On this day three years ago, the football team got the boat back.

Since 1994, the winner of the annual match-up between the Stony Brook and Port Jeff football teams claimed ownership of a small wooden clipper ship. After dominating the early years of the rivalry, the edge had decidedly swung in the Royals’ favor and the Brook had not secured the boat in over a decade.

It was apparent early on that the Bears were prepared to rewrite history as Don Liotine scored a 65-yard touchdown on the second play of the game. The atmosphere was electric, so much so that a lightning bolt coursed through the sky soon after and the game was suspended until the following evening.

When play resumed, the Bears continued their offensive barrage. With six minutes left in the first quarter, Marco Masakayan found Tyler Hoegsberg for a 31-yard touchdown to put the Brook up 12-0. Before the quarter was over the Bears would strike an early death knell for the Royals when Cris Damianos took an interception 15 yards into the end zone. Liotine punctuated the score by punching it in on the two-point conversion to give the Blue and White a 20-0 edge.

Port Jeff would not go quietly, as they outscored the Bears 14-6 in the second frame, but the Bear defense kept them off the board in the third and allowed just six points in the fourth as our boys took the game, 34-20.

Liotine finished with 3 touchdowns on one side of the ball and 8 tackles on the other to help the Brook improve to 3-1 on the way to a five-win season and a playoff appearance.

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