Box Score STONY BROOK, N.Y. ? In a battle of two of the nation's more formidable ground attacks the Stony Brook Seawolves prevailed with a 40-26 win over VMI Saturday afternoon at LaValle Stadium.
The Seawolves (5-6, 3-2 Big South) rolled up 447 yards rushing and were led by tailbacks Edwin Gowins (250 yards, 20 carries, 3 TD's) and Conte Cuttino (233 yards, 28 carries, 0 TD's).
VMI netted 364 yards on the ground which accounted for all of its total offense on the day.
Junior Howard Abegesah led the VMI offense with 109 yards and a touchdown. It was Abegesah's eight career 100-yard game and third such game this season. Junior quarterback Tim Maypray had 99 yards on 18 carries and scored on a 60-yard TD run.
For the third consecutive week, the Keydet offense struggled in third down conversion tries, going 1 for 12 while the Seawolves went 8 for 13 for the game.
Maypray became the 8th VMI back to rush for 1,000 yards in a season, and the first Big South quarterback to accomplish that feat.
VMI also topped its Big South Conference rushing record set a year ago and now has 3,149 rushing yards surpassing the 3,115 rushing yards set in 2007.
VMI cornerback Byron Allen's interception late in the fourth quarter set up an eight play, 60-yard scoring drive capped by slotback Michael Rainey's 12-yard TD that pulled VMI within 33-26 with 7:17 remaining.
But the Seawolves closed the door shut on the Keydets when Gowins burst up the middle for a 32-yard touchdown run with 4:44 left and the Stony Brook defense kept the Keydets off the board in its last two possessions.
“We can't stop anybody. We can't stop the run, we can't stop the pass right now,” said VMI head coach Sparky Woods. “We're just a really poor defensive football team. They are a good football offensive team when it comes to running the ball, and when they run the ball, they got us on our heels so much and it was an opportune time for them to throw the ball. We showed some offense at times and protected the ball better and that's encouraging, but defensively we can't slow people down.”
Stony Brook jumped to a 13-0 lead less than five minutes into the game on a Gowins 36- yard TD run and QB Dayne Huffman's 8-yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Eley.
But the Keydets countered when Maypray raced 59 yards for his ninth touchdown of the season and Greg Stevens followed with a 37-yard field goal to pull the Keydets within 13-7 with 8:47 left in the half.
Stony Brook took a 20-10 lead at halftime following Huffman's 1-yard sneak that ended a 5-play, 75-yard drive keyed by a 55-yard double-reverse, flip to QB pass from Huffman to Eley.
Abegesah's two-yard touchdown run at the 6:28 mark again pulled the Keydets within 20-17, but the Seawolves responded with consecutive touchdowns by Gowins (65 yards) and Donald Lee (27 yard TD reception on pass from Huffman).
VMI (3-7, 1-4 Big South) will close out the 2008 season next Saturday at Foster Stadium against Presbyterian at 1:30 in Lexington. .
