Monmouth Outlasts Albany In Overtime Cliff-Hanger

Photos courtesty of Monmouth University

WEST LONG BRANCH – Monmouth University had to win this game.

That may seem far-reaching considering Saturday’s 38-35 win over Albany at Kessler Stadium was just the third game of an 11-game schedule. But if you factor in all of the implications, Saturday was as close to a must-win game as you can get this early in the season.

All things considered, a loss here would’ve been a devastating blow to the Hawks playoff chances.

Monmouth travels to Montana next Saturday in a game which the Hawks will be a sizeable underdog on the road against the Grizzlies, who are coming off a 35-3 beat-down at Oregon and they’ll be out for bear when they return home for a game they'll certainly be sky-high for.

The Grizzlies (2-1) are currently ranked at No. 20 in the Stats FCS Top 25 Poll and are members of the Big Sky Conference, which has three teams ranked in the top 10 and five overall in the top 25.

Then, down the road, the Hawks still have to travel to Big South nemesis and ninth-ranked Kennesaw State, which recently suffered a heartbreaking loss to FBS member Kent State in overtime last week and is a team which the Hawks are 0-4 lifetime against.

You can do the math yourself. At 8-3 last season the Hawks (2-1) failed to qualify for the NCAA FCS postseason playoffs.

“In a lot of ways this game was a measuring stick for our team on how much progress we’re making,” Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan said. “Albany’s a very good team out of the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association) which is a conference that sent six teams to the playoffs a year ago, so this was a good test for us.”

Now to the game.

You have to hand it to the Hawks; they scratched and clawed their way to victory. The game was loaded with peaks and valleys and chocked full of one momentum change after another.

There were times where the Hawks could’ve packed their bags and folded but instead they withstood everything Albany threw at them and gave it right back at them.

“As I told the team before the game and again in the locker room after the game, our motto for the day was just stay tougher, longer,” said Callahan. “Just keep battling. Keep battling. Maintain your focus on what you had to do to be successful. Play smart, and I really think that’s what we did.”

Monmouth led 21-0 after senior quarterback Kenji Bahar connected with junior Terrance Greene Jr. on a 39-yard touchdown pass with 5:33 left in the first half and Bahar then hit Zach Treadway for a two point conversion.

Junior running Pete Guerriero opened the scoring with a 26-yard touchdown run and senior Matt Mosquera had field goals of 47 and 21 yards in the first half prior to the Greene Jr. score.

Albany, however, scored two lightning-fast touchdowns in the final five minutes of the first half to cut the Hawks lead to 21-14 and that gave the game a feel of impending doom for the Hawks, who had surrendered 264 total yards in the first half.

With All-American cornerback Tymere Berry sidelined with a slight hamstring pull, Albany wide receiver Juwan Green had torched the Monmouth secondary for 112 first-half yards and two touchdowns on four receptions and quarterback Jeff Undercuffler had 177 yards passing at the half.

Albany got the ball to start the second half and methodically drove 89 yards in 12 plays – nine through the air - to knot the game at 21-21 six minutes into the third quarter.

Green, who finished with 15 receptions for 245 yards and three touchdowns, accounted for 61 of those yards with five receptions as he continued his assault on the Monmouth secondary.

It’s here that the Hawks could’ve put their feathered tails between their legs and flown away instead they regrouped for what could very well turn out to be the defining moment of the season for them.

Monmouth marched to the Albany 18-yard line on seven plays where they were facing a fourth-and-3 when Callahan, whose decision to go for it on fourth down helped clinch their win over Lafayette last week, again showed his propensity to gamble on fourth down and it paid off handsomely.

Out of the shotgun, with pressure in his face, Bahar lofted a perfect spiral to junior Lonnie Moore on a fade route in the left corner of the end zone for the touchdown to take the lead back, 28-21 with 3:37 left in the third quarter.

