This past Saturday, Stony Brook Seawolves (1-2) of past and present found their home sweet homecoming to be considerably bitter. It turned out that it was the Hoyas football squad that felt all warm and cozy at the end of the game in LaValle Stadium.
Georgetown’s offense kept its cool, waiting until the final quarter to outstay their welcome. They scored 10 unanswered points in the last 12 minutes of the game, giving the Hoyas a 10-7 victory and their second come-from-behind win of the year.
The Hoyas began their plans to thwart the joyous barbecues and excited reunions with the suffocating play of its defense. The same defense that had given up an average of 41 points over the last two games finally returned to its dominating form. In the first half, they did not allow a Seawolves’ score and relinquished only 87 total yards.
Unfortunately, Georgetown’s offense was similarly stifled in its attempt to break into the end zone during the first half. Though it seemed like junior quarterback Nick Cangelosi (14-24, 118 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) was finding his rhythm, completing 10 passes in the half, the offense had trouble running into scoring position. The half ended scoreless with the hopes of the 6,000 Sea Wolves supporters just as inflated as their welcome-home balloons.
With the undying support of their home crowd in the second half, the Seawolves dashed their way to the first score of the game. Junior quarterback Josh Dudash capped an 11-play, 90-yard drive, calling his own number for a one-yard touchdown run.
This drive would turn out to be the only lapse of the day for the Hoya defense. The blue and gray, led by senior linebacker Mehdi Hassan (11 tackles) had Stony Brook’s offense locked up for the rest of the game, giving up only 49 total yards.
In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, a 19-yard field goal by senior kicker and Patriot League Special Teams Player of Week Brad Scoffern eventually let the air out of the stadium, shifting the momentum toward the Hoyas. Scoffern, doing double duty as a kicker, also helped the team’s cause with his punts-he pinned the Sea Wolves down inside their 20-yard line three times in the second half.
“It’s tough to drive 90 yards on every drive,” Stony Brook Head Coach Sam Kornhauser told Seawolves radio after the game. “The defense played great, but we need to get better on the offensive end.”
The Hoyas fed off the crowd’s nerves and gained the field position they had been looking for all game after a series of Stony Brook offensive blunders. A botched punt return, a sack by junior defensive end Alex Buzbee and a weak punt off the side of Stony Brook punter Sean McGinty’s foot allowed the Hoyas to start in Sea Wolf territory for the first time all game.
Cangelosi and the offense capitalized with a short field ahead of them. With about five minutes left to play, the junior signal-caller hit wide-open sophomore tight end Harrison Beecher with a 30-yard touchdown pass, the first of Beecher’s career.
“We finally got the field position in the second half, our field position in the first half was horrendous,” Head Coach Bob Benson said. “But we got the offense the ball where we needed to get it to them and they finished.”
The homecoming crowd was left with nothing to cheer about as the Hoyas put the final nail in the coffin with a 14-yard run on third down by senior running back Marcus Slayton. This allowed the team to kill the clock and end the game.
Coach Benson and the Hoyas will look to continue their winning ways at home Saturday at one 1:00 p.m. against last year’s Patriot League Champions, Lafayette.
“They are on a roll, they’re winning and they believe they can win. It’s a key Patriot League game,” Benson said. “Our last two games [with Lafayette] have been very tight. It’ll be a fun day.”
