The Montclair State Red Hawks came into Saturday’s game at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson looking for their first win against the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) this season as they faced William Paterson.
Just three minutes into the first quarter, the Red Hawks got off to a good start when quarterback Aidan McLaughlin capped off an eight-play, 65-yard drive with a one-yard run for a touchdown.
With 7:43 remaining in the first quarter, Red Hawks kicker Greg Casimir kicked a 50-yard field goal through the uprights to give Montclair State a 10-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter, Montclair State got its passing game going. McLaughlin heaved a 30-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline to Jamie Hamilton, who hauled it in for the score. After the extra point attempt went through, the Red Hawks held a 17-0 advantage.
As always, the Red Hawks defense, steered by senior linebacker Nicholas Burgess, led the way for the Red Hawks. They would hold William Paterson to minus-46 rushing yards and just 138 passing yards on the day. The Pioneers had good field position at their own 38 to start a drive midway through the second quarter, but Montclair State forced a three-and-out when Burgess sacked Pioneer quarterback Amir Stewart for a loss of nine yards.
The two teams exchanged punts, and then it was time for Montclair State’s special teams to make a big play. The Pioneers had a punt blocked at their own 49-yard line by Keyshawn Dixon, and it was returned all the way to the William Paterson 18. However, the Pioneer defense stopped the Red Hawks right there, forcing them to kick a field goal, which was good from 31 yards and gave Montclair State a 20-0 lead.
The Pioneers were driving with just under two minutes left in the second quarter when Cameron Laury caught a pass over the middle of the field and was hit hard by Red Hawks defensive back Alex Buchwald. Buchwald’s hit forced Laury to fumble, and the Red Hawks defensive lineman Mohamed Abedrabo recovered the ball and returned it 15 yards to the William Paterson 45-yard line.
The Red Hawks had to go to a two-minute drill to get more points on the board and they did just that. The first big play came after a penalty backed Montclair State to the 41. McLaughlin rushed for 15 yards on a second-and-20. This set up a third-and-5, but McLaughlin’s deep pass was broken up by Pioneers defensive back Anthony Macera. The Red Hawks opted to kick their third field goal of the day, which sailed through the uprights and stretched their lead to 23-0 to close out the first half.
Second Half
The Red Hawks took more penalties in the second half than in the first half. This still didn’t help William Paterson put together any scoring drives until it was too late.
After a 16-yard punt from the Pioneers’ 11-yard line from Robert Crehan, the Red Hawks were sitting pretty at the William Paterson 27. In the first two plays of this drive, Red Hawks’ running back Christopher Arnold rushed for five yards and then for 20 yards to get the ball in a first-and-goal situation. McLaughlin scrambled into the end zone for his second rushing touchdown and third touchdown overall. Montclair State went for two and was denied, so the score read 29-0 with one minute remaining in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Pioneers’ offense came alive. It started with a 16-yard pass from Stewart to junior wide receiver Caleb Rippey, which moved the ball up to the MSU 44. Then, on the next play, the Red Hawks fell prey to a short pass from Stewart to senior wide receiver Duke McDuffie over the middle. McDuffie then carried for 38 yards after the catch to move the ball up to the MSU 6.
Montclair State pushed the Pioneers all the way to fourth-and-10, and Stewart came through, lofting a high pass for junior wide receiver Kyree Hinton. Hinton was able to push away from the player covering him and catch the ball in the endzone for the Pioneers’ first points of the game. The Pioneers then got the extra point blocked, so the score read 29-6 in favor of the Red Hawks.
The Red Hawks didn’t let up at that point, tacking on Casimir’s fourth field goal of the day and his longest, a 52-yarder, with 7:28 remaining in the fourth quarter to make it 32-6. The Red Hawks also added a three-yard touchdown run from Frank Hofman with 21 seconds left in the game to make it 39-6. The Pioneers got the ball back and let the clock run down to zero as the Red Hawks came away with a resounding 39-6 victory in the Hinchliffe Classic.
Postgame Reactions from Coach Palazzo
After the game, Larry Doby Jr., the son of Larry Doby, the second black Major League Baseball player to break the color barrier and a native of Paterson, came on the field to congratulate both teams and hand out the game ball to Montclair State.
It was a dominant performance from top to bottom for Montclair State, which only allowed 92 yards, earned 267 total yards, and scored four touchdowns on the day. Red Hawks head coach Mike Palazzo summed up what made the difference.
“These guys came ready to execute, limited mental mistakes and that’s important because we’ve been our own worst enemy for a lot of our losses. I do think we’re the better team sometimes, but we make so many mistakes and today we limited our mistakes on offense and moved forward, I think we only punted two times, so we were moving the ball well and scoring and then defensively, we almost pitched a shutout. We had one bad drive so those guys were executing at a high level.” – MSU Football head coach, Mike Palazzo
Outside of a blowout loss to No. 9 Salisbury University, the Red Hawks’ defense has been stout against NJAC opponents this season. In four games, they have allowed 21.5 points per game and 229 yards per game. Coach Palazzo touched on what made his defense so dominant today.
“After the second game of the season, we made some adjustments on defense, and they haven’t looked back. I mean they’ve been playing really, really good defense. We played a real good team last week unfortunately, that skews the stats a little bit but our defense has been lights out and it’s led by Arnold Young and Nick Burgess, those guys are animals.”
Undoubtedly, the star of Saturday’s game for the Red Hawks was their sophomore kicker Greg Casimir, who finished the game having made 4-of-4 field goal attempts, two of which were from 50 yards or more. Palazzo sung the praises of their kicker after the game.
“Greg’s a good kicker. He’s shown to be a weapon and as I continue to trust him to kick, he’s going to keep doing his thing. When you have a guy who can kick a field goal from 50 yards that really shuts down half the field.”
What’s Next for the Red Hawks
With the victory, Montclair State improved to a 3-4 on the season. The Red Hawks head to Glassboro to play NJAC rival Rowan University for their next game. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Nov. 2, and it will be a tough battle as the Profs also have a 3-4 record on the season.
The Red Hawks and Profs faced each other once last season in a game the Profs won 21-14. Montclair State holds a 36-26 edge all-time against Rowan.