“One of the things we talk to our team about is being aggressive and playing to win and if you want them to play that way you need to coach that way,” said Callahan. “There’s a fine line between being aggressive and reckless. Going into the game we talk about fourth down situations and when we are going to go for it. We know at the beginning of every drive when it’s first-and-10 what yard we need to get it to, to go for it.”

The two teams then traded punts as the game moved into the fourth quarter with Albany in possession of the ball on their own 42-yard line. On first down, Undercuffler was looking for Green deep but junior safety Anthony Budd zeroed in on a slightly over-thrown ball for the interception.

However, Hawks sophomore running back Romeo Holden coughed up the ball on their ensuing possession with Albany recovering at the Monmouth 34-yard line.

Romeo was forced into action with senior Devell Jones hampered with an injury and All-Big South running back Juwan Farri still ineligible to play.

Two plays later, Green struck again hauling in a 32-yard strike from Undercuffler to pull the Greyhounds even at 28-28 with 11:02 left in the game.

With the game now turning into a heavyweight bout with the winner declared by the last man standing, Monmouth answered with a scoring drive of their own.

The Hawks traveled 69 yards in seven plays to regain the lead as Bahar, who was 23-of-37 for 291 yards and three touchdowns with an interception, again found Moore, this time for 32 yards on a third-and-2.

Monmouth punter Colin McCreary, who had an excellent day, pinned Albany deep in Hawks territory at the 10-yard line with 2:51 left in the contest. Three plays later on second-and-1 from the 34-yard line, Albany tried to catch the defense napping as Undercuffler again tried to find Green long and again Budd was there to haul in his second pick of the day on another overthrown ball by Undercuffler.

The Hawks took over at their own 28-yard line with 1:53 left in the game and fed the ball to Guerriero, who carried the ball a career-high 30 times rushing for 140 yards and one touchdown, forcing Albany to burn all their time outs but taking only 26 seconds off the clock.

Following a 37-yard punt by McCreary, Albany had one last shot taking over at their own 30-yard line.

Undercuffler then dinked-and-dunked his way down the field using the sidelines and clock stoppage on first downs to get his team down to the Hawks 21-yard line for one last play with four seconds remaining.

He then floated a Hail Mary in the end zone, and somehow, Jerah Reeves came down with it amongst a host of Hawk defenders in a stunning turn of events. That sent the game into overtime after the successful extra point which became eventful after Albany was assessed a 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty on the touchdown.

Monmouth won the coin flip and deferred giving the ball to Albany on the 25-yard line.

Two incomplete passes and a fumbled snap set up a 37 yard Albany field goal attempt from the 22-yard line that clanked off the upright.

Now, knowing all they needed was a field goal to win the game, the Hawks kept it on the ground. Bahar picked up six yards on a keeper and Guerriero added runs of five and six yards setting up a second-and-4 from the eight-yard line when Callahan called on Mosquera to deliver the knockout blow.

Mosquera calmly trotted onto the field to attempt a 25-yard field goal that easily split the uprights for a 38-35 win that will go down as one of the wildest games in Monmouth’s 27-year history.

“I think everyone will agree that was a heck of a football game,” said Callahan. “There were so many big plays on both sides and the game kept going back-and-forth right down to the Hail Mary that they threw up in the end zone that sent into overtime. All in all, you’ve got to be excited about the effort.”

Offensively, Bahar is developing nice rapport with receivers Joey Aldarelli (7-74), Greene (4-45-1) and Moore (5-76-2) and what more can you say about Guerriero, who said the last time he carried the ball 30 times was in high school.

The offense generated 481 yards of total offense: 190 yards rushing, 291 passing.

The defense took a step back after show improvement against Lafayette allowing Albany 511 yards of total offense with most of it (398 yards) coming through the air.

How much of that can be attributed to missing Berry only time will tell. However, they did cause five turnovers, including three interceptions: Budd (2) and Justin Terry (1) and two fumble recoveries by Eddie Morales and Kurt Aumer. DeJaun Cooper, Budd and Erik Massey recorded forced fumbles and Cooper (1), Massey (.5) and Kahari Scarlett (.5) added sacks.

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