Bryant Football Looks to Get Over "Hump" in 2016
Joe Calabro, GoLocalProv Sports Team
Bryant Football Looks to Get Over "Hump" in 2016
Bryant has had success over the last two seasons, including an 8-3 record in 2014, but have not been able to get over the hump and win the NEC title.
"Last year we came up a bit short. We made mistakes at critical times, took penalties, turned the ball over. I mean we lost 4 games where we were ahead in the 4th quarter, win those games and things would look different," said Bryant football coach Marty Fine.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThis season, the Bulldogs return starting quarterback Dalton Easton, wide receiver Taylor Barthelette and the majority last year's defense that gave up 22 points per game last season.
"We think that athletically we are good enough to win this division, we just have to play better. I think our defense is good enough to keep us in the games. Our offense can't turn the ball over, can't give opponents a short field. And when we get the short field, we have to take advantage of it," said Fine, who is ready to begin his 13th season at Bryant.
Offense
Last season, the Bryant offense averaged 389 yards and 27 points per game coming from the arm of quarterback Dalton Easton and the legs of Ricardo McCray.
While Dalton Easton, now in his senior year, is still under center, the offense around him will have a new look.
Bryant's wide receiving core will be led by senior Taylor Barthelette who is coming off a career year in 2015. Barthelette caught 32 passes for 465 yards and three touchdown for Bryant last season while being effective on both deep passes and in the middle of the field.
The rest of the Bulldogs receiving core includes senior Keenan Thompson who only caught one pass last season due to injuries and Portsmouth's Matt Sewall.
Out of the backfield, senior Ryan Black will lead the charge for the Bulldogs. Last season behind Ricardo McCray, Black appeared in 11 games and had 37 carries for 99 yards.
Black will also get help from Sophomore Brenden Famiano and Christian Martey.
"It is going to be an adjustment, last year we had Ricardo McCray who was the best in the conference, this year it is going to be a bit of a three headed monster with Black getting the start," Fine said.
Defense
Bryant's defense gave up 22 points per game last season and will be highlighted this season by a veteran group of defensive backs.
The group is led by senior captains Charles Wingate and Brandon Owens.
Wingate was a second team All-NEC selection last year after finishing with 2 fumble recoveries, 38 tackles, a forced fumble and an interception return for a touchdown.
Owens battled injuries all of last season, making just 7 tackles but is poised to be a starting safety.
Senior safety Charles Keenan and senior corner back Raamah Vaugh will also make up the Bryant secondary.
Up front, Bryant welcomes the return of redshirt sophomore Dillon Guthro. Guthro was injured in the first game of last season.
Joining Guthro up front will be seniors Andrew Barton, Alex Madoian and Rahim Shillingford as well as sophomores Kevin Lazo, Anthony DiMatteo and Kodi Ojukwu. Marquise Watson could also see time up front.
Speaking of Watson, he and Patrick Kenney will lead the Bryant linebacker corps. Combined, they have missed only one game over the last three seasons.
Watson have 203 and 198 tackles in their careers with Watson racking up 71 last season.
Season Opener
The Bulldogs will open their season at home by hosting Merrimack on Saturday at 3 p.m.
"Every first game has its challenges and the challenge is the unknown. We don't know what to expect from them, there is no preseason games, no tape, It's not like the NFL," Fine said about the first game.
After that, Bryant hits the road to play Montana before returning home for back to back home games against Brown and then Central Connecticut on the 17 and 24th of September respectively.
The Bulldogs will only play two home games the rest of the season after that.
RI Teams To Win National Championships
PC Basketball 1960-61 NIT
The Providence College Friars won the National Invitation Tournament(NIT) in 1961, defeating St. Louis 62-59 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
At this time, the NIT was considered to be the National Championship of College Basketball.
The Friars were led by Vinny Ernst and James Hadnot that season.
PC 1962-63 NIT Champions
The Friars won their second NIT Championship two years after the first one. Led by Ray Flynn, John Thompson Jr. and Vinnie Ernst, the Friars won 15 straight games to claim the title.
Providence finished the season with a 24-4 record.
URI Men's Sailing 1965
The URI Rams won their first small boat National Championship in 1965.
The Rams were led by Art Payne and Peter Greene, both of whom were from Rhode Island.
Photo courtesy of urisailing.org
URI Men's Sailing 1975
The URI Rams won their second small boat National Championship and also won the National team race that season.
