With four losses on the season, the Seawolves could not afford to drop another football game and still make the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

Such postseason chances grew bleaker and bleaker as Saturday afternoon’s game against Maine progressed.

In the third quarter, the Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium scoreboard showed a lopsided 27-0 score in the Black Bears’ favor, and to that point, sophomore quarterback Pat Irwin — who was making his first career start — and the Seawolves offense had not done anything to hint at optimism.

Despite long odds, a large deficit and a rapidly-depleting student section, Stony Brook amassed a valiant comeback — though not quite heroic — ultimately falling short on a late turnover, losing to Maine 27-21.

The tide turned in the Seawolves’ favor with about 21 minutes remaining in the game.

With star running back Stacey Bedell struggling, having totaled just 20 yards, Stony Brook inserted junior running back Donald Liotine for late-game pass protection and he made an immediate impact.

The stout back carried the ball 35 yards on his first touch, setting up his own touchdown three plays later with 4:03 remaining in the third quarter. The score pulled Stony Brook to 27-7.

Then the defense — who, too, had not done much in the game to warrant optimism — stepped up.

Junior defensive back Travon Reid-Segure jumped the route of the receiver with whom he was matched, intercepting a pass and prancing into the end zone. The score was whittled down to a more manageable margin — Maine 27, Stony Brook 14 — with still more than a quarter to play in the contest.

“We felt like we had to get a turnover at some point,” Reid-Segure said. “It definitely felt like a momentum shift. You could see the change. Players, fans, everything just seemed a lot more exciting.”

Early in the fourth quarter, Maine appeared to put the game out of reach once again. Senior quarterback Dan Collins found freshman running back Josh Mack on a wheel route pass around the right end. Mack ran the ball 29 yards for a touchdown, only for the play to be nullified for offensive pass interference, an illegal pick play, giving Stony Brook life once again.

The Seawolves took full advantage, as Liotine broke through the line of scrimmage and past the defensive secondary for a 50-yard scamper into the end zone. With 11:03 left in the game, Stony Brook, in what seemed like an instant, had cut the score to 27-21.

While the Stony Brook defense gave the offense a chance, forcing three straight Maine scoreless possessions, Irwin was unable to orchestrate a game-winning drive. The quarterback — starting in the place of sophomore Joe Carbone, who did not dress for the game due to a shoulder injury — completed only one of seven passes in the fourth quarter, culminating in an interception in the Seawolves’ final offensive play of the game.

“It was definitely an experience I’ll never forget, starting my first game,” Irwin said. “But I wish we came out on top today.”

Irwin made some strong throws in his debut. In the first quarter, he found junior fullback Anthony Anderson in the flat on a bootleg pass play. Later on, he threaded a pair of balls to junior wide receiver Ray Bolden on out patterns.

But the deficit proved too much for a first-time starter to overcome.

Maine built such a lead on the shoulders of Mack, who, aptly surnamed, trucked through the Stony Brook defense for 147 yards on 39 carries. The freshman exposed the interior of the Seawolves’ 4-3 scheme, as the Black Bears repeatedly ran inside zone rushes for solid gains.

“I’ll look at the tape,” head coach Chuck Priore said, bluntly.

With playoff hopes eliminated, Stony Brook will focus its efforts on one final game, a rivalry matchup with Albany next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Bob Ford Field.

Last year, the Seawolves beat the Great Danes 20-2 to win the inaugural Golden Apple, a trophy conceived to be awarded to the victor of the annual season-ending rivalry game.

“It’s a disappointment [not making the playoffs],” Liotine said. “But we just have to keep going. I want that Golden Apple to stay here.”