Monmouth holds off Albany in heart stopping fashion

WEST LONG BRANCH - For the fourth time this season, the outcome of a Monmouth Hawks' football game came down to the wire, and for the second time in three weeks, the game wasn't decided until the final play. But the Hawks eventually escaped with a heart-pounding 38-31 win over a relentless Albany squad Saturday afternoon in West Long Branch.

If the Hawks keep this up, they might need to bring extra defibrillators to Kessler Stadium to revive their fans.

"It was a wild game," said Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan. "Very similar to the type of game we expected coming into it. I think both teams are very similar in a lot of ways. We were fortunate at the end our offense was able to get down the field, put the ball in the end zone and answer Albany's scores in the second half. And we made some opportune stops on defense and that was the difference in the game."

Trailing by two touchdowns, 38-24, with 6:21 left in the fourth quarter, Albany went 76 yards in nine plays with quarterback Reese Poffenbarger, an Old Dominion transfer, connecting with wideout Roy Alexander on an 8-yard touchdown pass to pull Albany within a touchdown.

Now holding a 38-31 lead with 3:38 remaining in the fourth quarter, Monmouth survived two onside kick attempts by the Great Danes. Albany recovered the first attempt, which would've given them possession around midfield, but offsetting penalties negated the play, and Monmouth's Alex Bryant recovered Albany's second attempt.

Monmouth took over at their 25-yard line with 3:31 now remaining and ran running back Jaden Shirden up the middle twice for one yard forcing Albany to burn two of their remaining three timeouts.

On third-and-9 from the 26-yard line, Monmouth quarterback Tony Muskett fired a strike to wideout Ugo Obasi right at the first down marker for a huge first down at the 36-yard line.

"We needed to keep the clock going and run it down to one minute and Ugo stepped up and ran a great route," said Muskett. "I just got the ball to him, and he made a great catch. Those types of plays we have so much depth at wide receiver we're able to spread it out to so many guys and it's really hard for defenses to defend."

Monmouth failed to convert on a third-and-2 from the 44-yard line, and Ryan Kost's fourth-down punt sailed into the end zone giving Albany one last shot with 51 seconds left in regulation.

Looking at 75 yards and 51 seconds with one time out to tie the game, Poffenbarger, under heavy pressure from the Hawks front four, scrambled out of the pocket four times for 42 yards and picked up three first downs, and had a 12-yard pass sandwiched in between to move the Great Danes to the Monmouth 26-yard line with 0:03 seconds showing on the clock.

On the game's final play, Poffenbarger went to wideout Julian Hicks over the middle around the five-yard line. However, junior cornerback Mike Reid had the play diagnosed and broke up the pass with sophomore cornerback Jalen Dotson leveling Hicks, who was injured on the play and carted off the field.

Dotson was called for targeting, which would've given Albany one more shot from the 11-yard line, but the call was overturned after a review, mercifully putting an end to a wild and bizarre closing 51 seconds.

The win was Monmouth's fourth in a row after opening the season with two tough losses as their record in the CAA improved to 2-1. On the other hand, Albany fell to 1-4 and 0-2 in the conference. However, excluding their loss to Baylor, their three other losses have come by a combined 15 points.

"Even though we started 0-2, we never viewed ourselves as an 0-2 team," said Callahan. "Each of those first two losses could've gone either way. In both games, we held fourth quarter leads, and we just weren't able to hang on. Coming out of those games, we felt we needed to play a complete game, including finishing in the fourth quarter. If we did that in the two, we would've won those games. In the last four weeks we've done a better job at finishing."

Albany took an early 7-0 lead capitalizing on a Muskett interception that set them up at their own 49-yard line. Nine plays later, running back Todd Shipley, a University of Pittsburgh transfer, finished the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. Shipley, a 5-foot-9, 227-pound bowling ball, is a load to bring down and rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries.

However, Monmouth has a stud back of its own in Jaden Shirden. On the first play of the Hawks' ensuing possession, Shirden took it to the house for a 75-yard touchdown run, literally bursting through the line like a bat out of hell and outrunning the entire Great Dane defense.

Monmouth's defense, with pressure from end Dominick Spano, forced an Albany three-and-out deep in their own territory and following the punt, the Hawks took over with prime field position at the 49-yard line.

Four plays later from the 30-yard line on third-and-4, Shirden struck again. The 5-foot-9, 185-pound speedster raced untouched up the middle for the score handing the Hawks their first lead of the game, 14-7, with 3:13 left in the first quarter.

Shirden, the leading rusher in the FCS, finished with 160 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 19 attempts, with 139 yards coming in the first half.

