Stearney’s Unforgettable Season

The football team was in town for a crucial conference game at Georgetown. With the team breakfast still more than an hour away, first-year quarterback Jake Stearney '27 and Fred '50 and Marilyn Dunlap Head Football Coach Stan Dakosty were out the door by 7 a.m. to make an important stop.

Their destination was Arlington National Cemetery, where Stearney’s uncle, Vice Admiral Scott Stearney, is buried.

Scott Stearney was the head of naval operations in the Middle East before his death on Dec. 1, 2018. Jake Stearney, whose family hails from Chicago, said his uncle was a huge figure in his life.

“Throughout my life, I admired him a lot,” he said. “The leadership aspects that he taught me and the loving person he was — he meant a lot to me.”

It had been a few years since Stearney visited his uncle’s grave. In the days leading up to the Georgetown game, he asked the team’s director of football operations, Abbey Paduano, if there would be time for him to stop by the cemetery during the trip. 

She assured him they’d find a way to make it happen. A day before the game, she told him Dakosty would bring him to Arlington in the morning. 

As they drove to the cemetery, Dakosty and Stearney talked about life, continuing a personal conversation that began when they sat next to each other on the bus to Maryland. It was a connection that the young quarterback said he appreciated.

When they arrived at the cemetery, it didn’t take long for Stearney to find his uncle’s grave. It was there that he took a few moments to reflect on his uncle’s life and the experiences they shared. 

It was an emotional visit for Stearney, and one that he was grateful to experience. 

“I know Coach Dakosty has a lot on his plate,” he said. “For him to go out of his way to do something like that for me on a big game day really meant a lot to me and my family. 

“It shows you what kind of person he is and what kind of team he coaches for. That’s a big representation of the future that he has built here.”

Dakosty said that when he learned Stearney wanted to visit Arlington, it was an easy decision to accompany him.

“I knew it would be important for Jake, but also his family at home,” he said. “That trip was obviously all about Jake, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't have an impact on me.

“Driving into Arlington Cemetery is an experience, even as just a tourist, so to see an actual connection between someone from our program with one of his heroes buried there was a powerful thing,” he said. “We all felt fortunate we were able to make it happen for Jake.”

It was a special day for Stearney. Yet the day had only started for the first-year quarterback.

HIS BIG BREAK

The Raiders stepped onto the field for a Patriot League battle, hungry for a win. After starting the season 0-4, Colgate bounced back with two consecutive victories. A win over Georgetown would bring the team within arm’s reach of .500.

Colgate got off to a fast start, taking a 21-12 lead with minutes to go in the second quarter. Then, a potential disaster struck when Zach Osborne, the game’s starting quarterback for the Raiders, went down with an injury.

The team was already without starter Michael Brescia, who was also hurt. That left Dakosty with one choice. 

Stearney, a third-string rookie who had yet to play a single game as a Raider, was summoned. 

“As soon as [Osborne] went down, the coach was on the headset. He said, ‘It’s your time. Go get warmed up,’” Stearney said. 

Stearney didn’t have time for jitters. As an intense competitor, he was yearning for the moment. He knew what had to be done, and he was confident he could succeed. 

“From then on, I knew I’d have to lock in and perform to the best of my abilities. I knew I could do it. That’s what I worked all week for,” he said.

“I was really excited to go in. It was my first time playing since high school.”

Stearney connected on a few passes that brought Colgate to the Georgetown 3. Then, running back Jaedon Henry ’24 powered into the end zone, giving the Raiders a 28-12 lead at halftime. 

Leading Colgate to score on his first drive was an incredible moment for Stearney, and Colgate would come away with a huge 28-18 win.

“We went down and scored on my first drive in the game, which was pretty cool,” Stearney said. “It was nice to get a win at the end of the day.”

Dakosty said that during their trip to the cemetery, he and Stearney talked about a lot of things, but him starting for the team was not among them. 

When he saw Stearney lead the team to score just a few hours later, he was elated for the first-year, knowing it had to be a remarkable moment for him.

“Up to then, he was a first-year QB, who was developing and working hard, and was doing a great job at that,” he said. “So when he went in at the end of the first-half that day, and led us down on a scoring drive, I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't thinking about the magnitude of that day for him on a lot of levels.”

The victory capped off an unforgettable day for Stearney, who would go on to have a season that’s seldom seen for a first-year quarterback who began as the team’s third option. 

