STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The No. 21 Towson University football team took the lead late in the second quarter and never looked back, using a 21-0 run to defeat Stony Brook 31-14 on Long Island on Saturday night.
 
Towson (6-4, 3-3 CAA) scored two touchdowns in the final five minutes of the first half, adding a touchdown on the first drive of the third quarter for its 21-0 run to defeat Stony Brook (5-5, 2-4 CAA).
 
Key Game Stats:

• Towson scored in every quarter, including four touchdowns combined in the final three periods.
• The Tigers earned 462 yards of total offense, 80 more than Stony Brook, including 179 on the ground and 283 in the air.  Towson also dominated time of possession, holding the ball for 39:08 of time compared to 20:52 for Stony Brook.
• The Towson defense had three interceptions for a +3 turnover margin.
• Tom Flacco threw 19-for-29 at quarterback for 283 yards and two touchdowns,  His top target was Darian Street with four catches and 86 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter.  Caleb Smith and Shane Leatherbury each had four catches; Leatherbury had 47 total yards of offense and two total touchdowns, one receiving and one rushing.
• On the ground, Adrian Feliz-Platt averaged 6.8 yards a carry for 88 yards while Yeedee Thaenrat had almost five yards a rush, compiling 78 yards and a touchdown.
• Defensively, Keon Paye earned two fourth quarter interceptions, adding three tackles, with Jeremiah Wynn having an interception in the second quarter, adding five tackles and two pass break-ups.  Robert Heyward led all Tigers in tackles with nine.
• For Stony Brook, Tyquell Fields had 318 yards of total offense off 241 yards passing and 77 yards rushing, throwing two touchdowns off 13-for-35 passing and three interceptions.  His primary receiver, Nick Anderson, made eight catches for 205 yards and two scores.  On defense, Synceir Malone had 14 tackles and half-a-sack.

Postgame Quote:
Towson head coach Rob Ambrose: "This is playoff football, it is win or go home.  Stony Brook is an exceptional playoff program with great players, coaches and history.  Our guys are resilient, they aren't going to let each other down and they gave it everything they had.  We talk about never having an empty tank, that is from the heart: the goal is more important.  Getting a win like this on the road in our league is very hard to do.  I'm extremely proud of these young men."
 
How it Happened:

