Skyhawks

Eli Gardner now calls the plays for Stonehill from the sideline. Before him, Robert Talley ran the Skyhawks from 2007 to 2015.

That name change came in 2005, the same year the team left Chieftain Stadium behind for a new ground on Timothy J. Coughlin Memorial Field. Football at Stonehill dates back to 1988, a late addition to a college founded decades earlier, and for years it built its case in NCAA Division III, winning the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference in 1989, 1991 and 1995. A move up to Division II brought a Northeast-10 Conference title in 2013. One rivalry defined a decade of frustration: Stonehill lost fifteen straight games to Southern Connecticut State before finally breaking the streak in 2012.

Two receivers carried the Skyhawks name beyond college football. Andrew Jamiel went on to play in the Arena Football League with the Orlando Guardians, while Nathaniel Robitaille took his game to Rhein Fire in NFL Europe.

The program has since climbed again, moving to Division I FCS and the Northeast Conference in 2022. None of that changes what greets a visiting team on a Saturday in Easton: a purple-and-white sideline, 2,400 seats, and a stadium.