Photo courtesy of urisailing.org
URI Men's Sailing 1977
The URI men's sailing team won the National Championship in small boat sailing in 1977.
The team was led by two time all Americans Gary Knapp and Ed Adams.
Photo Courtesy of urisailing.org
Brown Men's Crew '93
The Brown Bears won the triple-crown, winning the Eastern Sprints, the IRA and the National Championship.
Brown Men's Crew '94
The Bears repeated their triple-crown performance from the season before, once again winning the Eastern Sprints, the IRA and the National Championship.
The Bears went undefeated on the season.
Photo Courtesy of brownbears.com
Brown Men's Crew '95
Coach Scott Roop leads the Bears to a third straight IRA and National Championship.
Photo courtesy of Brownbears.com
PC Women's Cross Country
The 1995 Providence Friars won the programs first NCAA title. On the way, PC won their first BIG EAST and ECAC Championships.
Head Coach Ray Treacy was named NCAA Division I Women's National Coach of the Year, BIG EAST Men's and Women's Coach of the Year, Rhode Island Words Unlimited Women's Coach of the Year and NCAA District I Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Brown Women's Crew '96
Under head coach John Murphy, the Brown women's crew team won the 1996 eastern Sprints, the IRA's and the Collegiate National Championship.
The team became the first women's crew to win the "Triple Crown" of collegiate racing.
Photo courtesy of Brownbears.com
Brown Women's Crew '97
Brown's varsity four team wins the first NCAA Championship by defeating the University of Washington on Lake Natoma in California.
The Bears finished third as a team overall.
Brown Women's Sailing '98
The Brown Women's Sailing Team won the College Sailing Women's National Championship in 1998.
The championships were held at Tulane University in New Orleans Louisiana.
Brown Women's Crew '99
Brown women's crew won the first NCAA Division I Championship in Brown University History by defeating the University of Virginia by a three-second margin at lake Natoma in California.
Brown also won the Eastern Sprint Championship and the Ivy Championship, setting a new course record in the process.
Photo courtesy of Brownbears.com
Brown Women's Crew 2000
Brown repeated as national Champions in 2000, beating the University of Washington by 3.9 seconds four points.
In addition, Brown's varsity and second varsity won the Eastern Sprint Championship and the IVY league Championship.
Both teams went undefeated on the season.
Brown Women's Crew '02
The Bears won their third National title in four years defeating the defending champion Washington by four points in Indianapolis.
Brown was the only school to qualify all of it's crew for the grand finals.
The Bears went undefeated during the regular season.
Brown Women's Crew '04
Brown won thier fourth title in six years on Lake Natoma in California.
The win made Brown the winningest program in NCAA Championship history.
Brown Women's Crew '07
Brown won their fifth National Championship in 2007 at Melton Hill Lake in Tennessee.
The Bears beat Ohio State and Yale who came in second and third place respectively.
Photo courtesy of taxref/flickr
Brown Women's Crew '08
The Bears won their sixth National Championship on Lake Natoma in California.
The Bears beat Washington by eight points and third place Cal by 14 points to repeat as champions for the first time since 1999-2000.
URI Women's Sailing 2011
The URI Women won the programs first National Championship in small boat sailing in the 79 year history of the program and hoisted the Gerald C. Miller Memorial Trophy at the Sperry Top-Sider/Intercollegiate Sailing Association Women’s National Championship.
The Rams won the title as a club team and were one of two club teams competing for the title. The other club team was Western Washington, who finished 17.
Photo courtesy of uri.edu
Brown Women's Crew 2011
The Bears won their seventh NCAA National Championship in 15 years under head coach John Murphy.
The Bears racked up 45 points in the final race and beat Stanford by five seconds.
The title was their first since 2008.
Photo courtesy of brownbears.com
PC Women's Cross Country
The Providence College Women's Cross Country team won the 2013 National Championship with 141 points.
Emily Sisson was the Friars top finisher as she finished in seventh place at Wabash Valley Family Sports Center.
This was Providence's first title win since 1995.
PC Hockey 2015
The Providence College Friars won the 2015 NCAA Ice Hockey National Championship, defeating Boston University 4-3 at the TD Garden.
The Championship is the first in the program's history and only the third NCAA National Title in Providence College History.
PC goatender Jon Gillies was named Most Outstanding Player.
