KENNESAW, GA- The fifth-ranked Kennesaw State Owls (10-1, 7-0 Big South) dominated #24 Monmouth University (7-4, 6-1 Big South) 42-10 to win the 2021 Big South Championship at home on Saturday.
 
The Owls rushing attack could not be slowed as KSU racked up 472 yards on the ground on 67 attempts en route to the 49-17 victory. That coupled with dropped passes, Monmouth's inability to run the ball and sacks prevented the Hawks from being able to push for their third consecutive Big South title.
 
Kennesaw quarterback Xavier Shepherd scored four touchdowns on the day, rushing 29 times for 118 yards. Ian Cousin had 114 yards rushing and a touchdown for KSU. Senior Lonnie Moore had 220 all-purpose yards while Monmouth quarterback Tony Muskett had his first career 300+ yard game, finishing with 337 yards and competing 65% of his passes.
 
Shepherd put the Owls up 7-0 on a fast drive that went 72 yards on five plays that featured a 40-yard third down run and a 22-yard pass. The Owl signal caller kept the ball himself and battled into the endzone for a nine-yard score. Two drives later Owl Adeolu Adeleke took a pitch 61 yards untouched and Kennesaw State led 14-0 lead over the Hawks with 21 seconds left in the first quarter.
 
The Owl lead ballooned to 21-0 before Lonnie Moore took a kickoff back 92 yards to cut the KSU lead to 21-7 with 7:41 left to play in the first half. KSU's offense went up 28-7 before Nick Null hit a 38 yarder with 1:11 left in the opening half to cut the lead to 28-10 going into the break.
 
The Hawks forced a fumble on the first play of the second half to take over deep in the Owl territory but one play later regained it one play later on a Monmouth fumble. Shepherd scored his fourth rushing touchdown after converting a fourth and a third down and the Owls led 35-10 with 8:28 left in the contest.
 
Kennesaw State had a long touchdown run by Isaac Cousin before Muskett completed a 53-yard bomb to Terrance Greene Jr. to score the first offensive touchdown for the Blue & White.
 
NOTES & QUOTES
'Obviously it wasn't a great day for us today and a lot of that credit goes to Kennesaw State. I don't think we got off to a good start and things kind of snowballed on us on both sides of the ball. We weren't able to sustain anything offensively and defensively they were able to hit some big plays which is something you can't allow against their offense. I thought we were in a good spot coming in, but unfortunately that's not how the game played out." Monmouth Head Coach Kevin Callahan
 
"We did ask a number of younger guys to step up and be the next man up so to speak. When you look at it over the course of 11 games I thought they did a really good job. I thought that our older guys provided leadership and had us in a good spot." Coach Callahan

• The senior class won more games (38) than any other group of seniors in Monmouth history
• The loss snapped Monmouth's Big South winning streak at 16 games which is tied for the longest streak in conference history
• Nine different players caught a pass in the contest
• Lonnie Moore moved past Pete Guerriero for second all-time in all-purpose yards with 4,902
• Moore finishes his storied career second all-time in receptions with 213
• It was the 15^th consecutive game Tony Muskett threw a touchdown pass in

NUMBERS CRUNCH

• Ryan Moran led the Hawks with 10 tackles
• Monmouth had 367 yards of total offense, including a season-low 30 on the ground
• The Hawks were whistled for eight penalties for 95 yards
• MU was 5-of-14 on third down while KSU was 7-of-12
• The Hwks were 0-2 in the redzone and 1-of-4 on fourth downs 

UP NEXT
Monmouth will have to wait to Sunday's FCS Selection show which airs at 12:30 PM on ESPNU to see if they earn an at-large bid to the playoffs.