Offense Tops Defense, 32-19, in Red-White Scrimmage
May 2, 2009
Stony Brook, N.Y. - Stony Brook University's football team wrapped up its spring practice with the annual red-white scrimmage at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Senior Stephan Towns (San Diego, Calif.), who had six receptions for 74 yards, caught two touchdowns to lead the white team to a 35-19 win. Defensively, the Seawolves were led by senior captain Tyler Santucci (New Kensington, Pa.), who totaled two sacks and an interception. Adding to the day's excitement, former Stony Brook running back Jimmy DiPietro '76 and senior running back Conte Cuttino (Uniondale, N.Y.) squared off in a bench press competition at halftime, which Cuttino won with a max of 300 pounds.
"Spring has a lot of different components and the score today doesn't matter," head coach Chuck Priore said. "The important thing is we learn discipline, we learn the fundamentals of how to get better as a team and do things the right way. From that perspective I'm pleased with our spring. Fundamentally we got better, we have a lot of work to do, but we don't have to play next Saturday so we have three months to look at who we are. We're looking forward to having a great season.
Defensively the red team looked sharp, forcing a three-and-out while picking up a point in a modified scoring system. On the next series, redshirt freshman Phillip Mayberry (Grand Rapids, Mich.) righted the Seawolves' offense with a nine-yard gain on his first carry. Two plays later, Mayberry rushed for 12 yards, but again the defense came through, allowing just six yards on the next three plays to force another punt.
 |
Senior Michael Coulter (Yorba Linda, Calif.) took his opportunity under center and completed his first four passes, but a holding penalty on the white team forced them to punt and a 3-2 lead for the red team. With the ball spotted at the 40-yard line, the offense began to click. On a third-and-six from the 44, Coulter found junior Michael Lepore (Brick, N.J.) for a 31-yard gain and a first down. Two plays later, Coulter and Lepore hooked up again, this time for a 10-yard completion to the 14. Clicking on third down, Coulter threw a ball up-for-grabs for Towns, who pulled it in for a touchdown. Redshirt freshman Wesley Skiffington (Brandon, Fla.) added the extra point for an 11-3 white team lead.
The offense continued to march down the field with Hoffman and Lepore connecting on a 46-yard play, resulting in a first down from the four. However, the defense stopped them, resulting in a 21-yard field goal from Skiffington.
Two drives later from their own 34 and with Coulter under center, he found redshirt freshmanJordan Gush (Richardson, Texas) for a 24-yard completion to the 42. After a Mayberry rush of five yards, Coulter connected with junior Donald Porter (Charles Town, W.V.) and Gush on pass plays of 17 and 11 yards, respectively,resulting in a pair of first downs to the 10 yards line. That was all the offensive would gain on that series as junior Chris Fenelon (Bellerose, N.Y.) sacked Coulter for a loss of six and senior Carl Teague (St. Petersburg, Fla.) intercepted a pass in the end zone and returned it to the six-yard line.
Starting from their own six, the white team moved the ball to the 13 with a seven-yard reception from Towns. But after a penalty for an illegal shift and an incomplete pass, Santucci sacked Hoffman in the end zone, resulting in a safety.
On the next series for the white team, Hoffman completed three straight passes for 34 yards after an initial one-yard rush from Mayberry. From the 39-yard line, Hoffman threw three straight incomplete passes, bringing up fourth down. But on fourth down, Hoffman scrambled to his left and threw the ball up for Towns, who jumped over senior Benjamin Clements(Glen Burnie, Md.) for the score. Skiffington connected on the point after to give the white team a 12-point advantage.
The rest of the first half saw the defense allow just two points on a pair of first downs. After a pair of penalties on the red team, the defense allowed just a pair of completions and forced an incompletion on fourth down to gain a point. On the final series of the half, Coulter drove the white team down the field including a 34-yard reception to senior Adrian Sawyer (Oakland, Calif.), who escaped a couple of tackles, going down at the 23. On the final play of the half, Santucci stepped in front of the receiver and picked off Coulter.
Senior Dan Sweeney (Niskayuna, N.Y.) began the third quarter at quarterback and completed 3-of-6 passes for 20 yards. On senior Matt Dardenne's (Fremont, Calif.) first pass, senior Chevar Rankins (Middletown, N.Y.) picked it off for the red team's third interception of the afternoon.
Hoffman finished the game 11-20 for 128 and a touchdown while Coulter was 16-25 for 178 and a touchdown and two interceptions. Along with a pair of touchdowns, Towns grabbed six balls for 74 yards. Lepore had five catches for 97 yards and Gush totaled six catches for 75 yards. On the ground, Mayberry carried the ball 11 times for 49 yards.
The defensive totaled five sacks on the day with sophomore Ryan Haber (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) and freshman Craig Richardson (Revere, Mass.) also adding sacks. Clements finished with a team-high five tackles and juniors Stephen Schwicke (East Patchogue, N.Y.) and Arin West (Toms River, N.J.) had four apiece.
The Stony Brook football team begins the 2009 season at Long Island rival Hofstra on Saturday, September 5.
For ticket information, go to www.goseawolves.org or call (631) 632-WOLF.
