WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Lavon Chaney (Edgewater, MD/South River) ran for a career-high 196 yards and scored three touchdowns, but the Monmouth University football team fell to nationally-ranked No. 1 Coastal Carolina, 23-20, on Ryan Granger's 30-yard field goal as time expired Saturday afternoon at Monmouth Stadium.

A season high 4,591 fans came out to watch the Hawks and Chants on Monmouth's homecoming. With the loss, the Hawks fall to 3-5 (1-2 Big South), while the Chanticleers stay perfect at 6-0 (3-0 Big South).

"I couldn't be prouder of the effort they put forth today," said Monmouth Head Coach Kevin Callahan. "We went in and executed the game-plan we put in on both sides of the ball. We played physical, we played fast, and we put ourselves in a position to win the game. Our whole objective was to get into the fourth quarter and give ourselves a chance to win it, and we did exactly that. In any close game like that, there's going to be half a dozen plays that could have gone either way, but I don't want to take away from the effort that our players put forth. I thought we did a really good job. If we continue to play like that, we're going to win a lot of football games."

Chaney rushed for two touchdowns on 24 carries, while also catching three passes for 32 yards, including one for a touchdown. Cody Williams (Springfield, MA/Central) was 18-of-30 passing with a touchdown and an interception, while also rushing nine times for 66 yards. Darren Ambush (Dickerson, MD/Urbana) caught nine passes for 107 yards, while Hakeem Valles (Sicklerville, NJ/Peddie School) added four receptions for 41 yards. Mike Basile (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) led the Monmouth defense with 13 tackles, his sixth-straight game with double-digit stops and his seventh in eight games this season. Malcolm Powers (Baltimore, MD/Gilman School) also accounted for two sacks.

Coastal Carolina was led offensively by quarterback Alex Ross, who completed 20-of-31 attempts for 282 yards. Running back De'Angelo Henderson rushed 25 times for 91 yards and a touchdown, representing his 21st-consecutive game with a touchdown and breaking former Hawk Dave Sinisi's Division I FCS record. Bruce Mapp made a team-high six catches for 79 yards, while Tyrell Blanks and John Israel both made five catches for 84 and 70 yards, respectively.

After Coastal Carolina got on the board first with Granger's 30-yard field goal, Monmouth answered with an 11-play, 90-yard drive punctuated by Chaney's three-yard touchdown run to give the Hawks a 7-3 lead at the 3:02 of the first quarter. The Chanticleers grabbed the lead back following an interception deep in their own territory. CCU marched 80 yards on 10 plays, scoring on Henderson's two-yard run on 4th-and-Goal. The run gave CCU a 10-7 lead with 7:14 left in the half.

Monmouth retook the lead with a five-play, 66-yard drive capped by Williams' 17-yard screen pass to Chaney. Hunter McHugh's (Claymont, DE/Concord) block in the flat sprung Chaney the final 15 yards for the score. The PAT was no good, resulting in a 13-10 Monmouth lead at the 4:58 mark of the second quarter.

Ross and the Chanticleers capped a seven-play, 63-yard drive with a one-yard QB keeper off left tackle to give CCU a 17-13 lead with 2:07 left in the half. The Hawks got deep into CCU territory in the final minute of the half, but Matt White's (Gibsonia, PA/Mars Area) 39-yard field-goal attempt sailed wide left to keep the score at 17-13 Coastal Carolina at the half.

Coastal Carolina extended its lead to 20-13 on Granger's 32-yard field goal with 3:30 left in the third quarter, before Monmouth quickly responded with six plays, all on the ground, for 74 yards and a touchdown to tie the game before the end of the period. Chaney ran twice for 22 yards, before a CCU personal foul gave Monmouth 15 more yards. Chaney ran for five yards on first down, followed by runs of two and nine yards by Michael Jolly (Springfield, VA/Robert E. Lee) and Williams to move the ball to the 21-yard line. Chaney then ran off left tackle, broke a tackle and ran into the end zone for the score. White's extra point was good to tie the game at 20-20 with 24.7 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Monmouth defense stopped the Chanticleers twice on their first two drives of the fourth quarter, including a fumble forced by Joe Johnson (Manchester, NJ/Manchester Township) and recovered by Teddie Martinez (Baltimore, MD/Gilman School). The Hawks' offense took over at its own nine-yard line and Williams completed to Ambush for a 39-yard completion to the 50 on Monmouth's second play of the drive. The Hawks moved seven yards on the next three plays, setting up a 4th-and-3 play from the Coastal Carolina 43-yard line. Monmouth went for it, but Williams scrambled right and couldn't complete the pass to Ugo Ezemma (Nanuet, NY/St. Joe's Montvale) along the sideline, turning the ball back over Coastal Carolina.

The Chanticleers faced a 3rd-and-11 from their own 44-yard line. But Ross hit Israel for 17 yards and a first down to the Hawks' 27-yard line. Ross was successful on another third-down conversion, completing for 12 yards to Blanks to the Monmouth nine-yard line. With Monmouth having exhausted all of its timeouts, Coastal Carolina ran the ball three times with Henderson to wind the clock down to 2.1 seconds and set up Granger's game-winning 30-yard field goal.

The Hawks return to action next Saturday, when they travel to Kennesaw State. Kickoff from Fifth Third Bank Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.