Stony Brook Football found itself in the same situation with Towson as it was in last week with Villanova, with a 21-0 deficit to start the game.
The stage was set for the Seawolves to mount another big comeback and steal the victory. Unfortunately, they could not deliver the same result.
The No. 13 Seawolves attempted to rally in the first half to no avail as the No. 23 Tigers thwarted their efforts and won 52-28 on Saturday, Oct. 6 at Johnny Unitas Stadium.
“First of all, congratulations to Towson for playing an outstanding game,” Stony Brook head coach Chuck Priore said in a press conference. “We turned the ball over a few too many times coming out in the second half and if we didn’t do that then maybe it would have been a closer game.”
An underlying reason that the Seawolves saw their four-game win streak snap was the Tigers’ stingy defense shutting down the running game. The prolific attack led predominantly by senior running backs Jordan Gowins and Donald Liotine finished with just 104 total rushing yards for the game.
Towson struck right away in the first quarter as redshirt-junior running back Shane Simpson returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, to give them a 7-0 lead.
With a little over 10 minutes left in the first, Simpson scored another touchdown, this time an eight-yard run, to increase the Tigers’ lead to 14. To close out a dominant quarter, redshirt-junior quarterback Tom Flacco threw a 12-yardtouchdown pass to redshirt-sophomore tight end Chris Clark to make it a 21-0 game.
Stony Brook finally got on the board at the beginning of the second quarter when senior quarterback Joe Carbone found graduate wide receiver Marshall Ellick for a 53-yard touchdown to cut the Tigers’ lead to 21-7.
The Seawolves scored on the opening play of their next drive, a 25-yard touchdown pass from Carbone to Liotine to cut the deficit to just seven. The Tigers then responded with a 24-yard touchdown pass from Flacco to Clark to push their lead back up to 14.
Just before the first half ended, Flacco found redshirt-junior wide receiver Brent Richardson for a 30-yard touchdown to give Towson a 35-14 lead heading into halftime.
The Tigers pushed it to a 38-14 game in the beginning of the third quarter on a 31-yard field goal by junior kicker Aidan O’Neill. A 10-yard run by junior running back Yeedee Thaenrat made it 45-14.
Gowins later scored from a yard out for the Seawolves, cutting the deficit to 45-21 after three quarters. Flacco found sophomore wide receiver Jabari Allen for a six-yard touchdown at the beginning of the fourth quarter to give the Tigers a 52-21 advantage.
Ellick scored his second touchdown of the game on a two-yard pass from redshirt-sophomore quarterback Tyquell Fields to make it 52-28.
The Seawolves’ record now falls to 4-2 with five games left in their schedule. The team will be on the road again next week for a conference matchup against New Hampshire at Wildcat Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 3:30 p.m.
