Stony Brook Drops Season Opener to Delaware

Death, Taxes, and Chuck Piore’s Seawolves losing at home on opening day continue to be three guarantees in life as the Stony Brook University football team continues its recent losing woes with a disappointing 37-13 defeat at the hands of CAA rival Delaware.

After being given a three year contract extension for some odd reason by Athletic Director Shawn Heilbron, Chuck Piore needed to prove that he can lead this program to a winning success or else everyone's jobs would be on the line.

Stony Brook fell behind early in the first quarter as Delaware Wide Receiver Kym Wimberly Jr. hauled in a 14-yard-pass from Quarterback Ryan O’Connor to give the Blue Hens a 1-0 advantage over the Seawolves.

Early in the game, the offense led by University at Buffalo transfer Casey Case was stagnant and the short pass plays called by Coach Piore and offensive coordinator Andrew Dresner were leading to nothing for the Seawolves.

“We have a brand new offense and a brand new defense,” Coach Priore said in his postgame press conference. “So our kids are still learning our system.”

The Seawolves would cut the lead to 4 with a field goal in the second quarter by Spencer Briscoe but the lead would become 17-3 Delaware as Nate Reed would hit a field goal with seven minutes left and Marcus Yarns would score a rushing touchdown with 35 seconds left in the half.

Marcus Yarns would continue his impressive day for the Blue Hens as he would break off a big time 56-yard-run for a touchdown to give Delaware a 24-3 lead early in the third quarter.

After the Seawolves gained just 45 yards in the first half, they would come out of the tunnel on a mission and Coach Piore and Offensive Coordinator Dresner opened up the playbook a bit more for the Seawolves.

The effect of this was substantial as Stony Brook put up 200 total yards of offense in the third quarter.

Redshirt Freshman Wide Receiver Jayce Freeman said in his postgame media availability that nerves played into the offense’s slow start and that the team got more comfortable as the game progressed.

“It was first-game jitters,” Freeman said to the media. “We were just trying to find our groove. We just started getting more plays, more big plays and more explosive runs.”

The Seawolves would respond with a 7 play, 84 yard drive capped off by Roland Dempster's first rushing touchdown of the season and his NCAA Career to make it a 24-10 lead.

Spencer Briscoe would hit another field goal to make it a 24-13 game at the end of the third quarter, but Coach Piore’s offense would once again go missing and not score again for the rest of the game.

Delaware would pull away with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach for the Seawolves. Kyron Cumby would make it 31-13 with a 13-yard-touchdown run at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

On the ensuing possession, ex-University at Buffalo Quarterback Casey Case would make a crucial mistake that sealed the fate of the Seawolves as he would throw an ugly interception on a screen pass that was out of reach of the intended target and bounced into the hands of Delaware's Ty Davis for a 51-yard-interception returned for a touchdown to give the Blue Hens a 37-13 lead, which would hold up until the final second ticked off the clock, pushing the Seawolves to 0-1 to start the 2023 season. The Seawolves had some standout performers in this one despite losing in this one.

The defense saw massive performances by Redshirt junior Nick Chimienti who collected two interceptions and five tackles.

Redshirt freshman Anthony Ferrelli chipped in with five tackles, one tackle for loss, a sack, and one recovered fumble. Noah Rodriguez also got in on the fun as he had nine tackles and one interception in the loss.

Despite allowing 559 total yards of offense, Nick Chimenti was proud of the way his defensive unit played in the opener.

“[Our] defense played hard,” Chimienti said postgame. “They just caught us in some coverage. Some perfect calls for what [coverage] we were in, and they just had some big plays, so we’ve got to eliminate those next week.”

The Seawolves will be back in action on Friday, September 8th in Kingston, Rhode Island as they take on the University of Rhode Island Rams. The game can be watched live on Flosports with a paid subscription or followed with live stats on the school’s athletic website.