The Stony Brook football team won its fourth game in a row on Saturday afternoon when it triumphed over the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in a close 27-21 victory.
It was the Seawolves’ second victory in conference play and their fourth victory overall. They have lost only one game so far to the Syracuse University Orange.
However, despite Stony Brook’s eventual victory, it was the Chanticleers who struck first in the game. They scored the first of the two touchdowns in the first quarter when quarterback Aramis Hillary threw a 24-yard pass to wide receiver DeMario Bennett less than three minutes into the game. It was only the second touchdown that the Seawolves have allowed in the first quarter this season. They have outscored their opponents 90-14 in first quarters thus far.
Stony Brook struck back six minutes later when senior quarterback Kyle Essington made a short, 10-yard pass to senior wide receiver Jordan Gush, who ran into the end zone to tie up the game. Essington threw two touchdowns and 181 passing yards for the game.
Coastal Carolina was the first to score in the second quarter as well when running back Jeremy Height ran in its second touchdown with 11:03 left in the half. Three minutes later, the Seawolves then swung the game back to a tie when Essington fired another touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Kevin Norrell. Norrell caught seven passes for 127 yards throughout the game. He accumulated 100 yards in the first half for the second time in as many games.
The score remained tied 14-14 going into halftime.
The Seawolves scored first in the second half roughly six and a half minutes in when senior running back Miguel Maysonet ran for a two-yard score. He set a career-high in rushing yards with 223 yards. He has now run for more than 1,000 yards in three seasons at Stony Brook. The Seawolves ate up nearly half of the third quarter with the drive that produced that touchdown, severely cutting into Coastal Carolina’s playing time.
But the Chanticleers were not to be silenced. They came back to score the game-tying touchdown with a little more than 12 minutes left in the game when Height ran for three yards to score his second touchdown of the game. The score stood at 21-21.
In the end, it was Stony Brook that would come out on top in this close game. Maysonet ran in his second touchdown of the game with 9:37 left in the game.
Coastal Carolina was unable to recover from this. They had a chance to do so very late in the game, but a fumble at Stony Brook’s 16-yard line picked up by senior defensive back Dominick Reyes cost them that opportunity. The Chanticleers did not get another first down for the rest of game, resulting in another Stony Brook victory.
In the aftermath of Saturday’s victory, Newsday said that Stony Brook could break into the Football Championship Subdivision’s (FCS) top 10 in the nation.
Next Saturday, the Seawolves will host Gardner-Webb University at 4 p.m. They are 3-1 against the Runnin’ Bulldogs in their history. Last season, Stony Brook was victorious by a 76-28 margin.
