It was a tale of two halves for Stony Brook Football in its first-round FCS playoff game against Southeast Missouri State on Saturday, Nov. 24. The first half saw Stony Brook play flawless football en route to a 14-0 lead. However, three turnovers in the third quarter coupled with losing senior starting quarterback Joe Carbone to injury crippled their momentum and resulted in a 28-14 loss at Houck Field in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
“I want to congratulate Southeast Missouri on the win,” head coach Chuck Priore said in a press conference. “They came out in the second half and caused some turnovers, which they have done all year, and capitalized on it. At the end of the day it was about a 10-minute flurry that changed the game. Credit to them and credit to their kids and credit to their coaching staff. I wish them the best moving forward.”
The Seawolves broke the scoring column first when senior running back Donald Liotine punched it in from two yards out midway through the second quarter to give them a 7-0 lead. The lead was extended to 14-0 right before halftime when Carbone found redshirt-senior wide receiver Julius Wingate for a 36-yard touchdown.
The second half was solely controlled by the Redhawks. All of their scoring damage came in the third quarter. They cut the Seawolves lead in half at the beginning of the third when junior quarterback Daniel Santacaterina ran it in from 16 yards out. They tied the game at 14 with 10 minutes left in the third when Santacaterina found junior wide receiver Kristian Wilkerson for a five-yard touchdown.
The Redhawks’ first lead came with a little under eight minutes left in the third when Santacaterina hit junior wide receiver Jerrick Orr for a nine-yard touchdown to make it 21-14. Santacaterina and Wilkerson hooked up for a second time with a little under four minutes left in the third quarter, this time from 38 yards out, for the final score of the game for either team.
Stony Brook led the game in the stat-box, especially in the offensive category. The Seawolves accounted for 285 yards in the air compared to the Redhawks’ 136 yards and had 15 more rushing yards than their opponent.
After advancing to the second round of the playoffs last year, Stony Brook came up short this time around. They finish the season with a record of 7-5. The team also graduates 15 seniors this year.
