WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. The Monmouth University football team fell to the San Diego Toreros 27-7 in the inaugural Gridiron Classic Saturday afternoon at Kessler Field. The Hawks fall to 10-2, while San Diego improves to 11-1 to conclude their season.

"That was a great football game between two very good teams," said Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan. "We missed out on some opportunities, but that doesn't take away from the accomplishments of this team." 

The Hawks defense limited the Toreros to 324 yards, more than 100 yards below their season average and their 27 points are well below their average of 44 points per game. 

The Hawks made the game's first big play as senior linebacker Mike Castellano (Freehold, N.J./Freehold Township) pressured San Diego quarterback Josh Johnson who threw the ball right into the hands of MU's Mike Nunziato (Carlstadt, N.J./Paramus Catholic) deep in Hawk territory with 7:39 left in the first quarter.

The Monmouth drive was brought to an abrupt halt as Brian Boland (Brick, N.J./Brick Memorial) was intercepted by San Diego's Ben Hannula who took the pick back 37 yards for a touchdown at the 5:29 mark to give the Toreros the game's first lead at 7-0.

The score remained 7-0 until San Diego's JT Rogan scored his first of two first half touchdowns, the first from five yards out, to give the Toreros a 13-0 lead at the 13:48 mark. San Diego kicker Hutch Parker missed the point after touchdown attempt.

Rogan scored his second touchdown of the half from four yards out with 28 seconds left, giving them a 19-0 lead heading into halftime. T.J. Cerezo (Stanhope, N.J./Lenape) broke up the two-point conversion attempt.

The Hawks came out of halftime and drove down the field on the Toreros, with the big play coming as Boland found Shane Sharpley (Oakridge, N.J./West Milford) on a 57-yard reception down to the San Diego one-yard line with 8:30 left in the third quarter.

The drive was capped off when David Sinisi (Cedar Grove, N.J./Cedar Grove) found the end zone from a yard out to cut the lead to 19-7 with 8:11 left in the third quarter. The touchdown marks his twelfth straight game with a score and was his thirteenth of the season.

Monmouth held San Diego on their ensuing drive and the Hawks were faced with a third and eleven when Boland found Chris Kiley (Pt. Pleasant Boro, N.J./Pt. Pleasant Boro) for a 21 yard gain at the 3:00 mark.

Boland was then intercepted again by Hannula at the Torero nine-yard line, stopping the MU drive.

The final score of the game happened when San Diego's Brendan Feliczak found the end zone from three yards out to conclude the scoring at the 3:29 mark. Johnson hit Chris Ramsey for a two-point conversion after the touchdown.

Johnson ran for 104 yards and completed 18-of-30 passes for 180 yards. John Matthews caught five passes for 71 yards and Wes Doyle caught four passes for 53 yards.

Eric Bakhtiari led the Torero defense with nine tackles, including 4.5 for loss and three sacks. 

Sinisi ran 10 times for 38 yards for the Hawks. Boland completed 14-of-24 yards for 145 yards. Kiley caught a career-high five passes for 51 yards. 

Castellano led the MU defense with a season-high 13 tackles, and Matt Hill (Hopatcong, N.J./Hopatcong) had 11. Cerezo finished with a career-high six tackles.

Monmouth wraps up the season with a 10-2 record which helped them capture their fifth NEC Championship.