Stetson football coach Roger Hughes summed up his teams' first half performance in Saturday's 24-7 home loss to Pioneer Football League rival Jacksonville with one sentence.

"I just told them the half couldn't have gone worse because everything that could go bad, did go bad," Hughes said.

The Hatters played better in the second half, but were continually dogged by crucial penalties and turnovers, keeping any hopes of a comeback at bay.

The loss was Stetson's fourth straight to the Dolphins (2-1, 1-0) and fourth straight PFL league opener. The Hatters fell to 1-2 on the year, 0-1 in league play.

The first half was completely dominated by Jacksonville, which outgained the Hatters 295 yards to just 86. The Dolphins used drives of nine, 11 and nine plays before taking advantage of a Stetson turnover late in the half to take a 24-0 lead at intermission.

JU senior Frantz Caudio capped the first Dolphins drive with a 10-yard TD reception from Rylan Wells. It was freshman Jared Morris who closed out the second JU scoring drive with a 13-yard TD run. Javier Arce-Ramirez, who became the first kicker to make an extra point against Stetson this year, connected on a 43-yard field goal to make it 17-0.

The Stetson defense forced a JU punt late in the half, but the Hatters' Darian Wright was unable to field the ball cleanly, and the Dolphins recovered. Two plays later, Wells hooked up with Brian Burnett, who was able to break a tackle and go 44 yards for a TD to put JU up 24-0.

"We put ourselves in that position because we can't hang on to the football and we can't execute and we can't keep from getting penalties," Hughes said. "We are killing ourselves, and that is the part that is frustrating. There were at least five drives that were extended by penalties. You can't win doing that. I am really disappointed because I thought we had gotten over that. But, clearly our discipline has to get better, and that is on me."

Stetson started the second half strongly, forcing the Dolphins to punt on their first possession. The Hatters then scored their lone touchdown of the game on a 20-yard TD reception from Gaven DeFilippo to senior wide out Jonathan Jerozal. The TD pass was set up by a 40-yard run by senior back Cole Mazza.

After having just 34 rushing yards on nine carries in the first half, Mazza piled up 78 rush yards on just seven carries in the second half. Still, he had one of the Hatters' six fumbles in the game, four of which were recovered by Jacksonville.

The Stetson defense put the clamps on the Dolphins attack in the second half, holding JU to just 64 yards of total offense, but struggled to get off the field at times due to penalties and turnovers.

"It is all about fundamentals," Hughes said. "It is all about staying onside and not jumping when they made a cadence change. It is about not holding on defense and playing your assignment. It is not a hard formula, but we just didn't do it tonight, and that is why it is so disappointing.

"We had two of the best weeks of practice we have ever had leading up to this game. If you had told me before that this would be the score, I would have been shocked. I am shocked. We did it to ourselves because turnovers and penalties are killing us."

Stetson had other scoring chances in the second half. The Hatters backed JU all the to their own one-yard line on the Dolphins' next series after the Stetson touchdown. Stetson had great field position after the punt, but were unable to capitalize when Grant Amick's 42-yard field goal try missed wide right.

Two of the Hatters' last four possessions ended on fumbles and a third ended on downs after JU's lone turnover of the night, a fumble by Bryant that was forced by Jeb Boudreaux and recovered by Davion Belk gave Stetson the ball at the Dolphins' 36.

A final possession after another JU punt ended on the first play when DeFilippo was blind-sided by JU's Gabe Stewart and fumbled. The Dolphins were able to run out the final four minutes to secure the win.

"When you look at it, missed tackles killed us," Hughes said. "One-on-one missed tackles is what they got all of their big plays on. We were trying to stop the run and force them to throw, but you have to put your corners on an island a little so that your safeties can get involved in that.

"Bryant is a good back, a really good back, and we knew that going in. We had him in the backfield two or three times and he ended up getting away, and it was just poor tackling on our part. I equate that with beating ourselves because it is just fundamentals that we aren't executing."

Bryant finished the game with 72 net rushing yards on 22 carries. Overall, the Dolphins managed just 146 rushing yards, but picked up 213 yards through the air on just 10 pass completions, half of which went to Burnett for 115 yards.

For Stetson, DeFilippo was sacked twice and hurries four other times while completing just 13-of-25 pass attempts for 117 yards.

On the defensive side, the Hatters gave themselves a chance in the second half, thanks in large part to 16 tackles for loss. Boudreaux had three of those among his game-high 15 tackles to go with his forced fumble and one quarterback hurry. Dylan Wydronkowski and Donald Payne also finished with double-figure tackles totals – 11 and 10 respectively.

The Hatters will try to bounce back next week when they go on the road for the first time during the 2016 season. Stetson will travel to Davidson, NC, to face a Wildcats team that spoiled senior day last fall.

That game is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.

About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program has a vision of developing a culture of champions athletically, academically and within the community. This vision is accomplished through a mission of recruiting and developing student-athletes, coaches and staff, creating a culture of champions, within and outside of competition. The department operates with five core values: Championship Culture, Integrity, Excellence, Pride/Tradition and Leadership. To learn more about the Vision, Mission and Core Values for Stetson Athletics, visit GoHatters.com and click on Mission Statement under the Inside Athletics tab.