Wyandanch Topples Stony Brook Bears 28-19 in Season Opener

For Stony Brook, the keyword in Saturday's 28-19 loss to Wyandanch in Division IV football action was "little."

There were little victories along the way, like a first-quarter lead and a well-executed triple-option offense. But what ultimately emerged were a lot of little things that need fixing for the team, which entered the game with little experience.

"Do I think we could have had this game? Yeah," said running back Donald Liotine, one of more than a dozen sophomores on the Stony Brook team. "It's a young team. We need to fix the little things."

Stony Brook (0-1) took an early 6-0 lead on a quarterback sneak from sophomore Marco Masakayan, but Wyandanch (1-0) answered right back on a touchdown from senior running back Tashawn Donaldson and a two-point conversion that made it 8-6 with 2:09 left in the first quarter.

Wyandanch expanded its lead to 14-6 when Donaldson scored on a nine-yard run midway through the second quarter. Stony Brook got within two on a 40-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Wyatt Piazza with 16 seconds left before halftime. But Wyandanch's Julian Jean answered with an 86-yard kickoff return on the next play and another successful two-point conversion gave the Warriors a 22-12 lead. Stony Brook coach Kris Ryan called the kickoff return the turning point of the game.

"Defensively, we have some work to do," he said.

Stony Brook got its final score of the game on a 10-yard run by Liotine with an extra point that made it 22-19 with 4:52 left in the third quarter, but Wyandanch wasn't done. Senior wide receiver Tashien Sellers caught a 14-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth to put the Warriors up 28-19.

Liotine had 15 carries for 143 yards with one touchdown and Piazza finished with six catches for 81 yards and one score. Masakayan completed 12 of 18 attempts for 131 yards and one touchdown, threw two interceptions, and got sacked twice. For Wyandanch, Donaldson finished with 20 carries for 107 yards and two touchdowns.

"They were hurting us with the pass and they ran the option very effectively," Wyandanch coach Fitz McKinnon said. "Our defense was disciplined enough not to break down."

Stony Brook and Wyandanch each won two of the teams' last four meetings dating back to 2006, but Stony Brook hadn't beaten Wyandanch since 2007. Next up for Stony Brook is a game Thursday night at Hampton Bays, which dropped its season opener 38-7 to John Glenn on Saturday.

"We just need to pick it up in practice," Liotine said. "We'll see where our little mistakes were. There were no big mistakes."