Late touchdown helps bury Bucs

STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Dayne Hoffman connected with Adrian Sawyer for a 23-yard touchdown pass with 1:06 left in the game to give Stony Brook a 20-19 victory over Charleston Southern on Saturday night.

Hoffman finished with 210 yards on 17-for-31 passing for the Patriots, who snapped a five-game losing streak to improve their season record to 2-5 overall, 1-1 in the Big South Conference.

Kicker John Paglia missed two extra points for Charleston Southern, now 3-4 overall and 1-1 in the Big South.

"I really want to give credit to Stony Brook," said CSU coach Jay Mills. "They came out and played very hard and really played well. It was a ball game that seemed like it came down to one play, but really as you look at it there were about 20 different plays that if you change one of them, the entire look of the game changes. It hurts and is disappointing, but I felt like we played well enough in all three phases of the game."

Charleston Southern quarterback Tribble Reese completed 19 of 33 passes for 218 yards and three touchdowns. Gerald Stevenson was on the receiving end of all three TD passes (30, 19 and 39 yards) and finished with seven catches for 143 yards.

Defensively, Charleston Southern was led by Andrew McKain, who had nine tackles, including two for losses, and a fumble recovery.

Conte Cuttino and Edwin Gowins led Stony Brook's ground attack with 107 and 97 yards, respectively.

Both teams suffered miscues early in the game. Paglia missed on a 30-yard field goal attempt. Stony Brook failed on a fourth-down fake punt and the Seawolves suffered a first-quarter fumble.

The Bucs' David Jackson forced the ball out of the hands of Cuttino in the first quarter and McKain recovered to set up the first score of the day. CSU needed just five plays to go 42 yards as Reese found Stevenson open in the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown strike making it 7-0 with 2:01 remaining.

On their next possession, the Bucs moved down the field before the drive stalled at the Stony Brook 2-yard line. The Seawolves took over and marched 98 yards for their first touchdown since Sept. 20 to tie the game at 7-7.

Reese's 19-yard TD strike to Stevenson with 7.7 seconds left in the second quarter gave the Bucs a 13-10 halftime lead after Paglia missed the extra point attempt.

On their first drive of the second half, the Seawolves tied the game on a 25-yard field goal by Luke Gaddis.

Stevenson put the Bucs back in front with his third TD catch of the day.

But Paglia missed again on the PAT and CSU held a 19-13 lead. That set the stage for Hoffman's game-winning touchdown pass to Sawyer on a third-and-20 play from the 23-yard line.