UAlbany football rips Golden Apple Trophy away from Stony Brook

STONY BROOK – After the final snap in victory formation, a mob of University at Albany football players sprinted from their bench to an opposite corner of LaValle Stadium.

There stood a table with the prize: The Golden Apple Trophy.

After enduring beatings from their State University of New York rival the past two years, the Great Danes were elated to reclaim the prize with a 48-31 domination of Stony Brook in a Coastal Athletic Association game.

UAlbany senior quarterback Kai Colon threw a career-high four touchdown passes, three to sophomore wide receiver BJ Norman, and Rahshan La Mons rushed for 134 yards and two scores.

Under first-year coach Tom Perkovich, the Great Danes (4-3 overall, 2-1 CAA) turned the tables on the Seawolves (4-3, 2-1), who beat them 47-12 at Casey Stadium last year and 24-6 on Long Island two years ago. UAlbany also spoiled Stony Brook’s homecoming game in front of a crowd of 6,101.

“Yeah, it was definitely electric,” said UAlbany junior linebacker Dillon Dunathan, who had 13 tackles, 1 ½ sacks and two pass breakups. “I mean, the past couple of years, we’ve been losing and it feels just so good to get (the trophy) back. To come here, especially, and take over and get the big win.”

The players grabbed the trophy off the table and handed it to Perkovich, who raised it over his head near midfield.

“For me, that’s what it’s about, those excited moments, the great wins, the guys just living in that moment, right?” Perkovich said. “Beating a rival, going to get a trophy, those type of things, I usually stand back and watch the camaraderie, the cheering, all the things they do. It’s a lot of fun.”

The Great Danes entered the game last in the CAA in passing yardage at 148.3 yards per game and Colon hadn’t thrown a touchdown pass in the previous two games.

Coming out of a bye week, Perkovich said UAlbany used the extra time to getits passing game going, and it obviously worked.

It started inauspiciously on the first offensive play when Colon overthrew an open Norman for a possible long touchdown. However, they worked beautifully together after that. 

“We knew (Stony Brook) were going to press a lot and we wanted to take some shots,” Colon said. “So the first play was there, we didn’t connect, but we knew we were going to have at least some good matchups and we just wanted to let (Norman) go make some plays.”

Colon completed 14 of 21 passes for 230 yards. He connected with Norman for scores of 18 yards and 5 yards in the second quarter, and 9 yards in the fourth quarter.

Colon also found Jordan Rae for a 14-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

“Kind of staying consistent with the things we thought were really good,” Perkovich said. “Looking at how they were playing early on and we thought we could get some things.”

Perkovich said UAlbany’s formations utilizing two tight ends were particularly effective.

UAlbany neutralized Stony Brook’s pass rush, which led the nation with 24 sacks. The Seawolves finished with one sack and defensive end Khalid Bueno, first in FCS with 10 ½ sacks, had none on Saturday.

“The offensive line did a great job,” Colon said. “Their pass rush was one of the best in the country, and I thought we did a great job against that today.”

La Mons, who is listed at 5-foot-7 and 186 pounds, ran much bigger. He burst through a would-be tackler for a 1-yard touchdown in the third quarter and rumbled for a 21-yard touchdown to close the scoring. The transfer from Division III Susquehanna had his first 100-yard game as a Great Dane.

“If you watched him in the weight room, you wouldn’t be surprised,” Perkovich said. “He’s pound-for-pound the strongest kid on our football team and that’s when it shows up.”

Stony Brook scored easily on a 75-yard drive on its first possession. After that, UAlbany forced three turnovers, including a pair of interceptions by defensive back Victor Holt, who also made 11 tackles.

“Victor played out of his mind,” Perkovich said.

UAlbany will play at defending CAA champion Rhode Island next Saturday.

“A win like that against that caliber team (Stony Brook) is really good for us,” Perkovich said. “It gives us the confidence I think we need and showed how we can be to ourselves. Now the work’s going to continue. It’s going to get harder and harder.”

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This article originally published at UAlbany football rips Golden Apple Trophy away from Stony Brook.