Stony Brook can't match Fordham in second half, falls to 0-6

The effort was there.

The result was not.

And so it is back to the drawing board for Chuck Priore and Stony Brook.

“We [have] to come to work tomorrow as an organization and be better when we leave,” Priore said after the Seawolves’ 26-7 loss to Fordham on Saturday in a non-conference football game at LaValle Stadium.

Stony Brook (0-6) has lost eight in a row dating to last season. The Seawolves have four games remaining this season. Priore believes his team is unified and will remain so.

“This team hasn’t questioned anything we’re doing,” he said. “And I don’t think they will.”

What vexed Priore, linebacker Aidan Kaler (12 tackles) and quarterback Casey Case (21-for-34 for 243 yards, one touchdown, one interception) was the diametric reversal of fortune between the first and second halves.

The Seawolves were outscored 20-0 in the third and fourth quarters after going into halftime with a 7-6 lead. That marked the first time Stony Brook enjoyed a lead at the break since Oct. 1, 2022.

“We couldn’t stop them at the end,” Kaler said. “They were able to capitalize and get some points on us and create the separation.”

Fordham running back Julius Loughridge’s 6-yard touchdown run at the end of the third quarter allowed Fordham to take a 12-7 lead. The first of Loughridge’s two touchdown runs capped a 13-play, 85-yard drive that took 7:13 off the clock. Loughridge ended up with 154 yards on 24 carries.

The Rams (5-2), from the Patriot League, put the game away with consecutive touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Both scores were set up by Matt Jaworski’s strip sacks of Case deep in SBU territory.

Loughridge plunged into the end zone from the 2-yard line to extend the lead to 19-7 with 9:53 remaining. Exactly 1:30 later, Jamell James sprinted off the left side for a 19-yard touchdown run to end the scoring.

After spotting Fordham a 6-0 lead on two field goals by Brandon Peskin in the first quarter, Stony Brook’s offense began to get in rhythm.

The Seawolves took their only lead of the game on Case’s 29-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Johnson (87 yards, six catches), capping an 83-yard, 10-play march in 3:52 spanning the end of the first quarter and start of the second.

But as Case lamented, that was the lone drive that ended with points for the Seawolves.

“We just have to finish,” he said. “[Have] to finish in the red zone. [Have] to put up points.”

Maine 24, LIU 13: Derek Robertson threw three touchdown passes for host Maine (2-5) in a non-conference matchup. Ethan Greenwood and Michael Love connected on a 71-yard touchdown just 1:13 into the game for the Sharks (1-5), who led 10-7 at halftime after the first of two field goals by Michael Coney. — AP