LEADING THE RAIDERS TO VICTORY

The following week, Colgate was back home to face Bucknell. Brescia returned from his injury, and played the majority of the game. But Stearney still got the opportunity to play.

While the Raiders would lose to a tough Bison team, Stearney made the best of his opportunity, leading the Raiders on a 12-play, 61-yard drive. He connected on seven of nine passes for 51 yards, ending the drive with a 6-yard touchdown to senior Nick Wamp. 

It was another memorable moment for Stearney. Not only did he throw his first touchdown, he got to witness Wamp, a senior, catch his first career pass in the end zone. 

“It was exciting to share that moment with him,” Stearney said.

Stearney, however, was not done making an impact with the team. A week later, the Raiders were on the road as heavy underdogs at No. 16 Lafayette.

But it did not matter. Colgate pulled off its biggest win of the season, a 37-34 overtime thriller that required the maroon-and-white to erase a 17-point deficit and push the game into overtime. 

Brescia started the game before he was injured late in the second quarter. Stearney took over coming out of halftime and led the Colgate comeback, throwing three touchdowns and stunning the Leopards, who were handed only their second loss of the season and first conference defeat.

Stearney wasn’t fazed stepping into the big moment in a hostile environment. The performance earned him the Patriot League Rookie of the Week. 

A week later, Stearney made his first career start.

It was a home game, and on the schedule was a showdown with a major rival in Lehigh. Colgate came away the winner, taking down the Mountain Hawks 37-21.

Stearney fired off three touchdowns and set a Colgate first-year passing record with 360 yards. 

He would help the Raiders add one more win the following week in their final regular season game. It was a 21-14 victory over Fordham, giving Colgate a 6-5 record. 

What began as a tough season ended with lots of smiles and reasons to be optimistic about the future.

“To finally get a winning record for the first time in five years for Colgate is a special moment,” Stearney said. “It’s definitely something to build upon going into next year.

“Not hanging our heads, winning six out of our last seven games to end with that record is pretty impressive and it shows you that we don’t have any individuals on the team. The team aspect was there.”

The Raiders had a strong second half thanks to a number of student-athletes rising to the occasion, with Stearney having a huge role.

“What he did the remainder of the day was a big reason why we finished so strong, but along with Jake, we had a lot of guys step up this year from seniors down to freshmen,” Dakosty said. “Everyone who was given an opportunity to come in and make plays was able to do that in some form or fashion, which helped us finish off 6-1 over the last portion of the year, and Jake is a great example of that.”

A LEARNING EXPERIENCE 

It was a season in which Stearney learned a lot, and he often had to learn quickly. But fortunately for him, he had plenty of help.

As injuries to quarterbacks bedeviled the team, Brescia did everything he could to prepare Osborne and Stearney for the next opponent. They took time to assess each play and figure out how they could do it better.

Those lessons were a big part of Stearney’s development.

“Brescia did a great job of kind of taking the coaching role and making sure Zach and I were well prepared,” Stearney said. “It’s kind of cool to see how a collective group of quarterbacks in the same room all care about each other and the team and prepare each other for the game.

“A big thanks to them as well as the coaches for trusting in me and not holding back. The playmakers doing their thing and the guys up front and the defense — they were all huge.”

Stearney graduated from Loyola Academy in the north side of Chicago. As college teams reached out to him, one factor that sold him on Colgate was the relationship with the coaches along with the University’s academic programs. 

“They are so personable,” he said. “They tell you how it is. They will be straight with you. If you want to come to a place that will take care of you, with real people, this is the place to be.”

There’s also the history between his high school and the University. Students from his high school who have attended Colgate in recent years had great things to say about the University’s academic offerings.

Colgate also offered another intriguing possibility — a chance at something different. Football players from private schools in northern Chicago typically go on to places like Indiana, Marquette, and Iowa, Stearney said.

He didn’t want to follow that route.

“You go there and you see 50 kids you know,” Stearney said. “Going to school here, you get to meet new friends.”

And indeed he’s made plenty of friends. But he also reconnected with a former high school teammate in running back Marco Maldonado ’26.

Stearney is wrapping up his first semester as a college student. The experience has been as rigorous as he expected. While he has plenty of time to declare a major, he’s leaning toward a double major in political science and Japanese. 

He’s also ready for another season of football with a team that has become his family.

“We have a very bright future as a team. A lot of young guys are coming back, and they are making a big impact,” he said. “The coaches are doing a great job of welding it all together.”