Montclair, NJ – It was a tale of two halves for Montclair State and fortunately for the Red Hawks the ending was much better than the beginning as MSU stormed back from a 15-point halftime deficit in a 32-22 victory over Christopher Newport on Saturday afternoon at Sprague Field.
The Red Hawks won their third straight reversing a difficult first half to even its record at 3-3 overall, 3-2 in the NJAC. It was the first meeting between the teams with CNU taking part in its initial campaign in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.
For the Captains (1-5, 1-4 NJAC), it was another tough trip to the Garden State as they dropped their fifth consecutive game. Last week, CNU watched as Kean University scored all 21 points in the second half in a 35-10 victory. Quarterback Tyler Quigley accounted for all three touchdowns –two rushing and throwing score.
After a pair of punts to open the game, Montclair State grabbed the first lead of the game as Ryan Davies connected with Aaron Williams on 31-yard touchdown strike for a 7-0 MSU lead midway through the opening quarter.
But that would be just about all the offensive MSU would muster as CNU tallied the next 22 points. Quigley capped off a 74-yard drive one the ensuing possession with a 1-yard plunge knotting the game. Wes Austin intercepted a tipped pass that turned into a 23-yard field goal for 9-7 lead and a fumble on the first play from scrimmage by MSU led to a 44-yard touchdown pass from Quigley to Taylor Loudan making the score 15-7 with seven minutes to go before halftime. Quigley engineered one more scoring drive that ended with a another one-yard run giving the visitors a 22-7 lead with 2:19 left.
CNU would get the ball back with 90 seconds before halftime and drove to the MSU 22. However, senior Bill Shimko would intercept Quigley at the 8 ending the drive and turning the momentum toward Montclair State.
At halftime, the Captains outgained the Red Hawks 132-78 however that would all change over the final 30 minutes. Montclair limited CNU to just 51 total yards on eight possessions (29 plays) while scoring on four of its seven touches in the second half.
Right out of the half, Montclair forced a three-and-out as Chris Palma and Josh Brown combined on a 13-yard sack of Quigley n the second play. MSU got the ball back on a punt and immediately drove for a touchdown. Davies hit Williams for 27 yards on a third down and Nieves ripped off a 22-yard run before going in from two yards out closing the gap to 22-14 with 10:10 to go in the third.
Junior safety Anthony Mannato intercepted a Quigley pass on the next possession and the Red Hawks drove the ball to the CNU 15 when face a 3rd-and-13. Davies threw an incompletion however the Captains were flagged for roughing the passer giving MSU new life. Davies hit Zach Liguori from four yards out on the next play and then found Nick Ruggiero for the two-point conversion tying the game at 22-22 with 4:28 left in the third.
Following another three-and-out by the Red Hawk defense, Montclair took the lead with an 11-play ,64-yard drive that included a clutch six-yard catch by Michael Petrizzo on third down. Davies later added another 3rd-down convert, this one for 18 yards to Julanee Prince down to the CNU 14. Three plays later, Frank Schneeberger gave Montclair the lead at 25-22 with a 29-yard field goal with 12:59 left.
Montclair stopped two more Captains possessions before coming up with its fifth turnover of the game. Lineman Vin Cordasco stripped Arsaiah Robinson at the CNU 39 wit Palma recovering the ball for Montclair State. On the first play after the turnover, Nieves raced 34 yards to the five and then bulled his way into the end zone on the next play putting the Red Hawks in front 32-22 with 4:47 remaining.
Shimko added his second INT on the next drive giving him back-to-back games with multiple interceptions. He finished with eight tackles and three pass breakups in the game.
Nieves carried 24 times for 104 yards in the game while Davies completed 14-of-27 passes for 131 yards. William and Nieves had three receptions apiece. Michael Tenpenny led the stout MSU defense with 11 tackles and also had sack. Joshua Betts also had eight tackles with Michael Klimek registering seven along with a pick and two breakups. Montclair State had three sacks in the game as Nick Volpe added the other. Frank Greco and Devin Terry each came up with a blocked extra point.
The Red Hawks return to action on Saturday, October 24 heading to Ewing, NJ for the 83rd renewal of the oldest active collegiate football rivalry in New Jersey as Montclair takes on TCNJ at Lions Stadium beginning at 1:00 pm.