Oct. 22, 2009

Stony Brook - Coastal Carolina game notes

Stony Brook, N.Y. -

Stony Brook's football team returns home for the first time in three weeks on Saturday when it hosts Coastal Carolina in a Big South Conference matchup. Saturday's game will also mark the start of a new tradition at Stony Brook, Communiversity Day, which will become an annual fall community relations event. It will also be the Ray Downey Heroes Classic and will be featuring the 100th anniversary of the Stony Brook and Setauket Fire Departments, with an antique vehicle and apparatus competition. In addition, the University is hosting SBU Commuter Student Day and SBU Parent and Family weekend, featuring a moon bounce, giveaways and much more. At halftime of the game Stony Brook's new President, Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., MD will be honored in recognition of his inauguration as Stony Brook's fifth president. The game will be televised live on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), which is available in the New York area on Dish Network (Ch. 432) and Direct TV (Ch. 640). The game will also be carried live on WUSB (90.1 FM), with the pregame show starting at 3:15 p.m.

Kickoff
Stony Brook returns home this week for just the third time this season as it hosts Coastal Carolina in a televised, Big South match-up. The Seawolves will be looking to stay perfect at home, where it has won both games this season, and in the Big South where it is 2-0 after tak¬ing a 27-20 come-from-behind win at VMI last week. A win for SBU this week would give it back-to-back victories for the first time in 2009 and keep it atop the Big South standings as well as give it three straight Big South wins since joining the league last year. Last week the Seawolves won a game with a touchdown in the final minute for the second time this season when Conte Cuttino scored with 52 seconds left from 13 yards out to lift SBU to the win at VMI. Cuttino finished with a team-high 85 yards, which was also his high for the season. The Seawolves passing game continued to click as well, with Michael Coulter going over the 300-yard mark for the second time in three games with a 316-yard, two TD performance. Stephan Towns caught 11 balls, including three straight on the game-winning drive that set up Cuttino's score. The Stony Brook offense now boasts the Big South's top rusher, Ed Gowins, and passer, Coulter. After 446 yards at VMI, the Stony Brook offense is now No. 2 in the Big South and No. 31 in the nation with an average of 367 yards per game of offense.

The Opponent
Winners of two straight going into last week's game at Liberty, Coastal Carolina took one on the chin against the Flames in Lynchburg by a 58-13 score. The loss dropped the Chanticleers to 3-3 and 1-1 in the Big South. Prior to the Liberty game the Coastal defense had allowed just 13 points over the previous two games. Liberty racked up 575 yards of offense in the game, 300 of which came on the ground. The loss also dropped the Chanticleers to 0-3 on the road in 2009. The Stony Brook game is the second of a season-high three straight away from home. On offense Coastal is led by quarterback Zach McDowell who is aver¬aging 153 yards per game passing, but has been picked off six times to only four TD passes. On the ground Eric O'Neal leads the team with 341 yards on the ground, while Brandon Whitley has 17 catches for 290 yards and a pair of scores to lead the receivers. Defensively Coastal Carolina has allowed just 151 yards per game passing, tops in the Big South.

The Series
This will be the second meeting between Stony Brook and Coastal Carolina. In the first meeting last season at Coastal, the Seawolves took advantage of four turnovers by the Chanticleers, turning three of them into scores to take a 28-24 win on the road. Dwayne Eley caught three touchdown passes while Conte Cuttino ran for 141 yards and one score. Zach McDonald threw for 306 yards to help Coastal to a 505-yard total offense night. The trip to New York will be a first for the Coastal Carolina program. Stony Brook has won both game it has played against teams from South Carolina.

Stony Brook Seawolves Football

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