A main component of The Daily Orange’s sports coverage includes feature stories, profiles, columns and exposés in addition to traditional game recaps. Heading into the spring semester, The Daily Orange Sports Staff selected our favorite stories from the fall.

From bull riding to Tommy DeVito, here’s a list compiled of the 10 best-written D.O. Sports stories from the past semester: 

Corey Henry | Photo Editor

LOOKING UP: Despite reaching CHA’s summit, Paul Flanagan is still building Syracuse ice hockey

The words Syracuse ice hockey and Paul Flanagan have become synonymous. The head coach has been with the team since the program began, even before Syracuse built him an office. 

Last year, after over a decade of coming up just short, Flanagan led the Orange to their first-ever conference title. Now in SU’s next phase, a post-College Hockey America championship era, Flanagan continues to build up the program despite institutional challenges. 

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‘PERFECT STORM’: 35 years ago, a middling Syracuse team upset No. 1 Nebraska. This is their story. 

On Sept. 29, 1984, Syracuse pulled off one of the greatest upsets in college football history, stunning undefeated Nebraska. At the time, SU’s program was on its way down, while Nebraska was just starting to flourish in the Big Ten. But on that September day, it didn’t matter. 

More than three decades after the biggest upset in program history, those involved with the game retell the best stories from the historic victory.

Max Freund | Staff Photographer

Schafer: On senior day, keep those shoulder pads on as long as possible

Every athlete — no matter at what level — has had a “senior day” moment. In other words, a time when someone realizes that they won’t be playing competitive sports for much longer.

Many of Syracuse’s football players had this moment on senior day, and senior staff writer Josh Schafer shared both their stories and his own.

Corey Henry | Photo Editor

STARTING OVER: To save his football career, Trishton Jackson left home for Syracuse 

Two years into his college football career, wide receiver Trishton Jackson came to the realization that Michigan State, his dream school, was not the place for him. He was unsure if he was happy. “I was at a low point,” Jackson said.

But, looking for a new football home, he found out that Syracuse wanted him just as much as he wanted them. And in the 2018 Camping World Bowl, he got his first chance to suit up for the Orange.

Corey Henry | Photo Editor

Meet Bryan Titman: A star of Syracuse’s professional bull riding return 

On Sept. 26, The Oncenter, usually home to the Syracuse Crunch, hosted competitors wearing helmets for a different reason.

One rider, Bryan Titman, was born into a lineage of bull riders, but his family was “nowhere near as good as I am,” he said. But, even for riders as skilled as Titman, staying on a bull for eight seconds is no easy task.

Corey Henry | Photo Editor

After dangerous bout with staph infection, Jacob Vacco is leading Liverpool football 

Jacob Vacco’s separated shoulder near the end of Liverpool High School’s 2018 football season heightened to a point two weeks later when he couldn’t move his body. His back was sore, his legs numb. It was a staph infection, threatening to cut short his athletic career. 

Vacco’s path back to the football field rested on the ensuing months of physical therapy, strength restoring and film review. He was Liverpool head coach Dave Mancuso’s two-way linebacker and fullback, and needed to regain that role by the Warriors’ Sept. 6 opener.

Ali Harford | Senior Staff Designer

4 years since being medically disqualified, AJ Long reflects on self-doubt from football

AJ Long’s accomplishment of the first true-freshman quarterback to win his first career start at Syracuse was an afterthought when he reached his South Campus apartment in October of 2015. He had just been medically disqualified after a third concussion in less than two years, and needed to figure out his next step.

Long jumped from Wagner to Division II West Chester in search of a second chance. After his playing career ended with 23 touchdowns his senior year at West Chester, Long turned to his next passion: coaching. It’s his way of giving back to kids and making sure they never go through the anxiety and depression that he did.

Corey Henry | Photo Editor

GROWING UP: At Syracuse, Elemy Colome has a final chance to prove her maturity

When Elemy Colomé – Rhode Island’s leading scorer – decided to spend her graduate transfer year at Syracuse, she called her former head coach and apologized for being immature, aloof and uncommitted. Those traits were the only thing holding her back. She vowed to change, to finally focus on fully displaying her skills.

One of three graduate transfers on Syracuse’s roster, Colome is still trying to prove that she’s matured and ready to contribute. The guard’s journey from James Madison to URI to SU is a tale of the limits of talent when hard work might lack in comparison.

Gavin Liddell | Staff Photographer

Black: Tommy DeVito should be respected despite losing season

After the first three weeks, which included blowout losses to No. 1 Clemson and Maryland, some Syracuse fans were already giving up on starting quarterback Tommy DeVito. But as the season wore on, DeVito impressed as Syracuse floundered, throwing 16 touchdowns to one interception in SU’s final eight games. 

Senior staff writer Eric Black contextualized DeVito’s progression in a late-season column, comparing the first-year starter to recently-graduated Syracuse legend Eric Dungey.

Elizabeth Billman | Asst. Photo Editor

Nicky Adams brings new philosophy, mentality to struggling program

After 13 consecutive losses to end its 2018 season and the resigning of its head coach, Syracuse women’s soccer needed both a new leader and philosophical overhaul. Nicky Adams, the head coach at Rice since its program began, was hired in March to take on that role. The El Paso, Texas native, who skipped her senior year of high school to enroll early at Texas A&M, brought decades of soccer experience to the Orange, including an upbringing with the game that was “more about heart and passion than tactics.”

She’s encouraged creativity in the final third and strives to attack as opposed to sitting back, which resulted in two consecutive wins to open the season. And with program-wide culture changes already implemented, Adams looks to grow that number quickly.

Published on December 23, 2019 at 9:07 am