With the 15th season of Monmouth football kicking off this August, www.GoMUHawks.com will revisit the 15 greatest football victories of the past 14 years, with one game released each week until the Hawks open the season against Maine on Sept. 1, 2007.
MU FOOTBALL 14th GREATEST VICTORY: SEPT. 17, 2005
FOURTH QUARTER RALLY PROPELS MONMOUTH OVER
NATIONALLY-RANKED CAL (Pa.)
Monmouth was 1-1 going into week three of the 2005 season, enduring a tough loss to Lehigh in week one but bouncing back with a 65-27 pounding of LaSalle in its second game. On Sept. 17, Monmouth welcomed California University of Pennsylvania to Kessler Field, a full-scholarship Division II team that also happened to be ranked 25th in the nation. It would take fourth quarter heroics by the defense and smart play by the offense but the Hawks eventually downed the Vulcans with a come from behind 16-15 victory.
Playing its first game on a newly installed ?Field-Turf' playing surface, the Hawks needed a late touchdown pass from Brian Boland to Adam San Miguel and a successful extra point from kicker Fred Weingart to hold off the Vulcans.
The Hawks were trailing 15-9 for the entire second half before the game-winning two-play, four-yard drive. Monmouth defensive end Chris Reed jarred the ball loose from Cal's Antoine Bagwell and the Hawks recovered at the Vulcans' 4-yard line. After a rushing play lost two yards, Boland found San Miguel open in the end zone to knot the game at 15-15 and Weingart punched the extra-point through for the go-ahead point.
On the ensuing drive, the Vulcans would drive to the Monmouth 44-yard line before stalling. California had Monmouth stopped for a 4-and-11 at their own 19 and it looked like a punt would give the Vulcans solid field possession, but the Hawks' gambled on a fake punt and Bobby Smith rumbled 30 yards to the MU 49 and a first down where the Hawks were eventually able to force California take possession at their own 28-yard line with 1:28 left in regulation.
“I remember we had changed longsnappers prior to that game, and John Castoro now was handling those duties,” said Smith of the fourth down play. “We had practiced the fake and knew from watching film that it would be there at some point in the game, but we were surprised when it was called in the game. When the play was called in the huddle, Castoro looked at me and said ?we can do this', and he threw a huge block for me and I had nothing but green in front of me. His block was the key to the whole play.”
“The California game was a very physical, hard fought game between two good teams,” said head coach Kevin Callahan. “I was happy the way our players battled throughout the game and eventually found a way to win.”
The Hawks got on the board early in the game as the Vulcans muffed a punt return into the end zone where they were tackled by Mike Castellano for a safety, giving the Blue and White a 2-0 lead with 9:44 remaining in the first half. The Hawks took the free kick and marched 78-yards on 13 plays to take a 9-0 lead with 3:04 left in the opening stanza. The scoring drive was capped off by a 10-yard pass from Boland to Smith.
The Vulcans responded quickly as on the first play of their next possession, Bagwell diced through the Hawks' defense for an 87-yard TD run, to close the gap at 9-7 with 2:43 showing on the first quarter clock.
California squandered their first attempt to take a lead as Dustin Pizzuto had a 24-yard field goal blocked by Brian Sweeney in an effort to take a 10-9 advantage.
California took the lead early in the second quarter as Bagwell started the drive with rushes of 14 and 12 yards and Joe Ruggiero completed four-of-four for 53 yards to complete the drive. The final play had Ruggiero hitting Garner for an eight-yard TD pass. Ruggiero and Garner connected again on the two-point conversion to give the Vulcans a 15-9 lead with 10:37 remaining in the first half.
“That win was another stepping stone towards the further establishing and progression of the Monmouth University football program,” said Smith recently. “As a team that year, we were still trying to find ourselves and that game helped us do that and build much-needed character.”
Monmouth's offense was led by Miles Austin, who became MU's all-time leading receiver with 122 receptions. He caught eight passes for 140 yards in the game. He also set a Monmouth record with his 10th-career 100-yard receiving game. San Miguel hauled in eight passes for 49 yards and one TD. Boland completed 23-of-40 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns.
“We knew they would be a challenge defensively and they had a talented running back,” said defensive back Nick Castellano. “Coach Bobik made a great gameplan and we stuck to it and played a solid game. That game helped take our team to another gear, it was a dogfight and as Coach Callahan always says, the team that makes the least mistakes will win, and we didn't make many mistakes that year.”
California's Bagwell rushed for 170 yards on 16 carries. Ruggiero completed 18-of-29 for 180 yards and one touchdown in the shootout. Nick Castellano led the Hawks with seven tackles in the game while adding a forced fumble to his line.
