Second Half Onslaught Jettisons Monmouth over Gardner-Webb

WEST LONG BRANCH – Monmouth University went into Saturday’s game at Gardner-Webb University needing a win to set up a showdown next Saturday with No. 9 Kennesaw State for what most likely will determine the Big South Championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA FCS playoffs.

Well, the Hawks not only got the win, but they also put together one of the most dominate and complete second halves of football in the history of the program en route to a 48-19 drubbing of the Runnin’ Bulldogs on the road in Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

“It gets us to the game next week,” said Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan. “This was the game to get to the game. We have a philosophy to go 1-0 this week and if we didn’t take care of business today next probably wouldn’t have meant anything.”

To put it bluntly, Monmouth played as close to a perfect second half of football as you can possibly get on Saturday.

“Maybe, but I haven’t looked at it statistically where it ranks,” Callahan said when asked if that was the best second half of football he’s ever coached at Monmouth. But I do feel like we played very well in the second half. I thought we played what I call complementary football. You saw the defense getting turnovers and getting stops on fourth down – I think we did that six times. Then the offense took over moving the ball down the field and scoring and we ran the ball much better in the second half. As I was saying, the defense did a great job, so anytime you’re playing like that it’s going to be a positive thing.”

And what made their second-half performance even more awe-inspiring was they way the Hawks came out firing on all cylinders following intermission after they let a 20-3 lead evaporate into a one point advantage, 20-19, when Gardner-Webb scored 16 unanswered points in the final two minutes of the second quarter.

“I thought other than the last two minutes of the second quarter we played extremely well,” said Callahan. “We were in control of the game and in my mind what you saw in the last two minutes is that we lost control of the game a little bit. They were able to get a couple of touchdowns in a short period of time and got us on our heels a little bit. But once we got into the locker room the players were very focused, they settled down, and handled the adversity extremely well and there’s a lesson in that.”

Monmouth took advantage of two early Gardner-Webb turnovers to take a 13-3 lead.

Following a Hawks three-and-out on their first possession of the game, Gardner-Webb’s Devron Harper fumbled the ensuing punt with Monmouth linebacker Tyler Degado recovering at the Bulldogs 21-yard line.

On first down true freshman quarterback Tony Muskett found All-Big South wideout Lonnie Moore IV for 19 yards to the 2-yard line. On the next play, redshirt sophomore running back Juwon Farri ran it in for a 6-0 lead after the extra point was blocked.

Later in the quarter, Gardner Webb drove to the Monmouth 8-yard line but on third-and-goal Delgado and linebacker Eddie Hahn sacked quarterback Carlton Aiken for a 10-yard loss forcing the Bulldogs to settle for a 35-yard field goal to pull within three, 6-3.

Monmouth then went three-and-out and Gardner-Webb took over at their own 15 following a Ryan Kost 35-yard punt.

Senior defensive end Kahari Scarlett and junior transfer Lorenzo Hernandez combined to sack Aiken on third down forcing a punt from the end zone on fourth-and-12 from the 13.

Punter Jack Pawloski then mishandled a bad snap from center with senior safety Anthony Budd baring down on him and freshman Alex Bryant pounced on it at the 3-yard line.

Two plays later, Farri ran it in from the one out of the wild cat formation to give the Hawks a 13-3 lead one play into the second quarter.

Muskett put the Hawks up 20-3 tossing his first of two touchdown passes after a Gardner-Webb fake punt try went south giving Monmouth possession at the Bulldog 36-yard line.

A heady flip pass to senior tight end Gene Scott gave Monmouth a first down at the 25, but a sack and Muskett scramble left the Hawks facing a fourth-and-11 at the 27-yard line.

Monmouth went for it and Muskett obliged connecting with junior wideout Terrance Greene Jr. for the score on a 27-yard slant where Muskett looked off a defender to the left before finding Greene Jr. for a 20-3 lead.

Then the roof caved in.

Following the kickoff, Gardner Webb took over at their own 35 with 4:46 remaining in the half. The Bulldogs drove to the Monmouth 23 where a pass interference call gave them a first-and-goal at the eight.

On the next play, senior quarterback Carlton Aiken hit wideout Izaiah Gathings for an 8-yard score pulling the Bulldogs to within 20-10 following the extra point.

Monmouth went three-and-out on its ensuing possession and were forced to punt.

Kost then boomed a 53-yard punt that was fielded cleanly by Harper who eluded the initial wave of tacklers before zig zagging his way down the field breaking one tackle after another for a 93-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Now a 20-16 game after a missed extra point, the Hawks took over at their own 27-yard line following the kickoff with 24 seconds remaining in the half.

On first down Farri took a handoff from Muskett but never had control and fumbled with the Bulldogs recovering at the Monmouth 27 with 18 seconds left in the half.

Aiken ran for 11 yards for a first down at the 16, but followed that with an incomplete pass leaving just 2.9 seconds on the clock. The Bulldogs were then forced to settle for a 33-yard field goal pulling them to within one, 20-19.

To make matters worse, the Hawks won the opening coin toss and elected to receive therefore Gardner-Webb got the ball first in the second half.

With its season now hanging in the balance Monmouth was about to find out what this team was made off and with Gardner-Webb starting out at their own 25-yard line following the kickoff, this was the moment of reckoning for the Monmouth defense.

After an incomplete pass on first down Monmouth senior cornerback Justin Terry cut down wideout James Ellis III after a short pickup and on third down Monmouth’s All-Big South linebacker Da’Quan Grimes, who led the team with 12 tackles, including eight solo tackles, stopped quarterback Carlton Aiken short of the first down.

