With less than three minutes left down 16-13 after freshman Jayden Cook’s 2-yard touchdown run, Stony Brook’s football team had two choices with two timeouts: kickoff the ball or onside kick. The Seawolves decided to go with the latter, and No. 5 Villanova’s Christian Benford came up with the ball on the Seawolves’ 45-yard line, returning it to the 15 and sealing Stony Brook’s fate in the season-opening home loss at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium March 6.
“It’s interesting. We talked about it,” head coach Chuck Priore said of the decision to deliberately kick short. “If I didn’t have to use the one timeout when we scored the touchdown and had three timeouts I probably would’ve kicked. But with two timeouts, they get one first down and the game is over. We gave it a shot.”
Up to that point Stony Brook had many other shots, but failed to convert on all seven of third-down chances. Villanova was 7-for-10 in the first half alone, though not converting even one of six chances in the second half.
“Third downs are your ability to continue drives, so I think we have to go back and look at our ability to make those plays and focus in on that,” Priore said. “Some of that is flow of the game. We couldn’t get the flow.”
Stony Brook was competing without three of its wide receivers, was without redshirt sophomore running back Ty Son Lawton and lost redshirt freshman running back Jadon Turner (69 yards on 10 attempts) — who the coach said “had a great first quarter” — to injury.
“You have to give credit to the other team sometimes,” Priore said. “We had to play a couple of freshmen. It’s a tough deal.”
Villanova got on the board early with a 1-yard touchdown run by Jalen Jackson that capped a dominating 14-play, 72-yard drive that spanned the opening 5:54 of the game. But Stony Brook redshirt junior defensive back Jabari Reddock quickly stole the show when he blocked Cole Bunce’s extra-point kick. Redshirt senior defensive lineman Sam Kamara’s solo sack to end the first quarter also ignited the Seawolves.
But Villanova’s Daniel Smith completed a 49-yard touchdown pass to Rayjoun Pringle that capped a six-play, 78-yard drive that, after Bunce’s point after, put the Wildcats up with six minutes left in the second quarter, a lead the team would take into the halftime break.
“Other than a couple of screen passes throughout the game I thought we played the run game really, really well,” the coach said, “and we didn’t let them get the ball behind us besides that one big touchdown play.”
No one Stony Brook player had more than a catch in the first half. Redshirt junior wide receiver Delante Hellams Jr. finished the game with three receptions for 51 yards, and classmate Khalil Newton three for 35.
“You saw both teams struggle at times,” Priore said. “The little things — tough penalties, not having the crowd noise … It was all a little different for these kids, but this is what the kids deserve to be doing. They work hard. Part of their reward is playing on Saturdays.”
In his first time being out on the field in well over a year, redshirt senior quarterback Tyquell Fields (sacked twice) showed how happy he was to get back on the gridiron. He rushed the ball six times for 35 yards, including seven yards for Stony Brook’s first touchdown of the season at the 6-minute mark of the third. Redshirt freshman kicker Angelo Guglielmello couldn’t cap the five-play, 62-yard drive that spanned 1:30 as his kick went wide right, dropping about five yards before the uprights.
“Tyquell played hard,” Priore said. “I think he did some good things.”
Bunce hit a 48-yard field goal with 10:52 remaining in the fourth quarter before Cook’s touchdown rush. The running back (six attempts for 16 yards) capped a drive that lasted just 38 seconds, covering 19 yards on three plays.
Priore said when a team always expects to win, it’s about how that squad can refocus.
“It’s a tough football game any time you lose, but we have to put it all into perspective,” he said. “We’re excited about playing a game, and we have some positive things in our future. I think one thing I’ll tout is our character — being down and coming back to make it a close game. Credit to Villanova for the win, but I’m proud of our team’s efforts. We fought to the end, and we didn’t give up.”
