An emotional rollercoaster of a year has finally come to a close for the Stony Brook football team. The Seawolves used a complete effort to end their season with a 36-14 blowout of their hated rival Albany Great Danes, propelled by dominant rushing and multiple big plays.
Stony Brook came together by the end of the season to finish 4-1 after beginning 1-5, also ending at .500 in conference play. Coming off a 19-point blowout loss to a ranked Villanova team that saw some horrid statlines, the Seawolves put up numerous eye-popping stats that will blow even the casual fan’s mind.
First of all, three Stony Brook running backs managed to combine for a whopping 321 rushing yards. It was a big day for redshirt junior Ty Son Lawton, who broke the 1,000-yard benchmark on the season with 134 yards on 25 carries against Albany. Lawton ended with 1,088 yards in 2021, the eighth-highest single-season total in the program’s Division I history.
Lawton stands at 2,004 career rushing yards, eighth all-time in Stony Brook Division I history.
Amazingly, Lawton did not even lead the team in rushing. Redshirt freshman running back Roland Dempster gained 160 yards on 19 touches for a mind-blowing 8.4 yards per carry. His biggest play was a 53-yard scamper in the fourth quarter, which outdid Lawton’s 44-yard run on the first snap from scrimmage for the Seawolves’ biggest ground play on Saturday.
Graduate quarterback Tyquell Fields, whose mobility and speed make him a big threat to take on at any time, did not even run once in the game. Instead, redshirt freshman running back Jayden Cook gained 27 yards on only four carries, averaging out to 6.8 yards per carry. As a unit, Stony Brook averaged 6.7 yards per carry and Lawton punched in the team’s only rushing touchdown.
Credit the offensive line for this performance as well as the running backs, because the push up front was so good from Stony Brook that the Seawolves only had five negative running plays, all of which were from Lawton. However, those plays only lost them 12 total yards, which Lawton more than made up for.
Stony Brook’s defense was stingy as they have been all second half of this season, holding the Great Danes to 65 rushing yards and 3.0 yards per carry even with Albany boasting a dangerous running back in senior Karl Mofor.
How’d the rest of the defense do? Well, the pass defense surrendered only 174 passing yards on 25 pass attempts and allowed no passing touchdowns. They did not get much from the pass rush, with their lone sack being shared by two players: graduate defensive back Carthell Flowers-Lloyd and redshirt senior linebacker Reidgee Dimanche.
Flowers-Lloyd’s blitz on redshirt sophomore quarterback Jeff Undercuffler in the second quarter forced an intentional grounding penalty in the endzone that resulted in a two-point safety for Stony Brook. The defense also forced two fumbles, one of which was recovered by senior defensive back Akeal Lalaind.
Overall, Stony Brook dominated the statsheet, outgaining Albany 470-239. The Seawolves had the ball for about 12 more minutes than Albany as well. Situationally, Stony Brook’s defense held the Danes to a combined 4-for-10 on third and fourth down, while Stony Brook themselves were a combined 5-for-12. Both teams scored touchdowns on all of their red zone possessions, as the Seawolves were 3-for-3 and the Great Danes were 2-for-2. Stony Brook picked up ten more first downs than Albany, completely wiping them out in that category 23-13. The Seawolves averaged 7.5 yards per play.
In his final game as a Seawolf, Fields had a very solid game. He dissected the defense and made some big throws. Fields completed 10 of his 15 passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns. He played a clean game with no interceptions or lost fumbles and did not take a sack either as the offensive line had a total field day with Albany’s front seven.
Fields ends his Stony Brook career with 4,846 passing yards, third-most among all Seawolves Division I quarterbacks.
The victory made Stony Brook a winning team at LaValle Stadium this year with a 3-2 home record. After a stunning blowout loss to Fordham in late September, the Seawolves had a seven-game losing streak at LaValle Stadium dating back to 2019. They wound up winning out at home afterwards.
Stony Brook’s 22-point margin of victory was the largest in the rivalry since Albany won 40-7 in 2003.
There will be many questions regarding the future as the team prepares for the 2022 season, but for now, all we can do is hold onto this victory and wait and see.
