Quinn Boyd, Roland Dempster lead Stony Brook football to win over Towson

Stony Brook freshman quarterback Quinn Boyd made his first college start a memorable one.

Boyd led the Seawolves to a 27-19 homecoming win over Towson on Saturday afternoon at LaValle Stadium. He completed 19 of 29 passes for 176 yards and one touchdown as Stony Brook improved to 4-4 overall and 2-2 in the Coastal Athletic Association.

Running back Roland Dempster did most of the heavy lifting, carrying the ball 40 times for 181 yards and two touchdowns.

“I felt pretty comfortable out there,” Boyd said. “It helps to have Roland run the ball the way he does. It opens up the game for me and then the offensive line blocking the whole game, they were playing hard the entire time.”

Dempster opened the scoring with a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth down that was set up by a 42-yard punt return by Marqeese Dietz to the Towson 35.

Dempster scored his second touchdown on a 2-yard run to increase the Seawolves’ lead to 17-0 with 2:34 left before halftime.

“The goal is just to find a way to win,” he said. “If I have to get 40 carries, then so be it. Just got to keep the sticks moving. I feel like I played decent and did a good job.”

After the Seawolves forced a punt on the Tigers’ first drive of the second half, Boyd threw his first career touchdown pass to the back corner of the end zone to Dez Williams for a 24-0 lead with 5:55 remaining in the third quarter.

“He’s really calm,” coach Billy Cosh said of Boyd. “That’s who he is naturally. He’ll only get better. He’s hungry and he likes football. I’m very proud of him.”

Towson (3-5, 1-3 CAA) mounted a comeback in the second half after making a halftime change at quarterback from Andrew Indorf to Nathan Kent.

With the Tigers trailing 27-3, Kent completed a 16-yard touchdown pass to John Dunmore and added the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 27-11. Kent threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jaceon Doss, and a two-point conversion by Dunmor made it 27-19 with 3:47 remaining.

Just before the two-minute warning and with Towson out of timeouts, Dempster’s 40th carry of the day put the game out of reach. He gained 22 yards to the Towson 22 to run out the clock in front of the homecoming crowd.

“I feel like it brings a lot of energy,” Dempster said of the fans. “They definitely brought a lot of energy today.”