Bryant Wears Down Stonehill with 44 Carries, Wins 24-6
Bryant threw for 108 yards. It won 24-6 anyway, because it ran the ball 44 times for 191 yards and Stonehill never found the end zone.
The Bulldogs scored first, a 10-yard run in the last minute of the first quarter, and led the whole way. Stonehill kicked a 29-yard field goal early in the second to make it 7-3, and that is where things sat through halftime and a scoreless third quarter. It was a four-point game with a quarter to play.
The fourth quarter is where Bryant leaned on the ground game. Jordan Bennett scored from a yard out with 14:16 left (14-3), and Brennan Myer ran in from 2 yards with 8:20 left (21-3). Stonehill answered with a 36-yard field goal, and Nicholas Stoyanovich added a 27-yarder with 1:45 to go for the 24-6 final. Bryant scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, and Stonehill scored 3.
The yardage was nearly even (Stonehill 304, Bryant 299), and Stonehill outpassed Bryant 202 yards to 108. The difference was a lost fumble for Stonehill, none for Bryant, and Bryant's two sacks to Stonehill's one. Neither team threw an interception.
Stonehill's best moments were its two field goals, and its 32 rushing attempts produced 102 yards. It had more total yards than Bryant (304 to 299) and still managed 6 points, which is the kind of efficiency number that sticks with a team through a long week.
Bryant opens 1-0 and Stonehill 0-1. The fantasy takeaway is a modest one: the top three scorers were all Bryant ball carriers or the quarterback who ran, and nobody cleared 17 points.