• Towson received first and started on its own 30, going three and out.  The Towson defense held SBU to three and out, stopped by a Jeremiah Wynn broken-up pass. Towson took back over, going downfield with short passes.  10+ yard completions to Ryan Rutkowski and Shane Leatherbury brought the Tigers into SBU territory, but Towson did not get further than the SBU 39 and had to punt.
• The Towson defense again came up strong, forcing another three and out.  Getting across midfield with a 14-yard burst up the middle by Adrian Feliz-Platt, Towson then went to the pass.  On second and five, Tom Flacco threw a long pass to Caleb Smith down the sideline.  Smith caught the ball while interfered with one hand for 41 yards.  Towson would line up for a field goal: Aidan O'Neill converted the 29-yard attempt for his 60^th career field goal, making him the all-time leader in the CAA in that category plus giving Towson a 3-0 lead with less than a minute left in the first quarter.
• A 71-yard pass from Tyquell Fields to Nick Anderson put Stony Brook into the red zone.  Into the second quarter, the first play of the period, Fields threw a pass into the end zone, caught by Wynn for the interception, ending Stony Brook's drive and giving the ball back to the Tigers.
• Towson started to use the hurry-up, converting a pair of third downs on hand-offs to Yeedee Thaenrat.  Darts from Flacco to Daniel Thompson IV and Leatherbury helped get Towson inside the SBU 30, but a sack put the Tigers out of field goal range.  A punt gave the ball back to the Seawolves.
• The next drive, Stony Brook went from its own 20 to the end zone in five plays, capped off by a 44-yard pass to Nick Anderson for the score.  Stony Brook led 7-3 with 7:19 left in the 2^nd.
• D'Ago Hunter began the next drive with a 31-yard kickoff return to start Towson on its own 40.  Following a first down on a drawn-offsides, Flacco heaved the ball to Rutkowski for a grab while falling down towards the sideline for 36 yards.  Two plays later, Leatherbury took the handoff on the end-around and scored for the 12-yard touchdown, giving Towson a 10-7 lead with 4:43 left in the 2^nd quarter.
• The Towson defense came up with its third three-and-out, ended by Keon Paye stopping the receiver one yard shy of the marker.  The SBU punt was downed at the Towson 49.  A couple of short passes and an SBU personal foul got Towson to the red zone, where Flacco found Jason Epps on the one-yard line for 19 yards.  Thaenrat finished the drive with a one-yard score to give Towson a 17-7 advantage with 38 seconds left in the half.
• SBU looked to go downfield in the final seconds of the quarter and got inside Towson territory.  The pass rush got pressure on the quarterback and forced bad throws, ending the quarter with SBU scoring on the drive.  Towson led 17-7 at the break.
• First drive out of the gate in the second half was a three-and-out, ending in an incompletion thanks to a strong pass rush.  Towson took over, beginning with a Feliz-Platt blast up the middle for 27 yards.  Facing fourth down and one, the hurry-up offense handed off to Feliz-Platt, who went 21 yards to the SBU 12.  Next play, Flacco sent a pass to the corner of the end zone for a touchdown to Leatherbury, making the score 24-7 Towson with 12:14 left in the third quarter.
• Fields looked to lead the Seawolves on the next drive, including having two QB breakouts for 16+ rushes.  Another two-yard run set up fourth and six on the Towson 30.  The Tiger defense held as an incompletion ended the drive with a turnover on downs.
• The first play on the next drive, a nine-yard run by Thaenrat, then a late hit by SBU, put Towson on the Seawolves' side of the field, but the Stony Brook defense held there, including two sacks.  The punt attempt was blocked and SBU recovered at the Towson 39.
• SBU got to the Towson 10 for a first down on an 18-yard rush by Ty Son Lawton.  After a six-yard rush, Towson's defense stacked up the next two plays to force fourth and goal, but SBU converted on a two-yard pass to Anderson in the corner.  Towson led 24-14 with 2:27 left in the 3^rd quarter.
• After a Towson three-and-out, SBU got started with a 40-yard heave to Anderson to get to the Towson 40.  The Towson defense walled up on two SBU rushes and an incomplete pass to force a punt, taking over at its own nine-yard line on a fair catch.
• Next drive, a couple of rushes by Flacco and Thaenrat made a first down, then on third down, Flacco found Darian Street for exactly the 12 yards needed for a first.  Street's encore came on the next play as Flacco got out of the pocket and checked down to Street, who went 68 yards to the end zone for the touchdown.  Towson led 31-14 with 11:02 to play. 
• Next drive on a 3^rd and 11, Fields's long pass was picked off in space by Keon Paye and brought to midfield.  Towson took over and was running the ball to run the clock, knocking out nearly five minutes with rushes.  Towson turned the ball over on downs with 4:28 left.
• SBU went down the field on the next drive and got inside the red zone.  Paye again stopped the drive with an interception in the end zone, giving Towson back the ball.  Thaenrat and Feliz-Platt ran out the rest of the clock as Towson took a 31-14 victory.

Inside the Numbers:

• With a conversion in the first quarter, Aidan O'Neill became the all-time leader in field goals in CAA history.
• Towson has now won four games against teams that were ranked or receiving votes in the polls at the time of the game: Stony Brook, Maine, The Citadel and Delaware.
• With two scores from the air, Tom Flacco now has 46 career touchdowns, fourth in Towson history in that category.
• Shane Leatherbury moved into the top-10 in Towson history in career receptions with 141 in his career.  He also caught his ninth touchdown this year, tied for sixth in Towson single season history.
• Keon Paye made his 10^th and 11^th interception in his career, tying him for fifth in Towson history all-time.
• Yeedee Thaenrat recorded his 13^th rushing touchdown of the season, tied for eighth in program history. 

Up Next:
Towson returns to Virginia for its next game, taking on William & Mary on Saturday, Nov. 16^th at 1 p.m.
 
Purchase Single Game Tickets 
Tickets to Towson home games are available now by calling 1-855-TU-TIGER or email 4tigertix@towson.edu.
 
- TowsonTigers.com –