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 9th GREATEST VICTORY: NOV. 16, 1996
HAWKS CLINCH SHARE OF FIRST NEC CHAMPIONSHIP WITH 33-27 WIN OVER CENTRAL CONNECTICUT
Ralph O'Neill finished with three touchdowns
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. ? The Monmouth University football team sent its first group of seniors out in style as the Hawks defeated Central Connecticut State 33-27 to clinch a share of the Northeast Conference championship on November 16, 1996 at Kessler Field.
Monmouth's Mike Medrano ran for 103 yards on 13 carries and Ralph O'Neill scored three rushing touchdowns, the last of which proved to be the game-winning score with 6:45 left in the fourth quarter. The Hawks got also a clutch defensive play as John Mendes, who ha eight tackles on the day, stopped CCSU's Stan House on fourth down at Monmouth's 21-yard line with 2:50 left to play in the game.
O'Neil's final rushing score capped off a 10-play, 68-yard drive that took almost four minutes off the clock in the final quarter. Central's House had scored three rushing touchdowns of his own and ran for 199 yards in the game, but the Hawks' defense stopped him deep in Monmouth territory on a fourth and three to preserve the win. The win gave the Blue and White a share of the NEC title in their first year in the conference.
House opened the game's scoring by capping off an 11-play, 73-yard Central drive with a one-yard touchdown run to give the guests a 6-0 lead with 8:05 left in the first quarter. The extra point attempt was blocked by Monmouth's Tom Zdanowicz. The Hawks came right back and O'Neil scored his first touchdown of the day less than four minutes later, and quarterback Dan Sabella hit Rick Finer for the two-point conversion and MU held an 8-6 lead with 4:29 left in the opening quarter.
CCSU answered as House scored from a yard out again, but Blue Devil quarterback John O'Reilly misfired on a pass intended for Ed Poland on the two-point conversion attempt and Central led 12-8 at the end of the opening stanza.
O'Neil had the only tally of the second quarter as he scored a one-yard touchdown to give the Hawks a 14-12 lead at halftime.
The teams traded touchdowns in the third quarter, as MU began the second half scoring with Sabella hitting Will Holder on a 31-yard touchdown strike to give the Hawks a 21-12 lead with 7:01 left in the third. CCSU responded as O'Reilly found L.T. Brown with a one-yard scoring pass to trim the MU lead to 21-19 with just less than two minutes left in the third.
Holder than came through with his second big play of the day as he hauled in a 54-yard Sabella pass for a touchdown to boost the Monmouth lead to 27-19 on the first play of the fourth quarter. House scored his final touchdown of the day to tie the game at 27-27 with 10:37 left before O'Neil and Mendes' heroics sealed the Monmouth win and gave the Hawks a share of their first NEC title in their first season in the league.
Sabella went 20-of-31 for 267 yards and two touchdowns. Holder caught three passes for 102 yards and both passing scores.
Monmouth would go on to a 7-3 record and a 3-1 mark in the league.
