WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – The Monmouth University football team erased a two-touchdown deficit twice en route to a 42-41 victory over Fordham in overtime, Saturday afternoon at Monmouth Stadium.

Down seven in the first overtime, the Hawks drew to within one on Ed Royds’ (Mount Laurel, NJ/Shawnee [Navy]) second touchdown of the game. Monmouth opted to go for two and the win and quarterback Cody Williams (Springfield, MA/Central) found Reggie White, Jr. (Randallstown, MD/Milford Mill Academy) all alone in the end zone for the game-winning two-point conversion. With the win, the Hawks improve to 3-2 on the year, while the Rams slip to 2-2 with their first setback to an FCS team this season.
White, Jr., made 10 catches for a career-high 167 yards, two touchdowns and the game-winning two-point conversion. Williams completed 22-of-31 passing attempts for 290 yards, two touchdowns and the two-point conversion. Royds rushed 19 times for 100 yards and two touchdowns. Fordham was led by Chase Edmonds, who rushed 25 times for 208 yards and four touchdowns. Kevin Anderson completed 16-of-33 attempts for 214 yards and two passing touchdowns, including one to Austin Longi, who made five grabs for a team-high 106 yards.

Mike Basile (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) led the Hawks’ defense with eight tackles, including 2.5 for a loss and one sack. True Freshman Evan Powell (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) also had eight tackles and recovered a fumble. Three of Darnell Leslie’s (Gaithersburg, MD/Quince Orchard) six tackles were behind the line, including a sack. Manny Maragoto (Freehold, NJ/Freehold Township) finished with a team-high 1.5 sacks.

Notes  & Quotes

“We had said going into the overtime after they scored and we knew what we had to do, we said before we even snapped the ball on the first play ‘we are going for two after we score here’. It didn’t get communicated to the entire bench and the placekick team started to go out on the field, that’s why we took the timeout just to settle everyone down. We have practiced this situation before, take a deep breath and run the play, execute it and we’re going to win the game right here.“ Head Coach Kevin Callahan

“Ed Royds came in and made some big plays and ran really tough, some of those first downs he made some big runs on.“Monmouth Head Coach Kevin Callahan 

“I told the guys in the huddle to get out, give me a window and just let Reggie run. I got 9 the ball and he did the rest, the o-line threw some great blocks and he was down the field.” Cody Williams on Reggie White Jr’s 72 yard touchdown

“When he told me that we were going for two I said ‘you’re joking, right?’ He said no, I’m totally serious and I knew what was coming, like Coach said we practiced it. Darren has an under and Reggie has a fade, back in restart and Choi has a dig. Snapped the ball, Reggie just beat the guy so just gave him a shot. I didn’t even see him catch the ball, I just came down and heard the crowd go crazy so I got up and went nuts. “ Cody Williams on the 2 point conversion

White, Jr., eclipsed his previous career high of 129 receiving yards, established three weeks ago at Delaware State. His 72-yard touchdown reception was the longest of his career, while he also tied his career high of two touchdowns. Both of the aforementioned records were established last season against Bryant.

White, Jr.’s, 72-yard touchdown reception was the Hawks’ longest play from scrimmage this season.

Royds also matched his career high of two touchdowns, originally set in the Delaware State game.

The Hawks earned their second-straight overtime win, with the last coming in a 20-17 victory last Oct. 17 against Liberty. Prior to that win, it’d been nearly five years since Monmouth’s last overtime contest (Nov. 13, 2010 vs. Central Connecticut).

The 42 points are the most scored by Monmouth since Oct. 11, 2014, when the Hawks defeated Columbia, 61-28, at Monmouth Stadium.

Monmouth outscored Fordham, 21-7, in the second half.

With his eight tackles, Mike Basile pushed his career total to 248, moving past Joe Little into seventh all-time at Monmouth, just three behind Mike Normand for sixth.

Darnell Leslie registered his 14th career sack, moving into a tie for eighth all-time at Monmouth with Chris Ammacher.

Inside the Numbers

Monmouth was 2-for-2 in fourth-down conversions and 6-for-6 in the red zone. The Hawks took a 35:50 to 24:10 edge in time of possession.

The Hawks committed four fumbles in the game, after committing just two turnovers in the first four games of the season.

Darren Ambush finished with six catches for 88 yards and had 201 all-purpose yards

His 118 kick return yards were a career-high

Ambush now has 95 career catches, which is eighth most in school history

The Dickerson, MD native also moved into sixth all-time with 1,200 yards

Senior tight end Zach Fabel recorded his first reception of the year, an 11 yard first down catch

Up Next

Monmouth will face Howard for the first of three road contests next week. Kickoff is slated for 1 PM

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