Photo credit: Alan J Schaefer | File photo of Brock Jackolski.
Stony Brook University 's football team is in Boiling Springs , N.C., where the red-hot Seawolves will play Gardner-Webb on Saturday before the Game against Liberty for the Big South title next week.
Stony Brook (6-3, 4-0) has won six straight. Gardner-Webb is 4-5, 2-2. "Coach [Chuck Priore] said we are playing this game like it's the championship game,'' running back Brock Jackolski said. "We want to focus on us playing our game, trying to sharpen up our skills.''
Regardless of the outcome against Gardner-Webb, Stony Brook can claim the automatic berth in the FCS playoffs by beating visiting Liberty (7-3, 5-0) next week. But the Seawolves need to defeat Gardner-Webb to have a chance to become the sole Big South champ after tying for the conference title the previous two years.
"We are all excited for the next two games. It's like crunch time for us,'' said Miguel Maysonet, who has combined with Jackolski for 2,179 yards and 21 touchdowns. "Obviously, we expect to win, no matter how it happens.''
Though Priore's "Ground Chuck'' tandem of Maysonet and Jackolski has been in the spotlight most of the season, the team actually was bolstered when Kyle Essington took over for injured quarterback Michael Coulter. Essington has completed 60.6 percent of his passes and thrown for 10 TDs.
With a 17-4 Big South record, SBU seems to be a team built for its conference. It had non-conference losses to UTEP , Buffalo and Brown but has turned it on against Big South competition. "It's like warming up with a heavy bat,'' Jackolski said. "Playing teams that are bigger, FBS teams, is like a warm-up. We expect faster kids, we expect bigger kids; then when we come to the Big South, we're used to that.''
Jackolski was asked about the excitement in store for next week. "Stony Brook's never outright won the conference,'' he said. "They've never had it for their own; they've always shared it. I think that's one of the biggest things that keep us going. We want to outright win that and then go to the NCAA playoffs. It's something that Stony Brook has never done. It would be making history, and I think everybody wants to be part of that.''
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