Monmouth University Buries Presbyterian 45-0 In Big South Opener

Photos courtesy of Monmouth University

WEST LONG BRANCH – Monmouth University’s three wins this season were by a combined eight points with two of those games undecided until late in the fourth quarter and the third going into overtime before the Hawks pulled out the win.

Saturday’s game told a whole different story as the Hawks put together their most complete 60 minutes of football in year’s and cruised to a 45-0 victory over conference foe Presbyterian Saturday at a sun-drenched Kessler Stadium.

“It was nice,” said Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan when asked how it felt to run away with the game early. “In those close games, having to make plays at the end in order to win, I think that helped us today get off to a fast start. We understand the importance of kind of separating yourself on the scoreboard early on in the game. So, yea, it was very good today.”

The game was never in doubt as the Hawks dominated on both sides of the ball in the Big South opener for both teams.

“It was very important for us to start conference play with the victory,” said Callahan. “That’s the only thing we talked about all week leading up to the game; let’s go 1-0 in the Big South today. That’s where our focus was today. We talked about execution, we talked about being aggressive, and we talked about being physical and giving good effort. And that’s what you saw today.

“When you get into conference play you get one shot at each team and that’s all you get,” added Callahan. “You got to make sure you make the most out of every single opportunity in conference play. And that’s the mind set and mentality we got to have with each game. We get one shot at these guys and we got to make the most of it, so let’s play our best football today.”

The Hawks domination was so thorough that with 5:39 still left in the third quarter and the Hawks already safely ahead 45-0, Callahan began substituting freely. He rested starting quarterback Kenji Bahar, who was again terrific in completing 16-of-23 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions for an eye-popping 197.7 passer rating, and gave sophomore quarterback Eddie Scott some extended playing time.

Up to that point, the Hawks had outgained the Blue Hose 349 to 84 with 46 of those 84 yards coming on broken plays in which freshman quarterback Tyler Huff was forced to scramble for his life.

In the first quarter alone, Presbyterian ran 13 plays for zero net-yardage while the Hawks rang up 138 yards of total offense on their way to a 21-0 first quarter lead.

Monmouth finished with a 458 to 136 advantage in total offensive yardage with most of the Blue Hose second-half yardage coming in garbage time. The defense allowed just nine first downs and posted the programs first shutout since 2006 when they secured the NEC championship against Albany.

"That’s a big accomplishment to shut a team out," said Callahan."That’s very, very hard to do. There’s so much talent in college football and even in the fourth quarter when we were playing a lot of younger guys, they played very well.”

Senior linebacker Da’Quan Grimes led a sterling defensive effort that as a team recorded 12 tackles for loss, including three sacks and four forced fumbles, recovering two of them which then led to touchdowns.

Grimes finished with a team-high seven tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and an early third down pass deflection on the Blue Hose first possession of the game that set the tone of the game for the defense.

“My mindset is to win on every play,” said Grimes. “Our coaches stress next play, next play, so we want to come out and win the down and take it from there. We made a lot of plays out there as a defense which is nothing new, but we but we need to focus on the little mental errors that keep us from being a dominant defense that we were today.

“We knew today was going to be a big game being our first conference game,” added Grimes. “We came out with the mentality that we got to bring it. This is week one of conference play and we want to win a championship. Every week from now on is the real deal.”

Junior defensive end Eric Massey had 1.5 sacks, junior linebacker DeJaun Cooper added one sack and freshman end DeAndre Clifton finished with six total tackles and a half of sack. Junior linebacker Solomon Manning and defensive end Lowell Kelly-Gamble each added two tackles for loss.

“I’m very happy with what the defense did,” said Callahan. “They made some big plays early on to set the offense up in good field position."

Offensively, aside from Bahar’s gem, running back Pete Guerriero carried the ball 11 times for 81 yards, including a 48-yard touchdown run on the Hawks second possession of the game that gave the Hawks a 14-0 lead with 6:37 left in the first quarter. Guerriero, only a junior, averaged 7.4 yards per carry on the day and moved into second all-time in Monmouth career rushing yardage surpassing Julian Hayes (2011-13) with 2,576 yards.

Mr. Reliable, Devell Jones, scored on touchdowns runs of two and five yards and finished with 65 yards on 11 carries. Jones’ 5-yard scoring run with 5:05 left in the second quarter pushed Monmouth’s lead to 31-0. Bahar then tossed a perfect 36-yard spiral to senior tight end Shawn Clark on a fade down the left sideline gave the Hawks a commanding 38-0 lead at the half.

Sophomore running back Romeo Holden showed flashes of things to come rushing for 57 yards on just three carries, including a nifty 50-yard run down the right sidelines to the Presbyterian 20 late in the fourth quarter.

Monmouth then moved the ball to the 1-yard line and took a knee as time ran out as a courtesy to Presbyterian.

Last weeks hero, Lonnie Moore IV, had another big game with six receptions for 78 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown catch on the Hawks first possession of the game for a quick 7-0 lead.

“We had a live route called, meaning Kenji tells me whatever route he wants me to run,” said Moore. “I ended up running a double move and I got him on the first move and Kenji just put it a perfect position where I was able to just go up and execute for the touchdown.”

On the play, Bahar looked off the defender in coverage to the left then quickly threw to the right finding Moore in the back of the end zone.

“Both receivers had the same route,” said Bahar. “I knew it was one-and-one on both sides but I just came back to Lonnie on the right and he made the play.”

Bahar connected with Terrence Greene Jr., who had five catches for 54 yards, on the Hawks first possession of the second half to cap the scoring. Greene Jr. made a pretty 20-yard, over-the-shoulder grab just as he was running out of the end zone for a 45-0 lead with 7:53 left in the third quarter.

Clark finished with two receptions for 60 yards and a touchdown and Zach Treadway added two catches for 15 yards.

Senior place kicker Matt Mosquera was a perfect 6-for-6 on extra points and nailed a 37-yard field goal to give the Hawks a 24-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Monmouth also played one of its cleanest games of the season. They were flagged for a season-low three penalties and did not turn the ball over once – a key component if the Hawks are going to be successful as they move into the thick of the Big South schedule.

Monmouth appears to be playing its best football of the season just when it matters most. Each-and-every one of their remaining games are against Big South opponents and are essentially do-or-die games if they want to qualify for the NCAA FCS postseason playoffs and capture the programs first-ever Big South Championship.

“When you get into conference play you get one shot at each team and that’s all you get – there are no do-overs,” said Callahan. “You've got to make sure you make the most out of every single opportunity in conference play. And that’s the mind set and mentality you’ve got to have with each game. We get one shot at these guys and we got to make the most of it so let’s play our best football today.”