HUNTSVILLE, Texas
The ending wasn't the way Chuck Priore would have scripted it for a Stony Brook team that was bent on upsetting No. 1 Sam Houston in an FCS second-round game Saturday at Bowers Stadium. The Bearkats (12-0) drove 83 yards to score with 1:01 left and pull out a 34-27 victory that preserved their perfect record.
But as Priore said, "We certainly won't be judged by that last five-minute drive. I know that. We won't allow them to be.''
No, the Seawolves (9-4) came too far and accomplished too much to be defined that way. This was a team that rebounded from a 0-3 start to win nine straight games, earning its first undisputed Big South championship and recording its first FCS playoff victory by beating Albany in the first round the previous week. It lost starting quarterback Michael Coulter to a season-ending knee injury after four games and rallied brilliantly behind backup Kyle Essington.
"I've been part of 30 years of coaching, and this is my 12th year as a head coach,'' Priore said. "This team was a special team. This team didn't get rattled ever. It was sort of amazing to me. Sometimes I wanted to get mad, and I couldn't get mad at them. They'd come off the field and they'd be ready to play the next play. We've answered touchdowns all year, and we've answered with big stops on defense.''
Just a week ago, it was the defense coming up with a game-saving interception by Dominick Reyes against Albany. Then SBU stunned Sam Houston and a crowd of 8,161 by taking a 10-3 lead, the Bearkats' first halftime deficit of the season.
When SHSU came back to take a 17-10 lead on two third-quarter touchdowns, the Seawolves didn't accept their fate and fade away. With their pair of brilliant running backs, Brock Jackolski and Miguel Maysonet, stymied by the nation's leading rushing defense, the Seawolves switched gears.
Essington hit bomb after bomb to wideouts Kevin Norrell, who caught four passes for 114 yards and a touchdown, and Matt Brevi, who had three catches for 94 yards and a TD. They came back to tie the score at 20 and again at 27 with 6:37 to play.
Sam Houston coach Willie Fritz was suitably impressed. "Stony Brook played a sensational ballgame,'' Fritz said. "They were very well-coached and they had an excellent game plan.''
"We accomplished a lot,'' Brevi said of Stony Brook's first nine-win season. "We're going to next year with a lot of momentum, and we have a lot of guys coming back. They're hungry to be back here because it's not a good feeling when you lose.''
Unfortunately for Brevi, he's in the group of seniors who won't return, but they leave knowing they made a lasting imprint. Jackolski, who transferred in from Hofstra two years ago, is another player who found a home and did all he could to improve it.
"It's an awesome experience to play the No. 1 team in the nation and to do it with my fellow teammates who I've grown a good relationship with,'' said Jackolski, who scored his Big South-record 20th touchdown of the season.
Stony Brook athletic director Jim Fiore probably has a better perspective than anyone on what this season means to SBU athletics. "A lot,'' Fiore said. "They represented us in ways we've never had. They raised expectations and showed resilience. They put us on the map in a sport where we didn't have scholarships just five years ago.''
Stony Brook -- the name is beginning to resonate now.
