The Sports Network - sportsnetwork.com - supplies a wealth of information on a variety of sports, which includes one of the most extensive and widely-read websites dedicated to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Earlier this week, FCS Executive Director Craig Haley spoke with Seahawk head coach Walt Hameline and senior quarterback Nick Doscher about the team's mindset and emotions last week as the Green & White prepared, in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, for their eventual 30-0 triumph at No. 18 Albany. 

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By Craig Haley, FCS Executive Director

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - It took someone else to say what Nick Doscher was thinking for the significance to hit him. 

And teammate Dominique Williams provided the words during a pregame speech in the Wagner locker room last Saturday, that the Seahawks were about to play a game for something bigger than themselves. 

Just five days after the Seahawks' Staten Island, N.Y., community felt the fury of Superstorm Sandy, and the Seahawks were among the more than seven million along the East Coast left in the cold and dark, they played their best game of the season and took first place in the Northeast Conference with a 30-0 victory at Albany.

In Williams' words, Wagner was playing for its school, but also its island, New York City, neighboring New Jersey and so many people facing an uphill climb in their recovery. Twenty-three people on Staten Island alone died as a result of Sandy, although none in the immediate Wagner family. 

A week after Sandy roared ashore, the Seahawks were still living through the recovery. On Monday, a large group of student-athletes, including football players, went to a beach community on Staten Island to load and unload trucks with supplies and go door to door to help people with their needs. 

Sobering, yet inspiring. 

The storm has thrown perspective on a Wagner season in which the Seahawks have overcome three straight season-opening losses to win six straight games. They host Holy Cross in a non-conference game on Saturday and then can claim the NEC's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs with a win over Duquesne on Nov. 17. 

"It kind of takes a backseat to (Sandy) to make sure everyone is OK," Doscher said. "But at the same time, I think football helped everyone out, that for that two hours we're on the field practicing you can get you mind off what's going on in the real world and just enjoy being out there with your friends and playing the game that you love to play." 

Doscher is Wagner's four-year starting quarterback, but also a 25-year-old elder statesman among the players. He's a local product from Staten Island who played in the Kansas City Royals' farm system for four years out of high school and didn't join the Seahawks program until 2009, when he began his career by earning All-NEC first-team honors. 

After Sandy hit last Monday, Doscher went back and forth between his home and the basically quiet, desolate Wagner campus, where the team regathered to work through the initial days of the storm's aftermath. 

Classes were canceled last week after the campus had been evacuated prior to Sandy. A small amount of students who don't live in the region were allowed to remain and they were without electricity and hot water for nearly five days. Trees and power lines were downed in the campus area, but nothing like the damage along Staten Island's coastal areas. 

"The most important thing," said veteran coach Walt Hameline, "was, 'Hey, how are your families, is everybody OK at home?' Once everybody's OK at home, you've got to feel for all the other people and what's going on with them. Hey, we have a situation here of no hot water and no lights, (it's) not a big deal. We have to adapt a little bit." 

The Seahawks did just that. 

They scrambled to organize practices, which resumed Wednesday, and made the best out of the situation. Some players didn't make it back for the Albany game, although all the starters returned in time. 

"Obviously at first it was a lot of chaos just trying to get in touch with people, make sure everyone was OK," Doscher said. "Obviously, everybody had to deal with their own issues because I'm pretty sure everybody was affected by the storm. 

"When we were able to practice on Wednesday, we didn't have scout teams basically. We had receivers who if we weren't using them on offense, they would have to go over to scout defense. It reminded me of high school, but that's what we had to do, we had no other choice." 

On Saturday, the Seahawks channeled a week's worth of emotion into the stunning shutout. They didn't commit a turnover for the sixth straight game, Doscher passed for 253 yards and two touchdowns, including an 88-yarder to Anthony Carrington, Williams rushed for over 100 yards for the 18th time in his career and the defense, fueled by sophomore cornerback Jarrett Dieudonne's versatile play, limited Albany to 188 yards. 

"We could have just went through the motions out there and got it taken to us because Albany's a great football program. No one probably would have said a word because of what we had to deal with," Doscher said. "We came together. I think that was our only option. I think everyone understood that." 

And Dom Williams said it.