'Cats Get Back at It Thursday Night at Stony Brook

Coach Sean McDonnell addresses the team after practice.

Coach Sean McDonnell addresses the team after a practice leading up to Thursday night's opener.

9/1/2021 1:19:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider

McDonnell, Defense Lead Football into Opener

By: Allen Lessels

DURHAM, N.H. – Time for some University of New Hampshire football. Finally.

The Wildcats open their 2021 fall season Thursday night with a 6 p.m. game at Stony Brook in Lavalle Stadium in what may be the remnants of Hurricane Ida.

UNH returns home for Game 2 of the season against Towson on Saturday, Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. Wildcat season tickets and tickets to the Salute to Service, presented by Service Credit Union, contest against Towson may be purchased at www.unhwildcats.com.

Wildcat football league and home games may be viewed on FloSports, which may be accessed through www.unhwildcats.com.

This marks the first time since Sean McDonnell's inaugural season in 1999 that UNH will open the season with consecutive Colonial Athletic Association games.

That's a relatively minor oddity these days.

The Wildcats will be playing only their second game in the past 650 days. McDonnell tops that number: He will be on the sidelines working a game for just the second time in 1,020 days.

What a long, strange trip it's been since UNH ended a disappointing 2018 season with a loss to Rhode Island.

There was the truncated one-game "spring" season that started and then ended, because of COVID-19 issues, with a home game against Albany this past March 5. The spring season, which was scheduled for six regular games, was set up after the entire 2020 season was lost to the pandemic.

Before that, UNH played a 2019 season that showed much bounce-back promise, featuring an up-and-coming defense and ending with a decisive win over Maine and resulting in a 6-5 record and just missing the FCS playoffs. The week before that season started, however, McDonnell announced he was taking a medical leave of absence and proceeded to stage a successful battle against bladder cancer.

Associate head coach Ricky Santos took his place as interim head coach for the season.

McDonnell returned to his post in March of 2020, got to coach the one game last spring and now is ready to go, with Santos back as associate head coach and quarterbacks coach, for 2021.

Through the stops and starts, delays and frustrations, the goals haven't wavered.

"Our theme is 'To the Top,'" said grad student safety and captain Evan Horn. "We're trying to get back to the top. We're always trying to reach the playoffs, but for my last year I want to win a CAA championship."

The motivations are many.

"That's our theme and it definitely has been pushing us," Horn said. "But there's Coach Mac, too. A lot of guys want to do it for him in his return. But you always want to do it for yourself, too. You don't want to be known as the team that wasn't very good here. The standard is so high from years past."

From 2004 through 2017, the Wildcats put together an unprecedented string of 14 straight appearances in the FCS tournament.

They'd like nothing more than to start another long playoff run this fall.

They'll look to do it with a new starting quarterback and they expect to showcase a strong running game with a stingy defense that is especially formidable up the middle.

Max Brosmer took over the starting quarterback role as a true freshman in the second half of the 2019 season-opening game against Holy Cross and ran with it. But he suffered a knee injury early in this pre-season camp, will have surgery shortly and is out for the season.

Sophomore Bret Edwards won the job heading into that Holy Cross game and is back as the starter now, backed up by freshman Brody McAndrew.

"Bret's a good football player," McDonnell said. "Our kids reacted to it just the way I would want them to react. They feel disappointed. They feel awful for Max, but they're looking forward to Bret, looking forward to Brody. Bret has practiced very well, Brody has practiced very well. Bret's the guy that's going to lead us."

Edwards has the ability to pull the ball down and run.

"Things don't rattle that kid," McDonnell said. "He's got a good feel, good pace about him. He's sneaky athletic. He can run, he can scramble. When he learns to get to the escape hatch and take off, I think we're going to have a chance to have another multi-dimensional guy at quarterback. He's not (former standout) Trevor Knight. But he's somewhere between Trevor and Max."

Edwards works behind a line anchored by senior Matt Mascia at center with juniors Patrick Flynn and Riley Burns at the tackles and sophomores Osho Omoyeni and Matt O'Neill at guard.

Junior Carlos Washington, Jr., sophomore Dylan Laube, redshirt freshman Isaac Seide and sophomore Jacob Post make running back a position of strength.

Juniors Brian Espanet and Sean Coyne, senior Nick Lorden and sophomore Charles Briscoe III are among the threats as receivers along with sophomore tight end Kyle Lepkowski.

The defense had a big year in 2019, particularly while closing out the season with a win over Maine, and also impressed in the spring game against Albany.

Senior defensive tackle Elijah Lewis has started 33 games and Horn 30. Junior Niko Kvietkus plays tackle alongside Lewis and junior Gunner Gibson is at one end spot and freshman Josiah Silver the other.

Senior Pop Bush and redshirt freshman Noah Stansbury are safeties along with Horn and sophomores Derek Thompson and Randall Harris are the corners.

The starting linebackers are sophomore Bryce Shaw, a transfer from Navy, and redshirt freshman Ryan Toscano. They're backed up by redshirt freshman Zedane Williams and freshman Brandon Perkins at linebacker. Oleh Manzyk, who started as a freshman in 2019, is out with an injury.

McDonnell likes the way junior Jordan Conn, who has won the kickoff and placekicking duties, has come on. Redshirt freshmen Aidan Cadogan and Sean Lehane may share the punting work to start.

COMING UP

UNH's Salute to Service game against Towson on Saturday, Sept. 11 is the first of five attractive home games.
Season tickets and individual game tickets are available at www.unhwildcats.com.
The Wildcats play James Madison for Homecoming on Oct. 2 at 3:30 p.m.
They resume their in-state series against Dartmouth in Wildcat Stadium on Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. for Family Weekend.
Richmond is in Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. for Halloweekend.
And UNH closes out the regular season with its rivalry game against Maine in the Border Battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket on Nov. 20 at 1 p.m.
The Wildcats play Sept. 18 at Lafayette, Sept. 25 at Pittsburgh in their FBS game, Oct. 23 at Elon, Nov. 6 at UAlbany and Nov. 13 at Rhode Island.

THE OPPONENT

Stony Brook had a 1-3 record in its abbreviated spring season.
The Seawolves were 5-7 in 2019.
UNH beat Stony Brook, 20-14, its last game in Lavalle Stadium on Oct. 12, 2019.
The Seawolves like to run the ball and had 206 yards rushing in that game.
Ty Son Lawton, now a junior, carried 23 times for 124 yards and a score.
Espanet caught a pair of touchdown passes from Brosmer last time out at Stony Brook.
Grad student quarterback Tyquell Fields is back to lead the Seawolves.