Promising third quarter not enough as Stony Brook football drops season opener to Delaware
Stony Brook QB Casey Case looks to pass under pressure from the Delaware defense on Thursday at LaValle Stadium. Credit: George A Faella
If you’re going to lay the foundation for something new, it usually starts with digging a hole. Then you pour something inside to harden and build on.
Stony Brook, seeking to build something new after a two-win 2022 football season, may have taken these two first steps on Thursday night as it opened the new campaign against Delaware, the No. 22 team in both national FCS polls.
After a 37-13 loss before 11,132 at LaValle Stadium, a hole is there. It remains to be seen whether some excellent play in the third quarter is solid enough to start building up.
The Seawolves did very few things right in the first half as they fell behind by two touchdowns. They were a very different team in the third quarter. Stony Brook opened the second half with three impressive drives, came away with points on two, and threatened to get within one score before ultimately unraveling.
The Seawolves first chance to see if they’ve planted the seeds for something comes next weekend when it plays at No. 23 Rhode Island. This is very likely going to be a progression as Stony Brook added 20 players for this season through the transfer portal, including 16 from FBS programs.
“It’s going to be a process – we made progress in the third quarter,” Stony Brook coach Chuck Priore said. “It’s a new offense. It’s a new defense we put in on July 21. It’ll take a little bit.”
The night’s most memorable moment may have been when both teams took knees at the end of the first quarter to watch a commemorative video that paid tribute to the late Bryan Collins, the Stony Brook defensive coordinator who died suddenly in July. Collins came to Stony Brook after 23 seasons at LIU Post where he led the program to six NCAA Division II tournaments.
On offense for Stony Brook, Johnny Martin III had 63 rushing yards, Roland Demptster had 50 yards rushing and a 1-yard touchdown and placekicker Spencer Biscoe was 2-for-3 on field goal attempts. Casey Case, the Buffalo transfer installed at starting quarterback, went 14-for-40 passing for 163 yards and threw three interceptions, all while the Seawolves desperately tried to get back in the contest.
“There were some first-game jitters and we were trying to find our groove,” said wideout Jayce Freeman, who had a team-high five receptions for 62 yards. “Everybody just got to a place where they were just comfortable and then we started getting more more big plays and more explosive runs . . . everybody got to just a comfortable point in the game.”
On defense, Nick Chimenti had a pair of interceptions, Noah Rodriguez had a third pickoff and Anthony Ferrelli recovered a fumble to stop the Hens in the red zone. Four Seawolves recorded sacks.
Ryan O’Connor was 24-for-38 passing for 346 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions and Marcus Yarns carried 11 times for 107 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead the Hens’ offense.
“We had some big plays,” Chimenti said.
Added Priore “We forced a number of turnovers – I think we only had four interceptions last season (three actually) and got three tonight. We got after the passer early and had him running for his life, but he made plays on the run.”
The first half was all Hens with the exception of a few nice plays by the Seawolves. Delaware led 17-3 at the break and had outgained Stony Brook 298-23. It might have been a bigger deficit if not for Chimenti’s interceptions.
The Seawolves’ offense did nicely shaking off the sheepish play of the first two quarters with long plays powering three substantial drives in the third quarter. Case completed passes on the first three plays for 50 yards before the drive ended with Biscoe missing a 46-yard field goal attempt.
Delaware got a 53-yard score from Yarns for a 24-3 lead before the Seawolves answered with an 14-yard drive for a 1-yard Dempster touchdown. Dempster had a 38-yard run and Case a 19-yard completion to Anthony Johnson en route to the score. On its next possession, Stony Brook went 42 yards for a 25-yard Biscoe field goal to make it 24-13.
“It’s going to be a process,” Priore said. “But we made progress in the third quarter.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
