Femiano going home
Bryant faces No. 23 Stony Brook with chance to make statement
SMITHFIELD — Long Island native Brenden Femiano remembers the first time he watched tye Bryant football team.
Femiano was an All-City running back at Brooklyn’s Poly Prep when he made the short trip from his family home in Northport, N.Y. to Stony Brook to watch the Seawolves play the Bulldogs on Aug. 28, 2014.
At the time, Femiano was being recruited by Stony Brook, but following the Bulldogs’ 13-7 victory, Femiano developed an interest in Bryant and a friendship with former standout running back Rico McCray. He eventually committed to play in Smithfield.
“My first visit to Stony Brook was when Bryant played them in the season opener,” Femiano, now a senior tailback, said prior to Wednesday afternoon’s practice. “At the time, I wasn’t being recruited by Bryant. I didn’t know a single thing about Bryant, but then I got really close with Rico and he convinced me to come here.”
Tonight’s 6 o’clock non-conference contest against the No.
23 Seawolves at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium is a homecoming for a number of Bryant players who grew up playing football on the fields of Long Island, but tonight’s game means a little more to Femiano.
After playing his first two seasons of high school football at Saint Anthony’s in nearby South Huntington, Femiano transferred to Brooklyn powerhouse Poly Prep for his final two seasons. On the field, Femiano was a success, rushing for nearly 3,200 yards and 34 touchdowns in two seasons, but not many of his family and friends could make the hour trip to watch him play.
Tonight, for the first time in seven seasons, the Northport native will have 20-25 family, friends and former coaches in attendance, including his brother Mark, who is flying up from High Point University in North Carolina. His parents, Genevieve and Kenneth, and his older brother, Justin, will also be there.
“The biggest thing for me is I always wanted to go home and play in front of my family and my friends and I never got the opportunity to do that,” said Femiano, who ran for a team-high 43 yards Saturday. “At a young age I left my town and went to a different school in Brooklyn. Not many people from my town have actually seen me play in person. I have a lot of close friends and former coaches from Northport, Brooklyn and Staten Island coming.”
When the game kicks off, Bryant (1-0) will have an opportunity to show the rest of the Northeast Con- ference its a true contender for the league title a week after struggling with Division II New Haven. The Seawolves (0-1) are coming off a 38-0 defeat to FBS foe Air Force in Colorado Springs, Co.
Stony Brook, which was picked to finish fourth in the ultra competitive Colonial Athletic Association, are led by senior quarterback Joe Carbone, who is in his third season as the starter. Fullback Cal Daniels and linebacker Shayne Lawless were both preseason first-team all-conference selections.
“This is a great challenge against a terrific team on the road,” Bryant coach James Perry said. “These are all good things for us to experience. It will be a good opportunity to see how we travel because we have six more road games. The defensive film was good because they have a terrific quarterback and they’re a physical team.”
The big challenge for Bryant’s defense is to corral and tackle Carbone, who checks in a 220 pounds. Bryant didn’t do a good job slowing down New Haven’s Ajee Patterson, who was his own worst enemy with four interceptions, including a pair inside the Bryant 5-yard line.
Defensive lineman Kodi Ojukwu, another Long Island native who will be playing in front of “10-15 friends and family,” knows slowing down Carbone is the defense’s main priority.
“I’m here to do what my coaches want me to do – if that means stop the run, I’ll stop the run and if that means stop the pass, I’ll do that,” Ojukwu said after recording a pair of tackles in Saturday’s win. “The biggest key for us Saturday is to play fast and follow the coaches’ gameplan. What they set out for us is a perfect gameplan against Stony Brook’s offense.”
For Perry, who is an offensive coach, there was very little to glean from Stony Brook’s defense on Saturday. Air Force runs the triple option and quarterback Arion Worthman only threw eight passes, while 14 Falcons rushed for a total of 360 yards and four touchdowns.
On the flip side, Bryant rushed for just 83 yards Saturday, while redshirt senior quarterback Price Wilson was 26-for-36 for 259 yards and four touchdowns.
“You still watch the film to understand their personnel,” Perry said. “When we watched our film, we have a lot of corrections to make, we made a lot of mistakes in all three phases of the game. We came out Sunday and worked; we came out Tuesday and worked. We didn’t pat ourselves on the back because we beat a good football team. We know we made a lot of mistakes. Hopefully we put our best foot forward on Saturday.”
Tonight marks the fourth meeting between the programs with Stony Brook holding a 2-1 advantage. This will be the first time Bryant has played a nationally-ranked opponent since the Bulldogs suffered a 31-17 defeat to No. 1 Coastal Carolina in 2015. That day, Dalton Easton and the Bulldogs went into halftime tied at 17 with the Chanticleers.
“This is a big opportunity for us, because we get to show everyone that we’re a fast team, and we can play with anyone inside or outside of our conference,” Ojukwu said.