On a chilly Saturday evening at Sprague Field, the Montclair State University Red Hawks football team lost at home to the Kean University Cougars 16-13. With the win, Kean improved to 2-0 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) while Montclair State fell to 0-2 in conference play.
Kean Jump on Montclair State from the Start
From the opening kickoff, Kean had the upper hand on Montclair State. Kean’s Aly Marzouk returned the opening kickoff for 76 yards to Montclair State’s 23-yard line. On that same play, Montclair State was given a penalty for a personal foul which moved the ball up for the Cougars to the 11-yard line. On the very next play, Kean quarterback Rocco Pelligrini found Julian Jones in the endzone with an 11-yard touchdown pass. The extra point attempt was good and Kean jumped out to an early 7-0 lead.
Kean would tack on more to their lead after Robbie Nungesser intercepted a pass from Red Hawk quarterback Aidan McLaughlin and returned it 36 yards to Montclair State’s 19-yard line. On the next play, Pelligrini flung a 19-yard pass to Christian Bujno, who caught it in the endzone for the six-point-score. The extra point attempt was made and, just ten minutes into the game, the visitors held a 14-0 advantage.
At the end of the first quarter, Montclair State put together a nine play, 47-yard drive that took them inside the red zone, but it was thwarted when Kean’s Tommie Lee-Pierson sacked McLaughlin forcing the Red Hawks into a third and long situation. McLaughlin was able to run the ball for 16 yards to establish fourth and short, but he could not get the first down and turned the ball over on downs on the first play of the second quarter.
After a turnover on downs gave Kean the ball on their own 18, they drove the ball to their 44, before being hit with a five-yard penalty for a false start which placed the ball at the 39-yard line. Then Montclair State’s defense forced a three-and-out, however, when Kean tried to punt, the punt was mishandled by Chrissafis and he was tackled for a loss of 15 yards, which gave the hosts the ball at the Kean 21.
On the next drive, McLaughlin completed a 11-yard pass to senior running back Makai Mickens that put the Red Hawks at the ten-yard line. Then, a nine-yard rush by sophomore running back Christopher Arnold brought it to the one-yard line. From there, McLaughlin rushed it in for the touchdown. The extra point attempt was good, and Montclair State had cut their deficit in half with 9:44 left to go in the first half.
Red Hawks Survive Turnovers in Second Half
The second half would not be totally different from the first in that there were still a lot of turnovers. Montclair State would make the first one when Christopher Arnold rushed the ball and fumbled at the Kean 34 yard line. The Red Hawk defense again came up huge forcing a three-and-out on Kean’s next drive.
Starting at 4:30 left in the third quarter, Montclair State would put together a 14-play, 73-yard drive that would end in a fumble by Arnold at the Kean six-yard line. Montclair State forced a three-and-out on Kean’s next drive, before Montclair State freshman Donovan Swasey returned a punt 20 yards to give Montclair State good field position at Kean’s 30-yard line. However, the Red Hawks managed to drive just 11 yards before turning the ball over on downs.
With 1:39 to go in the game, the Red Hawks received a punt at their five-yard line needing a score to tie the game. McLaughlin drove his team 95 yards culminating in a five-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Roige. Then, Montclair State’s extra point attempt was blocked by Kean’s Jeremyah Johnson and recovered by Lee-Pierson, who returned it the length of the field, which was scored as a two-point conversion. Following this, Montclair State attempted an onside kick, but it was recovered by Kean, who then ran out the clock and held on for a 16-13 victory.
Postgame Reactions
The hosts gave up two touchdowns to Kean, but in the end beat themselves due to penalties and turnovers. By the end of the game, Montclair State had taken seven penalties for 98 yards, fumbled the ball four times, thrown three interceptions and had what should have been a game-tying extra point blocked.
After the game, Montclair State’s head football coach Mike Palazzo chimed in on how injuries to key players like running back Henry Lewis, who was First Team All-NJAC last season, impacted the way his team played.
We’re down to a couple running backs that we didn’t expect to play a ton this year. We had a freshman take a couple reps. Losing a kid like Henry Lewis is really difficult. We lost a couple other guys on our defense as well, so it’s been tough but that’s the name of the game. It’s like a vending machine, you gotta have the next guy up and the next guy ready. It’s unfortunate because I think there would be different results if some of these guys were playing but it is what it is. That’s the game that we play.
The Montclair State defense was a bright spot as they held Kean to just 137 yards in total offense on the evening. Coach Palazzo spoke about how well his defense played despite being handed difficult field position both times they did give up a score.
Yeah, our defense played well. Those guys made some corrections early on. They got put in some bad field position, I mean the opening kickoff was a bad one and the interception. Those guys didn’t give up a scoring drive and I think going into the week we felt like we were a good matchup there and it showed. We have some good players there and they’re making plays.
The junior wide receiver Anthony Roige finished the evening leading all players on both teams with 96 receiving yards on eight receptions. After the game, Roige described the positives his team can take from this New Jersey Athletic Conference loss to Kean.
Our defense played amazing and on the offensive side, we moved the ball a lot. It’s just we need to capitalize in the key spots. We threw the ball and moved it down the field, we ran the ball down the field, but we just can’t make mistakes.
What’s Next for Montclair State and Kean
The Montclair State Red Hawks football team will next play Salisbury University on the road in an out-of-conference game. That game is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff on Oct. 19.
The Kean University Cougars football team will next face The College of New Jersey for their third straight NJAC matchup. That kickoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on Oct. 19 in Ewing.
