Nov. 5, 2005
Final Stats
Stony Brook, NY - The Wagner College football team was defeated by host Stony Brook in Northeast Conference (NEC) play earlier this afternoon at LaValle Stadium. The loss was the third straight for the Seahawks which slip to 5-5 overall and 2-4 in the NEC, while Stony Brook wins for the fourth time in five games as they improve to 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the NEC.
The Wagner offense scored first for the first time in three games as they drove the opening kickoff down the field for a 7-0 lead. Senior quarterback John Sciarra (La Canada, CA / St. Francis HS / UCLA) capped off the 12 play, 78 yard drive covering 6:10 with a seven yard pass to junior Chris Turner (Syracuse, NY / Henninger). Turner has now caught the last six TD passes thrown by Sciarra.
After sophomore Al Phillips (Hialeah, FL / American) intercepted his fourth pass of the season in the following Stony Brook possession, Wagner drove into scoring position once again. The Seahawks would come up empty handed however as sophomore kicker Piotr Czech (Keyport, NJ / Keyport) hooked a 28 yard field goal attempt wide left, marking his first career miss inside the 30 (10-11).
Following the Czech miss momentum swung to the Seawolves side as two possessions later, Josh Dudash tossed the first of four touchdown passes to even the score at 7-7. Wagner would go three and out on their next possession before Dudash took over once more, putting Stony Brook on top 14-7 with an 18 yard TD pass with 3:05 left in the first half. Wagner would attempt to add more points before intermission driving down to the Seawolf 23-yard line before Sciarra was hit from behind forcing a fumble.
Stony Brook extended the margin to 21-7 as they took the second half kickoff and drove 72 yards in 16 plays. A three-yard pass from Dudash to Joe Tarasiewicz, his second of the game, completed the drive that took 9:04 off the clock.
The Seahawks would not threaten again until a 39-yard field goal by Czech pulled them to 21-10 with 12:15 left in the game. Stony Brook then ran another 4:58 off the clock with a 10 play, 78-yard scoring drive that sealed the outcome. Dudash hooked up with Joe Anderson form three yards out as the Seawolves led 28-10 with seven minutes to play. He would end the day with 187 yards on 15 of 25 passing.
Trying to bring the Seahawks back once more, Sciarra was forced to leave the game three plays into the next possession after he was sacked for a season high sixth time. Sciarra would end the game 22-36 for 276 yards sending him pass the 3,000 yard mark for the season (3,024), becoming the first ever NEC player to accomplish the feat. He also set a new Wagner career record for total offense with 5,537 yards. (Rick Sarielle, 1995-99)
Freshman Matt Abbey (La Canada, CA / St. Francis), Sciarra's cousin, took over undercenter, but was unable to bring Wagner back.
On the ground junior Warren Barnett (Springfield, MA / Central) ran for a season high 76 yards on 11 carriers, but had just four carries for eight yards after the first quarter. Sophomore TE Joe Kinard (Kingston, NY / Kingston) posted his second career 100 yard receiving day with seven catches for 112 yards. After the first quarter, in which Wagner held the ball for 11:35, Stony Brook dominated the time of possession (31:38-8:22). The Seawolves also had 203 rushing yards to 73 for the Seahawks.
Wagner returns to action next week for the season finale as they host St. Francis (PA) on Senior Day.
