Stony Brook football's defense gives offense a chance to spring in second half to beat Albany

It wasn’t the beautiful display of offensive fireworks the Stony Brook football team has shown in each of the previous three weeks.

But perhaps the No. 17/No. 18 Seawolves needed to get an ugly win under their belt.

Despite being outgained and losing the time of possession battle, Stony Brook forced four timely takeaways in a 24-6 win over Albany in the annual Battle for the Golden Apple on Saturday afternoon at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.

Tyson McCloud’s interception with 6:35 left sealed the win.

“Our defense today was unbelievable with how hard they played,” coach Billy Cosh said. “We talk about chasing the football all the time and playing with a fanatical effort and those guys did that today and created four takeaways … It’s cool to win like that.”

Stony Brook (8-2, 5-1 CAA) flew down the field on its first possession as Roland Dempster capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive that spanned 2:13 with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Albany (3-7, 1-5) answered with a methodical drive that reached the Seawolves’ 2-yard line, but a fumbled snap was recovered by Anthony Ferrelli to keep the Great Danes off the board.

But not for long. Albany’s next drive ended with a 23-yard TD pass from freshman quarterback Van Weber to Caden Burti. A missed PAT kept the Seawolves in the lead, 7-6 with 13:39 left in the second quarter.

Following the explosive opening drive, the Seawolves’ offense picked up just two first downs in the remainder of the first half.

“We have faith that they’re going to score points at some point,” McCloud said. “Our motto is if we hold the other team under 17 points, we’ll win the game because we know our guys will score at least 17.”

On Albany’s first drive of the second half, AJ Roberts delivered a strong hit to Weber, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Shamoun Duncan-Niusulu. On the first play of the Great Danes’ next drive, Rudy Silvera forced and recovered a fumble on Stony Brook’s 44-yard line, leading to a 41-yard field goal by Enda Kirby for a 10-6 lead.

“When the defense plays like that, it gives us more confidence in ourselves and makes our job easier,” quarterback Tyler Knoop said. “It’s great when we can complement each other like we did to end the game.”

Rushawn Lawrence and Jordan Jackson combined for a tackle to make a key stop on fourth-and-2 with 1:35 left in the third quarter. Knoop orchestrated a 10-play, 90-yard drive that ended with a 20-yard TD pass to Jayce Freeman. Cal Redman had a 24-yard reception and Jasiah Williams had a 27-yard catch-and-run earlier in the drive.

“We had some drops earlier in the game that are plays we have to make,” Cosh said. “Cal’s a captain, he kept playing and competing and [his catch] really got us going. Then we made some plays on the perimeter and ran the ball well late to finish it.”

After McCloud’s interception, Dempster ran for a 4-yard touchdown for the final score of the game. Dempster ran for 98 yards and two TDs on 26 carries and added five catches for 49 yards. Knoop completed 19 of 32 passes for 229 yards and a TD.

Who would’ve thought that the team picked to finish last in the CAA preseason poll would reach its highest FCS national ranking since 2018 with two games left in the regular season? The Seawolves.

“At the start of the season, we had no expectations, but that’s from afar,” Knoop said. “We did have expectations … To us, it doesn’t really matter who believes in us because we believe in us and [coach Cosh] believes in us.”