Joe Fagnano tossed four second half touchdown passes, with Andre Miller catching three of them as the University of Maine Black Bears bounced back after a slow start to pull away from the Stony Brook University Seawolves 35-19 Saturday afternoon at Lavalle Stadium in Stony Brook, New York in CAA spring football action.
Quarterback Tyquell Fields put the hosts on top first with a one yard touchdown run late in the first quarter. The extra point was no good and Stony Brook led 6-0 at the end of one. Maine took their first lead when Fagnano scrambled left and found the endzone himself from three yards out to make it 7-6 Black Bears early in the second. About three minutes later, Ty Son Lawson regained the lead for the Seawolves (0-3) with a three yard scoring run and it was 13-7 at the halftime break.
Maine (2-1) took the lead for good when Fagnano hit his favorite target Miller for the first connection of the day from 27 yards early in the third quarter for a 14-13 lead for the guests. A Seawolves turnover on a fumble led to another Fagnano-Miller score from 20 yards with 4:38 left in the period to extend the advantage to eight points. Stony Brook had an answer when Fields hit receiver Delante Hellams, Jr. for a 29 yard touchdown early in the fourth. Fields threw incomplete though on the two point conversion attempt, and the Bears held a two point lead. Fagnano and Miller did it once again for the second straight week, hooking up for the third score of the day with 7:34 left to play on a 12 yard pass. Benito Speight had his first career interception to pretty much seal the win for Maine with 5:08 remaining. The scoring was finished on a Fagnano to Shawn Bowman 15 yard touchdown with less than a minute to go.
Fagnano went 18-28 passing for 244 yards and four touchdowns. He still hasn’t thrown an interception in the spring season and has eight touchdown passes. Freddie Brock had nine carries for 61 yards, Elijah Barnwell added 13 carries for 41 yards out of the Maine backfield, while Fagnano also had 10 attempts for 24 yards and the short TD run. After no catches in the first half, Miller finished with eight catches for 133 yards and the three scores. It is the second straight week both Fagnano and Miller have connected for three touchdowns. Jamehl Wiley had nine total tackles and added a half sack to lead the defense. Fields was 11-25 passing for 108 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the Stony Brook loss. Lawton had 134 yards on 22 carries and a touchdown to lead the Seawolves run game, while Hellams had 68 yards receiving. The Black Bears are now on a bye week and will return to action when they host Villanova on Saturday, April 3 at Alfond Stadium.
