West Long Branch, N.J.- The Monmouth University football team had its hands filled with a very game Saint Peter's Peacocks squad before the Hawks pulled away for a 36-12 victory Saturday afternoon at Kessler Field. The win improves the Hawks to 3-0 on the season which marks the third time in four years Monmouth has began the season by winning it first three games.
“I don't think this was the most complete game for this team,” said head coach Kevin Callahan. “To be 3-0 is quite an accomplishment for our squad.”
Both teams traded punts to begin the game before the Peacocks struck first when quarterback Scott Bonnono found a streaking Raheem Onibudo down the left sideline for a 44-yard touchdown strike with 8:45 left in the 1st quarter. Peacock place-kicker Jacob Thomas missed the extra point attempt and Saint Peter's held a surprisingly early 6-0 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff senior David Jiles (Paulsboro, NJ/Paulsboro) returned the ball 29 yards to the Monmouth 44 yard line. That set up a Brian Boland (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) play-action pass to Adam San Miguel (North Bergen, NJ/Saint Peter's Prep) who laid out and made a tremendous diving catch to complete the 40-yard pass play. Boland kept the drive alive with a quarterback sneak on 4th and 1 with 5:45 remaining to set up a 1st and goal for the Hawks. David Sinisi (Cedar Grove, NJ/Cedar Grove) finished the drive by finding the end zone on the ground from four yards out and Fred Weingart (New Egypt, NJ/New Egypt) converted the point after touchdown attempt to give the Hawks a 7-6 lead with 5:32 left in the first quarter.
On the next Peacock possession, Jiles picked off a Bononno pass attempt at the Saint Peter's 43 yard line, setting Monmouth up in great field position. A Boland to San Miguel completion for 24 yards put the Hawks in the red zone and looking to add to their lead. On the next play, Boland again found San Miguel for five yards.
The Hawks where unable to score however as Leonard Brice (Phillipsburg, NJ/Phillipsburg) was stuffed on a 4th and 1 at the Peacock 4 yd line with 1:05 remaining in the opening stanza. The first quarter ended with the Hawks holding a slim 7-6 lead.
The Hawks forced Saint Peter's three and out on the first possession of the 2nd quarter and San Miguel returned the Peacock punt 22 yards to the Saint Peter's 30 yard line. Boland then hit a 3-yard completion to Chris Kiley (Pt. Pleasant, NJ/Pt. Pleasant Boro). The Hawks were unable to turn the drive into points however as Weingart missed a 34-yard attempt wide right with 11:24 left before halftime.
St. Peter's moved the ball well following Weingart's miss using a balance of pass and rush and Jacob Thomas converted a 31 yard field goal attempt, giving Saint Peter's their second lead of the game at 9-7 with 8:20 left in the first half.
The Hawks responded by flashing some balance of their own, getting it done through the air and on the ground with San Miguel and Sinisi. The Monmouth drive was aided by a Jahmar Reynolds personal foul and the Hawks were on the move quickly.
Boland finished the drive off by completing a 5-yard fade pass in the right corner of the end zone to Michael McClelland (Lincroft, NJ/Middletown South) with 1:47 left until halftime. Weingart converted the PAT to put the Hawks up 14-9. Former Hawk Will Holder, who played from in 1993, and from 1995-1997, was in attendance to witness the touchdown catch, something he knows a lot about. Holder was a two-time All-Northeast Conference selection and is second on the school's career touchdown reception list with 21. Holder is a four-year veteran of the Arena Football League, playing his entire career in the AFL with the New York Dragons. Former Hawks Mike James and Kevin Francis were also in attendance.
Saint Peter's continued to move the ball well through the air but shot themselves in the foot on the ensuing drive with back to back penalties that pushed them back deep into their own territory.
The Hawks used their timeouts to get the ball back at the end of the first half, but Sinisi fumbled a Boland pass at his own 45-yard line with seven seconds left giving Saint Peters a golden opportunity. Bononno found receiver Jaleel Kindell in the middle of the field for 24 yards and the Peacocks took a timeout with one second left in half. Place-kicker Jacob Thomas drilled a 38-yard field goal as the first clock expired to cut the Monmouth lead to 14-12 at the half.
The second half began with a bang as Boland found San Miguel for a 65-yard completion with less than two minutes gone by. With that completion, Boland passed Dan Sabella for yet another career record as he set the new mark in career total offense, surpassing the previous mark of 6,147 total yards.
Brice capped off the drive by scampering in untouched from nine yards out for a touchdown run, putting Monmouth up 21-12 with 13:12 left in the third quarter.
The Hawks then got two touchdowns called back as senior Tom Mauro (Middletown, NJ/Middletown South) was whistled for a holding penalty negating a 96-yard Boland to San Miguel touchdown and a Sean Dennis (Westampton, NJ/Holy Cross) 57-yard fake punt for a score was called back due to offsetting penalties.
The Hawks got back on track as Jiles picked off his 2nd pass of the day, which led to a seven-yard Rob Lutz (New Cumberland, PA/Trinity) touchdown run with 1:46 left in the 3rd quarter.
Back-up quarterback Brett Burke (Wall, NJ/Wall) then found tight end John Nalbone (Lawrenceville, NJ/Lawrence) on a fake extra point attempt for the 2-point conversion, giving Monmouth a 29-12 lead.
The fourth quarter saw both teams exchange punts before the scoring was completed when Hawk freshman running back Ryan Skorupka (Sparta, NJ/Sparta) scored his first career touchdown from 25 yards out with 3:40 remaining. Weingart finished the scoring with a PAT to put Monmouth up by the final score of 36-12.
The Hawks outscored the Peacocks 22-0 in the second half en route to turning a close game into a route.
“It wasn't a pretty win,” said Boland. “We have a big week coming up and hopefully the momentum will carry over. We have a lot of things to clean up and we will do that this week.”
The Hawks return to action this Saturday, September 23 when they travel to perennial 1-AA powerhouse Colgate of the Patriot League for a 1 pm kickoff.
