Syracuse had a nice week atop the Empire Conference, but were knocked from their lofty perch Saturday as Stony Brook defeated the Hammerheads 33-26.

Stony Brook got three tries from Phil Salter and a solid effort from the forward pack for the victory.

“Syracuse is ten-fold better than two years ago,” said Stony Brook Head Coach Jerry Mirro. “Their backline play is very good. They caused us problems, but our forwards kept us on the front foot.”

The two teams were tied at halftime but the Sea Wolves scored twice in the second half to pull away. Syracuse scored to close the gap before Salter’s third sealed it.

That put Syracuse at 2-1 and Stony Brook at 2-0. In to first place goes Colgate, which downed Fordham 55-17.

Fordham started well and pushed Colgate around the field in the early going.

“It took a while for our guys to settle down and get back into their style of play,” said Colgate Head Coach David Chapman. “We contested really well in the rucks and that helped us out a lot.”

Charlie Murphy was once again excellent in his goalkicking, while forwards captain Zach Herzog was a force up front. Fritz Richter set the tone defensively at flanker, and loosehead prop Mike Rasmussen “did for us what he always does - he’s a fetcher, and he got us the ball.”

So Colgate moves to 3-0. 

Also Saturday, Brockport fell behind 19-0 to Kings Point and then stormed back to beat the Merchant Marine Academy 43-29.

So it’s going to come down to the big game next week, with 3-0 Colgate visiting 2-0 Stony Brook under the lights. Syracuse, which earned two bonus points Saturday, is certainly not out of it.