STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The Stony Brook University football team (0-1, 0-1 CAA) put together a valiant comeback effort, but fell to New Hampshire (1-0, 1-0 CAA), 27-21, in the 2021 season opener on Tuesday night. After going down, 20-0, in the first half, Stony Brook stormed from behind in the second half and outscored the Wildcats, 21-7, over the final two quarters.
 
The Seawolves hit their stride in the closing moments of the first half when they turned New Hampshire away at the goal line. The Wildcats ran three plays from inside the Seawolves' 10-yard line, but were denied a scoring opportunity. On fourth and goal from the two-yard line graduate defensive lineman Brandon Lopez and redshirt junior defensive lineman Makye Smith bottled up New Hampshire's Dylan Laube for a two-yard loss as time expired in the first half.
 
After the Wildcats scored a touchdown with 8:37 left to play in the third quarter to go up, 27-0, Stony Brook went on to score 21 unanswered points. The Seawolves got on the board with 6:15 to go in the third quarter when redshirt junior Ty Son Lawton found the end zone with a three-yard run. Lawton and the Seawolves' offense provided a spark for the team that translated over to the defensive side of the ball.
 
On New Hampshire's first play from scrimmage following Lawton's touchdown run, Stony Brook's redshirt freshman linebacker Tyler King forced a fumble that was recovered by redshirt sophomore defensive back Jordan Jackson. The Seawolves struck again on their next drive as graduate quarterback Tyquell Fields tossed a 41-yard touchdown pass to redshirt senior Khalil Newton.
 
After the teams went back and forth for the remainder of the third quarter and the first 12 minutes of the fourth quarter, Stony Brook found the end zone for the third time in the game. With 3:03 remaining in the contest, Fields faked a handoff to redshirt senior running back Seba Nekhet, pulled the ball down, and rushed for a 17-yard touchdown to cut New Hampshire's lead to 27-21.
 
The Seawolves got one final crack at winning the game with 2:00 minutes to play. Fields drove Stony Brook down the field and got the Seawolves to New Hampshire's 19-yard line. The Wildcats were able to come up with a stop on fourth down to seal the game.
 
STATS AND NOTES

• Fields accounted for 330 yards in the game as he threw for 255 yards and ran for 75 yards. Through the air, Fields went 21-43 for 255 yards and one touchdown. He tossed a perfect ball to Newton for a 41-yard touchdown, his first TD pass of the season. His 43 pass attempts marked a career-high. On the ground, Fields ran the ball 11 times and picked up 75 yards and one touchdown. His longest run on the day went for 29 yards.
• Newton made five catches for 76 yards and recorded one touchdown. The touchdown was the first of his career at Stony Brook and his five catches and 76 yards were both career-highs.
• Lawton registered 17 carries for 50 yards and a touchdown. His three-yard touchdown run in the third quarter marked his 11^th career touchdown on the ground.
• The Stony Brook defense forced three turnovers, all of which were fumbles that were recovered successfully.
• Senior defensive back Akeal Lalaind was all over the field for the Seawolves as he recorded a game-high 12 tackles. Redshirt freshman linebacker Tyler King was a force on the defensive side of the ball as well as he recorded seven tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, forced a fumble, and tallied a quarterback hit. Redshirt senior linebacker Reidgee Dimanche finished the game with seven tackles of his own and forced a fumble. 
• Graduate punter Mitchell Wright placed four of his six punts inside the 20. Wright's longest punt of the night went for 54 yards as he averaged 41.7 yards per punt. 

QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"It's not the outcome we wanted," head coach Chuck Priore said. "I do have a lot of respect with how we played in the second half and certainly had opportunities to pull out a win."
 
"Everybody stepped back at halftime and we all rallied together," said Fields. "Everybody told each other to take a break and treat it as 0-0 and they applied that when we got out for the second half. It made a big difference."

NEXT UP
The Seawolves are back on the gridiron on Saturday, September 11, when they travel to Hamilton, N.Y. to take on Colgate at 1 p.m. For an inside look at the Seawolves football program, be sure to follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.