squad have already been designated for the preseason all-conference team. On the offensive side were junior offensive lineman Michael Bamiro, senior running back Miguel Maysonet and senior quarterback Kyle Essington. Maysonet was also named Big South Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.
Junior linebacker Jawara Dudley and senior defensive back Dominick Reyes represented the Seawoles on the defensive side of the all-conference roster.
Maysonet stands upon the precipice of school and conference history. He has currently accumulated 2,761 yards in his career at Stony Brook. This is in fifth place in conference history, 873 yards short of the record set by former Liberty and Jacksonville Jaguar player Rashad Jennings. He is also 847 yards shy of Conte Cuttino’s ’10 school record.
With all this in mind and more, Seawolevs football is looking to show that they have yet another conference title in them.
