Stony Brook falls in overtime against UTEP

EL PASO, Texas -- Often times, when you aim high, you fall far, and that's exactly what Stony Brook did Saturday night to open its 2011 football season.

Helped by two touchdowns in a nine-second span, the Seawolves took a 14-point lead in the third quarter, only to fall to Texas-El Paso, 31-24, in overtime at the Sun Bowl.

After its 14-point lead was cut to seven, Stony Brook forced two turnovers to thwart UTEP drives that had reached the 1-yard line. But Eric Tomlinson caught a 21-yard touchdown pass with 4:04 remaining in the fourth quarter as UTEP tied the score at 24, and it took only two plays in overtime -- UTEP quarterback Nick Lamaison's 25-yard touchdown pass to Donavon Kemp and Travaun Nixon's interception of Michael Coulter's pass at the 4-yard line -- to lift the Football Bowl Subdivision Miners to victory over the Football College Subdivision Seawolves.

"[These kinds of games are] challenges and you never know how they're gonna go,'' Stony Brook coach Chuck Priore said. "We got a tough game next week against Buffalo. You know we go from Conference USA to the MAC. I'm sure they'll see this film and not take us for granted the way UTEP did a little bit.''

"I think [Stony Brook] just came out and played hard and with intensity," Kemp said. "When you come out with intensity and play hard, things are gonna go your way.''

Lamaison completed 24 of 38 passes for 365 yards and three TDs for UTEP, which had only 36 yards rushing to the Seawolves' 231. Miguel Maysonet finished with 103 yards on 18 carries and Brock Jackolski added 96 yards on 13 carries for Stony Brook, but the two totaled only 22 yards on eight carries in the second half. Coulter completed 14 of 27 passes for 168 yards.

"I think we have a lot of talent that this crowd witnessed tonight," Priore said. "We made a few mistakes that ultimately hurt us. I was proud of the effort, and we'll build off this game."

Kyle Essington scored on a 2-yard run with 3:19 left in the third quarter to complete an 83-yard drive as SBU went ahead 17-10. Coulter completed passes of 18 yards to Matt Brevi and 14 yards to Vincent Polo to the 3 in the drive.

After the ensuing kickoff, Jonathan Coats returned a fumble by Lamaison 14 yards for a touchdown, and Wesley Skiffington's extra point gave SBU a 14-point lead with 3:10 left in the quarter.

"Comin' off the ball like we're supposed to, and I tried to get off my guy just as fast as I could,'' Coats said. "And fortunately, I saw the ball . . . and once I saw the ball hit the ground, I just picked it up and ran it in.''

But a 50-yard kickoff return and a 46-yard pass from Lamaison to Kemp set up a 3-yard touchdown pass to Tomlinson as the Miners got within 24-17 with 1:53 left in the quarter.

On the Miners' next possession, an 18-yard pass gave UTEP first-and-goal at the Stony Brook 1, but three plays later, Donald Porter intercepted a pass at the goal line to preserve the lead. Porter had two interceptions in the game.

UTEP then drove to the Stony Brook 1 again, on a 19-yard pass from Lamaison to Vernon Frazier, but Frazier fumbled and the Seawolves' Dominick Reyes recovered in the end zone for a touchback midway through the fourth quarter.

Dakota Warren, whose extra point had tied the score at 24 after Tomlinson's second touchdown reception, missed a 61-yard field goal as time ran out, sending the game to overtime.

Stony Brook built a 10-3 halftime lead as Maysonet gained 90 yards on 13 carries and Jackolski had 87 yards on 10 carries, including a 34-yard touchdown run.

"Moving towards UTEP, it's an important ingredient to play games like these,'' Priore had written on his Stony Brook football blog. "[The Stony Brook players] want to play at a high level, and this coaching staff wants to see how we stack up in recruiting.''

It was the second straight year that Stony Brook opened at a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent site, having played at South Florida in Tampa last season.

"It's a chance of a lifetime,'' Coats said. "A lot of kids don't have the chance to do this. We played our hearts out and just fell short.''