After keeping it close for the entirety of the game, Stony Brook Football’s chances of going to overtime with No. 3 James Madison hinged on a 51-yard field goal attempt by senior kicker Alex Lucansky.
The Seawolves fell short. And with that, their collective hearts broke as they lost 13-10 on Saturday, Oct. 27 at Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
“One play does not define a game,” head coach Chuck Priore said in a press conference. “In the first quarter we had several neglected opportunities to get up and we did not. I’m obviously proud of our team to be able to come back in the fourth quarter in a away game, crowd noise and everything against you.”
The potent Stony Brook rushing attack led by senior running backs Donald Liotine and Jordan Gowins was held to 113 yards on 34 carries. Senior quarterback Joe Carbone was 19-of-37 for 192 yards and two interceptions.
The Dukes cracked the scoring column first toward the end of the first quarter when redshirt-junior quarterback Ben DiNucci found redshirt-freshman wide receiver Kyndel Dean for a 15-yard touchdown to put them up 7-0. The Seawolves tied the game up with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter on a 30-yard touchdown run by Liotine.
A 37-yard field goal by Lucansky at the end of the second quarter made it 10-7 in favor of the Seawolves heading into halftime. The score remained that way until Dukes senior kicker Tyler Gray made a 41-yard field goal at the beginning of the fourth quarter to tie the score at 10. He added another field goal from 24 yards out a little later in the quarter to give James Madison a 13-10 lead.
The Seawolves made a valiant effort to drive down the field and ended up putting themselves in a position to tie the game on the last play of the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, Lucansky’s kick came up short, handing them their third loss of the season.
The Seawolves will have a bye next week, returning to action on Saturday, Nov. 10 against Delaware, who just defeated Towson 40-36 Saturday. The game will be at 1 p.m. at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.
