Hawks Hammer Charleston Southern, Remain Undefeated In Big South

Photos courtesy of Monmouth University

WEST LONG BRANCH – Monmouth University put together its most complete game of the season combining a highly efficient offense with a shutdown defense to overpower Big South foe Charleston Southern 37-3 Saturday at a blustery Kessler Stadium.

“Obviously we’re very happy with the win today,” said Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan. “When we get into Big South play we know that each game holds significant importance and our focus is just to go 1-0 on that particular week and in that regard we got the job done here today.”

The win sets up a showdown next week when the Hawks host powerful Kennesaw State – ranked second in nation in the latest Stats Top 25 poll – with the winner taking the upper hand for the 2018 Big South championship.

Monmouth is currently 3-0 with two conference games remaining to play, while Kennesaw State is 4-0 with only Monmouth left on their conference schedule.

“You only have five conference games in the Big South so the margin of error is zero,” said Callahan referencing the Hawks shot at winning the Big South. “You’ve got to be able to win each and every week. No one’s going to win this league with two losses so you need to approach each game like a season within itself.”

The defense stood out Saturday allowing its fewest points in a single game since 2006, when they earned a 19-0 victory over Albany to win the NEC Championship.

“What we’re seeing is a group that is gaining more confidence week by week,” said Callahan. “We are seeing a group that is getting some guys back that we didn’t have earlier in the season and that has helped. The more success they have, the more confidence they play with, the more confidence they play with, the more success they have. I like the way that’s trending, I like the way they are playing. They trust one in another, they are hustling and they are playing for each other. And anytime you exhibit those characteristics you’re going to play pretty good defense.”

Monmouth’s defense held the Buccaneers to 252 total offensive yards – the third time in four weeks they’ve held opponents under 270 yards of total offense.

“I think the true story here is how we got the job done,” said Callahan. “We knew going in we had to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and I think you saw just that from this team today. From a defensive line and front seven standpoint I thought we completely dominated the line of scrimmage and controled the run game. And then it made it easier to play the passes when they took their shots.”

The Hawks front four was particularly active against the run with defensive ends Eric Massey and Ryan Schoer leading the team with four tackles apiece. Massey added a half a sack while Schoer recorded two TFL. Junior defensive end Kahari Scarlett chipped in with his second sack of the year and also got a piece of a punt handing the Hawks good field position that led to a Matt Mosquera field goal.

“The main thing is to stick to your assignments,” said Massey. “When everyone sticks to their assignments, things are going to work out to our favor, which they did. We proved that we can do what we need to do to win.”

Entering the game the Hawks rushing defense had been coming on like gang busters allowing just 42, 54 and 77 yards respectively in their three previous contests. Monmouth leads the Big South in rushing defense through three game allowing 77.0 yards per game on average rushing.

Saturday the Hawks defense allowed the Buccaneers to rush for 117 yards, but 43 of those yards came on a Johnson keeper out of the triple option. Minus those 43 yards, the Buccaneers were held to 72 yards rushing on 27 attempts for a 2.7 yards per carry average.

Redshirt sophomore Solomon Manning led the linebackers with three tackles, including a half a sack and 1.5 TFL. Linebackers Evan Powell, Dejaun Cooper and Trey Nelson all registered two tackles with Powell and Cooper each getting a hit on the quarterback. Nelson forced a fumble at the Monmouth 26-yard line that in turn led to a touchdown.

The Hawks young secondary had one of its best game of the year holding Charleston Southern quarterback London Johnson to just 117-yards passing on eight completions with an interception. And if not for a miscommunication in the secondary that led to a 65-yard second quarter completion the final stats would’ve been even more impressive.

Five times on third down and once on fourth, the Hawks secondary caused incompletions and forced Charleston Southern punts turning the ball back over to the Hawks. On three of those occasions the Hawks went down the field and scored.

Sophomore cornerback Justin Terry earned his first career interception and added three tackles as did sophomore strong safety Anthony Budd, including one tackle for a loss. Junior cornerback Tymere Berry had a pass defended and recovered a fumble returning it 20 yards and senior safety Kyle Gregory added three tackles and a pass breakup.

Offensively, the Hawks racked up 450 yards of total offense, including 295 yards rushing – second most this season to their 298-yards rushing against Campbell.

Freshman sensation Juwan Farri and super sophomore Pete Guerriero are one and two in Big South rushing combining for an average of 243.8 yards per game.

Saturday the dynamic duo put up 218 yards with Guerriero rushing for 118 yards and an eight-yard TD on 22 carries while Farri finished with 100-yards even on 21 attempts.

It was Farri’s fifth 100-yard game of the season rushing for 858 yards while averaging 7.5 yards per carry with six touchdowns in his first nine career games.

Guerriero, who missed two games with an injury, has four 100-yards games out of his 703 yards rushing in seven contests averaging 6.7 yards per carry. His touchdown Saturday gives him 15 rushing TD’s in 18 career games.

“That was pretty much the game-plan all week to get our offense rolling, keep the tempo up,” Guerriero said. “It’s a lot easier when our offensive line dominates up front. So when you can rotate the backs to keep them fresh and not tired it’s something we can really gash a defense on.”

Junior quarterback Kenji Bahar tossed three touchdown passes - which ties for a season high - going 15-of-25 for 155 yards without an interception. He also rushed for 52 yards on four carries, often scrambling for first down yardage to extend drives.

Bahar consistently led the Hawks on sustained drives that took chunks of time off the clock and kept the defense off the field. Monmouth held a huge edge in time of possession, 39:05 to 20:55. Whenever you can do that, your defense benefits tremendously.

With the wind howling all afternoon with gusts up over 30 MPH, the Hawks kept the ball on the ground as much as the game dictated and let Farri and Guerriero do their thing.

“The wind was significant and we talked about it last night at our meeting,” Callahan said. “We knew how we wanted to play it and Kenji had a few passes that sailed on him when the wind took it, but the wind mostly affected the kicking game more than anything else.”

Mosquera, however, wasn’t fazed. He recorded a career-high three field goals, including a game-long 44-yarder that pushed the Hawks lead to 24-0 as time ran out in the first half.

“Before the game I kicked from both sides of the field to see how the wind was affecting it,” Mosquera said. “I just figured that all out pregame.”

Bahar had touchdown passes of nine yards to Vinny Grasso, 17 yards to redshirt freshman Terrance Greene, who recorded a career high six catches for 63 yards and his first career touchdown, and 18 yards to Reggie White Jr., who caught a touchdown pass in the fifth consecutive game.

The offensive line did an excellent job opening holes in the running game and kept Bahar upright throughout the game not allowing a sack.

“I think we leaned on them up front,” Callahan said. “We had two guys go over a hundred yards rushing. We were able to just pound away on them and that opened up some big holes.”

Monmouth is now 10-0 in the new Kessler Stadium dating back to last year.

“I think it was a total team effort and the team played to the very end,” said Callahan. “I was just very happy the way our guys went at it today.”

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