Hawks Rout Columbia 61-28

WEST LONG BRANCH – The Monmouth University football team racked up 602 yards of total offense in a 61-28 rout of Columbia Saturday afternoon on Kessler Field at Monmouth Stadium.

Brandon Hill (Audubon, N.J./Audubon [UMass]) completed 18-of-24 passes for 301 yards and four touchdowns, while also catching one of Lavon Chaney’s (Edgewater, Md./South River) two touchdown passes. Chaney also ran for 108 yards and a touchdown and caught five passes for 39 yards as the Hawks improved to 5-1. The Lions fell to 0-4 with the loss.

The 300-yard passing game was the fifth of Hill’s Monmouth career, setting a new program record. Ed Royds (Mount Laurel, N.J./Shawnee [Navy]) ran for a team-best 119 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. Payton Minnich’s (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin East) three second-quarter interceptions propelled the Hawks to four touchdowns in the period and a 40-0 lead at the half.

“We are happy with the win, it was good to get back here at home and play after three consecutive weeks on the road,” said Monmouth Head Coach Kevin Callahan, who recorded his 125th career win. “Our challenge today was to continue to push our performance and our level of play to yet another level and to challenge ourselves to continue to get better. We wanted to get off to a fast start which we did. I thought the defense was dominant throughout the game except for the end of the game but I thought we played a great game. That unit created great field position and the offense took advantage of that and turned it into a lot of points. We were able to get a lot of guys involved and as the game wore on and when we knew we had the game in hand we started to play a lot of people.”

Darren Ambush (Dickerson, Md./Urbana) had four receptions for a career-high 87 yards and a touchdown. Lamar Davenport (Asbury Park, N.J./Asbury Park) made two catches, both for touchdowns, and 43 yards, while Neal Sterling (Belmar, N.J./Manasquan) added three catches for 64 yards. Zach Welch (Middletown, Md./Middletown) ran for 68 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Joe Johnson (Manchester, N.J./Manchester) also added an interception for the Hawks’ defense.

The Hawks ambushed the Lions with 40 points in the first half. Monmouth got the scoring started with 8:39 left in the first quarter when Chaney completed a six-yard pass to Hill out of the wildcat to cap a six-play, 73-yard drive. The PAT was no good, giving Monmouth a 6-0 lead.

With 55 seconds left in the first quarter, Hill converted a 4th-and-26 situation to Ambush, with the latter dragging a defender into the endzone. Lucas Santangelo’s (Jamaica Estates, N.Y./New Hyde Park Memorial) PAT was good to stake Monmouth to a 13-0 lead after the first quarter.

The Hawks scored four touchdowns in the second quarter, thanks in large part to Minnich’s three interceptions in the period. Chaney threw for his second touchdown of the game, a two-yard toss to Zach Fabel (Brigantine, N.J./Holy Spirit) with 10:20 left in the half. Santangelo added the PAT to make it 20-0.

On the ensuing kickoff, Santangelo successfully executed an onside kick, recovering the ball himself at the Hawks’ 46. The Hawks then went 54 yards on six plays with Hill finding Eric Sumlin (Dover, Del./Dover) for a 23-yard touchdown with 7:38 remaining in the quarter. The PAT was true to push Monmouth’s advantage to 27-0.

Minnick then intercepted Columbia starting quarterback Brett Nottingham for a second time and returned it to the Columbia two, setting up Chaney’s touchdown run on the Hawks’ first play of the drive. Santangelo tacked on the extra point to make it 34-0 Monmouth.

With 1:03 left in the half, Hill dropped an 18-yard touchdown pass to Davenport, who dragged his foot in the back of the endzone for the score. The PAT was no good, leaving the Monmouth advantage at 40-0 at the half.

The Hawks extended the lead to 47-0 on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Hill to Davenport and 54-0 on a Royds 44-yard touchdown run up the gut. The Lions got on the board when back-up quarterback Trevor McDonagh connected with Ryan Flannery with 3:49 left in the third quarter, making the score 54-7.

Welch capped the Monmouth scoring with a three-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter, making it 61-7 Monmouth. McDonagh followed with fourth quarter touchdown passes to Marcus Briscoe, Dan Slivka and Chris Connors to account for the 61-28 final score.

Following an idle weekend, the Hawks play their first-ever Big South contest on Oct. 25 at Presbyterian. Kickoff from Bailey Memorial Stadium is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Quotes:

Sophomore Linebacker Payton Minnich on the play of the defense and his three interceptions

“The defense played as a whole, as a unit and we were just flying around making plays. On the picks, I was just good on my assignments. It almost felt like they were throwing me the ball on some of them."

Lavon Chaney on his touchdown pass to Zach Fabel

“We were kind of holding off because it is kind of a trick play to use when we needed it. Coach called it and we have been running it consistently all week for a couple weeks now and we knew that they weren’t going to cover the tight end after seeing us run the ball out of the wildcat over and over again.”

Nest Notes:

-Minnich’s three interceptions set a Monmouth single-game records

-Brandon Hill now has five 300+ yard passing days, which is a Monmouthrecord

-Monmouth scored touchdowns on nine of its first 11 possessions, missing one field goal and fumbling the ball away

-The Hawks did not punt the ball until 6:53 was left in the fourth quarter

-Columbia didn’t advance into Monmouth territory without throwing an interception until almost the end of the third quarter

-Monmouth Head Coach Kevin Callahan earned his 125th career win

-The Hawks are 5-1 for the first time since the 2006 season

-Monmouth’s defense held Columbia starting quarterback Brett Nottingham, a Stanford transfer, to 5-of-10 passing for 32 yards and three interceptions before he was taken out

-Mike Basile, recently announced as a Jerry Rice Award nominee, was one of three Hawks with four tackles

-Ed Royds averaged 9.9 yards per carry, leading all rushers with 119 yards on 12 carries, including a 44 yarder

-Monmouth’s defense held Columbia to 72 yards rushing

-Santangelo had a career-long 69 yard kickoff

-Monmouth’s starting defense allowed just 197 yards and 7 points to the Lions