DURHAM, NH- The University of New Hampshire (1-0, 1-0 CAA) scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to complete a comeback and defeat Monmouth (0-1, 0-1 CAA) on Thursday night in the 2022 opener.
 
The Hawks had their Colonial Athletic Association opener spoiled by the Wildcats, who scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns while holding Monmouth scoreless in the final frame. Monmouth senior Owen Wright scored a pair of touchdowns while the defense was led by Da'Quan Grimes' 11 tackles.
 
Monmouth scored first after Eddie Morales jumped a third-down pass and recorded the first turnover of the season. Muskett led the Hawks down the field with a pair of passes to Ugo Obasi and Dymere Miller that covered 63 yards. The drive was capped by a five-yard Owen Wright run off the left side that put the Hawks up 7-0 with 10:10 remaining in the first quarter.
 
UNH responded with a nine-play 73-yard drive of their own tying the game on a 19-yard scoring run by Dylan Laube. On the first play of the second quarter, the Wildcats took the lead on the next drive when Josiah Silver blocked a punt and Charles Brisco picked it up and went 35 yards untouched for the score.
 
Owen Wright's second touchdown of the game tied the game up at 14-14 in the second quarter before the Wildcats took a 17-14 lead at the end of the half on a Nick Mazzie 28-yard field goal.
 
Muskett connected with Alex Bryant for the junior's first career touchdown for only points of the third quarter as the Hawks took a 21-17 lead into the final stanza.  The Wildcats retook the lead, 24-21 when Laube took the ball over the left side untouched for a touchdown. A late pick-six by UNH sealed it for the home team.
 
NOTES & QUOTES
"I think it was an exciting football game. We had some chances to alter the outcome of the game, I felt like we left a lot of plays on the field but you have to give New Hampshire a lot of credit for making plays when they had the opportunity to do so." -Monmouth Head Coach Kevin Callahan
 
"We came out in the third quarter and regained the lead and it went back and forth for a while. At the end they made some plays to take the lead and they had us out of sync on offense and couldn't get anything going when we had to."- Coach Callahan

• Kicker Vincenzo Rea registered his first career points on the PAT after Wright's TD
• Career-high eight catches for 67 yards for junior Alex Bryant
• Dre Tucker also had a career high in receptions
• Muskett threw for 281 yards on 26 of 41 passing with a touchdown and three interceptions
• Owen Wright had 30 yards on 11 carries with the two scores
• Morales had seven tackles to go with his interception
• Zamon Robinson had Monmouth's lone sack of the game
• Muskett moved into seventh all-time in passing yards with 3,971 and seven in completions with 345

 
NUMBERS CRUNCH

• UNH edged Monmouth in yardage 353-343
• The Hawks continue to dominate time of possession, 35:50-24:10
• Monmouth had 20 first downs, compared to 16 for UNH
• MU was six-of-18 on third down but held UNH to five-of-13
• The Hawks were 3-for-3 for redzone touchdowns

 
UP NEXT
Monmouth will host Fordham on September 10, 2022. The Hawks and Rams will kick off at 1 PM. Tickets are on sale now at MonmouthHawks.com/Tickets