DOVER, DE- Monmouth University's football team (2-0) fought off a late comeback attempt by Delaware State (0-2) to earn a 34-20 victory Saturday night at Alumni Stadium.

Monmouth dominated the first 41 minutes of the game, earning a 27-0 lead. The Hornets struck quickly for three straight scores, hitting a Brycen Alleyne 64 yard run, a 46 yard pass reception and a blocked punt all over a 4:26 stretch in the late third, early fourth quarter. With their lead slashed to one, Monmouth's offense went back to work answering with a 79-yard drive to go up two scores.

MU's defense would get back to form, holding DSU out of the endzone for the final 14:46 while Ed Royds (Mount Laurel, NJ/Shawnee/Navy) scored his second touchdown of the game with 6:56 remaining to ice the win. The Hawks rolled up 441 yards and 26 first downs while the defense forced a pair of turnovers. Out of Delaware State's 221 yards, 110 came on the two Hornet scoring plays.

Redshirt sophomore Reggie White Jr. (Randallstown, MD/Milford Mill) had a career-high 11 catches for 129 yards while sophomore Devin Phelps (Baltimore, MD/St. Francis Academy) scored his first career TD- a 13 yard strike with 4:23 left in the first quarter. Royds finished with 25 carries for 92 yards and the two scores. Junior safety Mike Basile (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) had eight tackles and two blocked kicks to lead the Hawks.

Notes and Quotes

"It is always good to be 2-0. We are very happy with the win and happy to be 2-0 at this point in the season. We had way too many penalties for my liking, had execution problems in our special teams. Defensively we did a tremendous job through the first half but then gave up some big plays that gave them some life. Offensively we showed our ability to move the ball on them- particularly in the running game but kept putting ourselves in difficult situations because penalties. We need to do a better job in the redzone, we came away without points in two opportunities and you just can't have that."
Monmouth Head Coach Kevin Callahan

"We are very fortunate to have a fair amount of depth at the running back positions and in a game where we needed to use some of that depth, Royds did a terrific job stepping up. He got in the endzone two times and made some good cuts. He carried us in the second half. Devell Jones came in the fourth quarter with some positive runs when we needed to run the clock out." Callahan on the depth and play of the running backs

§  Darnell Leslie recovered a fumble and Kamau Dumas snagged his first career interception in the win

§  Dumas also had a season-long 46 yard kickoff return in the third quarter

§  Monmouth's defense has not allowed a point in the first half all season

§  Redshirt freshman quarterback Kenji Bahar caught a pass before he threw one- catching a 15 yarder from Matt Choi

§  Bahar scored his first career TD on an eight-yard run in the second quarter

§  The Baltimore native finished five-of-seven for 96 yards

§  Cody Williams took the majority of snaps under center, going 15-of-25 for 127 yards and the scoring pass to Phelps

§  Sophomore Devell Jones finished with seven carries for 32 yards and a long of 10

Numbers Crunch

§  Monmouth blocked a total of four kicks in the game- including two punts

§  Freshmen defensive ends Keneek Tomlinson and Lowell Kelly-Gamble recorded their first career sacks against the Hornets

§  Monmouth had a total of 5 tackles for a loss in the game

§  The Hawks dominated the time of possession 41:37 to 18:23

§  Monmouth's offense ran 88 plays and averaged 5.0 yards per play

§  MU was six of eight in redzone scoring opportunities

§  The defense held DSU to 3-of-10 on third down and 0-for-1 on fourth down

§  Seven different players recorded a carry for the Blue & White

§  Monmouth committed 10 penalties for 98 yards in the contest\

§  Three of Matt White's seven kickoffs went for touchbacks

Up Next
Monmouth continues its three game road swing next week against the Kent State Golden Flashes of the MAC. Gametime is set for 3:30 and it will air on ESPN3.