The Bulldogs then elected to go for it on fourth-and-1 at their own 34-yard line.

Aiken kept the ball and ran into a host of Monmouth defenders who stopped him cold at the line of scrimmage before linebacker Eddie Hahn leaped over the pile to finish off Aiken for a loss on the play and turning the ball over to the Hawks.

“We knew we just had to get back to playing Monmouth football,” said Callahan. “We knew we were going to be out on defense so we wanted to go out and get a stop to start the third quarter. We stopped them on fourth-and-1 and took it in and scored and that kind of got us back in sync, back in rhythm, and I don’t think we ever looked back.”

You could just feel the air being let out of Spangler Stadium after the play with the Hawks bursting Garner-Webb’s bubble and Monmouth’s offense took the field ready to capitalize on the Hawks new-found momentum.

On second down Muskett connected Moore IV for 17 yards and a first down at the Bulldogs 17-yard line. Two runs by Farri netted 11 yards and another first down and on first-and-goal from the 6-yard line, Muskett found Moore IV alone on a fade pattern and lofted a perfectly thrown ball that Moore IV hauled in for the score and a 27-19 lead.

After setting the world on fire in his first colligate start a week ago, Muskett came back down to earth a bit Saturday but still finished with a solid performance completing 14-of-33 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns and he still hasn't thrown an interception.

Gardner-Webb tried to rattle him early and often with blitz packages and a strong pass rush but Muskett handled the pressure brilliantly and again showed the poise rarely found in a young quarterback, especially a true freshman. He has a really bright future ahead of him.

A short kickoff gave the Bulldogs excellent field possession at their own 44-yard line on their ensuing possession. And then 9-yard run by Narii Gaither and a Aiken to Ellis 9-yard completion gave the Bulldogs a first down at the Monmouth 38-yard line.

Gaither’s picked up five yards on first down before an incompletion and 2-yard Aiken run set up a fourth-and-3 at the Monmouth 31. Aiken completed a pass to Gathings but Grimes and Budd were there to haul Gathings down short of the first. Initially ruled a first down by the official, a review reversed the play in Monmouth’s favor.

Monmouth was forced to punt on their ensuing possession and Kost shanked a 5-yard punt out of bounds giving Gardner Webb excellent field position at the 50-yard line.

But the Hawks defense rose to the occasion once again with another classic fourth-down stop.

Scarlett, who finished with 1.5 sacks, four tackles and three QB hits, sacked Aiken for a 1-yard loss on first down then on second down junior defensive end Nick Shoemaker (six tackles, two solo, forced fumble) stopped Aiken after a 1-yard pickup. Aiken followed that with an 8-yard completion on third down handing the Bulldogs a fourth-and-2 situation at the Monmouth 42.

Aiken again kept the ball on fourth down and again met the same fate as he was immediately met by Hahn, who slammed him to the ground for a 3-yard loss turning the ball back over to the Hawks at the their own 45.

Hahn – a transfer from University of Connecticut, finished with eight tackles, two TFL, half a sack, forced fumble, pass breakup and QB hit. Hahn has brought a veteran presence to the lineup and his experience at the FBS level has paid big dividends for the Hawks defense.

Callahan agrees. “He brings maturity to us and he’s a veteran player and when we put him next to Da’Quan with Budd behind them and a veteran defensive line up front the combination is very good.”

Monmouth’s defense had now made three consecutive fourth-down stops on three consecutive Gardner-Webb possessions to start the second half.

“Our defense was still confident at halftime,” Callahan said. “They were more disappointed in themselves for letting it become a 1-point game than they were down or dejected.”

Now Monmouth’s offense went to work putting together a seven play, 45-yard touchdown drive with Farri finishing off the drive with his third score of the game from a yard out.

With the score now 34-19 with 3:40 left in the third quarter Monmouth’s defense completely bottled up the Bulldog offense the rest of the way.

The Hawks defense held Gardner-Webb to only 84 total yards in the second half, including just 29 (22 rushing and seven passing) yards in the fourth quarter alone with only one first down. For the game, the Hawks defense limited Gardner-Webb to 228 total yards and just 12 first downs.

Now that’s what you call a dominant performance !

Budd picked up his second interception of the season and played a tremendous all-around game adding 11 tackles, including five solo.

Junior cornerback Eddie Morales III was a again a factor all day long completing his days work with a sack, forced fumble and fumble recovery (all on the same play), six tackles (4 solo) and two passes defended while Delgado added six tackles (2 solo), half a sack and a TFL.

Monmouth’s offense tacked on two more scores as junior running back Romeo Holden scored his first colligate touchdown on a nifty 28-yard scamper and Farri added his fourth touchdown of the game and seventh of the season when he took it in from 20-yards out to make it 48-19.

Farri and Holden both eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark with Farri finishing with 124 yards on 24 attempts while Holden added 112 yards on just 11 carries for a 10.2 yard per carry average.

“We wanted to get Holden a few more touches today to take some pressure off of Juwon and we saw what he can do with it when he does get the touches,” Callahan said. That gives us a lot more balance so when you have a one-two punch like that behind our offensive line that’s pretty formidable.”

The Hawks veteran offensive line was outstanding paving the way for 252 yards on the ground for a 5.9 yards per attempt average and limited Gardner-Webb’s defense, which came into the game with 12 sacks in two game, to just one sack.

Monmouth's offense had 407 yards of total offense on the day averaging 5.4 yards per play.

“The offensive line did a really good job,” added Callahan. “In the second half it really came together for them – they were outstanding.”

With the win you can expect the Hawks to break into the NCAA FCS top 25 this week.

Bring on Kennesaw State.

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