For the first time this season, the football team stepped onto Fitch Field for a joint practice with Delaware County Christian who drove up from Newtown Square, PA for some early season work. Former Stony Brook faculty member Jim Favino, the head coach of the Knights, relished the opportunity to face his former team.

The Bears have only been together for a week, which showed at times against a Delaware County team that has had much longer to gel, but there were still flashes of greatness from the Blue and White. Quarterback Marco Masakayan looked comfortable in the pocket, as well as on the run with the option, and broke off two first down runs, adeptly alluding several Knights defenders. Donnie Liotine, one of the driving forces of the team, had several nice gains out of the option and showed his lion heart with several crushing hits.

Andrew White was cagey on the run as well, giving us a taste of things to come on a long touchdown run during which he shook several defenders in the open field and used his speed to get to the outside. Taylor Colucci, who we are more accustomed to seeing on the track around the football field, made a nice catch and run up the right sideline. Senior captain Wyatt Piazza showed off his good hands on offense and his toughness on defense with several hard hits. Cris Damianos, Spencer Cannon, and Nick Pizzichillo also showed flashes of brilliance on defense.

There is a level of optimism surrounding the team this year. The boys seem motivated and under the exceptional leadership of coaches Kris Ryan, Sean Riley, Kyle Cavanaugh, Jeff Smith, and Mac Drane ’07, this could be a successful year for the Brook.

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