Albany took over at their own 16-yard line on their ensuing possession and drove to the Monmouth 1-yard line, but on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line, Shipley was stopped for a 2-yard loss by senior linebacker Ben Joseph preserving the Hawks 14-7 lead with 10:28 left in the first half.

Monmouth took over at the 3-yard line and three plays later on third-and-12 from the one, Owen Wright, the leading scorer in the FCS, took a handoff off left tackle and broke free down the left sidelines for a 99-yard touchdown run, tying a Hawks record for longest run from scrimmage. Wright, known for his short-yardage scoring prowess and brute strength down near the goal line, showcased his speed on the run and proved he's not just a one-dimensional back.

"First of all, huge shoutout to the offensive line, none of this could be possible without them," said Wright. "Anybody could run through those holes. We went into that play just needing to short yardage, and it ended up popping. From then on, I'm just running. I'll do whatever this team need me to do."

"I think the team feeds off each other," said Callahan. "We were fortunate to get a fourth down stop at the one-yard line then moments later Owen takes it 99 yards for a touchdown, which was a huge play for us. That is complimentary football."

Wright finished with 114 yards rushing and two touchdowns on six attempts.

On Albany's ensuing possession, Poffenbarger completed a 44-yard pass to Brevin Easton, but safety Tyrese Wright trailed the play and forced a fumble, with Reid recovering at the Monmouth 34-yard line.

The Hawks then drove to the 13-yard line, but a Muskett third-down pass fell incomplete, and they had to settle for an Eric Bernstein 30-yard field goal pushing the lead to 24-7 with 5:07 left in the half. Muskett had completions of 18 and 24 yards to Obasi and Dymere Miller, respectively, on the drive.

Miller led the Hawks with six receptions for 116 yards, which included 54 yards after the catch.

Monmouth's defense came up big again on Albany's ensuing possession right before the half. The Great Danes drove to the Monmouth one-yard line but a stop for no gain on second down by end Justin O'Bannon and a one-yard tackle for loss on third down by Sheku Tonkara set up fourth-and-2. Albany then elected to go for a field goal closing the gap to 24-10 at the half.

"That was certainly huge," said linebacker Da'Quan Grimes of the fourth down stop. "We played together; everybody was swarming to the football."

The Hawks outgained Albany 314 to 241 in the first half. Albany came into the game averaging close to 450 and over 30 points, so Monmouth knew they were in for a battle and the second half proved that to be accurate.

Albany scored on the first possession of the second half, marching 76 yards for a score to cut the deficit to one touchdown, 24-17. Sibley took it in from 19-yards out on second-and-five on the eighth play of the drive.

The two teams exchanged punts before Monmouth put together a five-play, 54-yard scoring drive to regain a two-touchdown lead, 31-17, with 3:42 left in the third quarter. On third-and-11 from the Albany 16-yard line, Muskett connected with junior tight end Jack Neri, who extended his arms to make a difficult catch in the right corner of the end zone.

The back-and-forth scoring continued as Albany answered with a lengthy 12-play, 70-yard score, with Poffenbarger finishing off the drive with a 1-yard keeper to make a one-score game, 31-24.

Monmouth then made it a two-touchdown game again as the two offensive juggernauts exchanged blows while looking for the knockout punch.

The Hawks drove 66 yards in 11 plays, with Wright taking it in from one yard out for his FCS-leading 12th rushing touchdown of the season, pushing Monmouth's lead to 38-24 before the fireworks began with 6:28 left in the fourth quarter.

Albany held a 501 to 460 advantage in total yardage in the game, but the Hawks' defense made one big stop after another all afternoon when they needed it.

Grimes led the Hawks with ten tackles, including five solo stops. Reid had a fabulous all-around game, finishing with nine tackles (7 solo), three pass breakups and a fumble recovery. Ryan Moran recorded six tackles, including a tackle for loss, and Wright added five tackles and a forced fumble.

"We definitely knew Sibley was a good back," said Grimes. "Watching film day in and day out we knew it was going to take all of us to tackle him, so we were just trying to run to the ball and gang tackle."

Callahan thought the defense came up with big plays in big spots Saturday.

"While on defense we didn't stop Albany on a down after down basis, we did come up with some big plays," added Callahan. "As long as you're playing that way, we're going to give the ball back to our offense, which has a lot of weapons."

Muskett, who completed 13-of-21 passes for 187 yards with a touchdown and an interception, managed the game flawlessly. Although it wasn't a huge game statistically, his leadership and game awareness allowed the Hawks to keep pace and maintain their lead throughout the game with one timely play after another.

"I think we all just generally believe that when we play our game no one can beat us," said Muskett following the game. "We're an extremely confident group right now. We know that we have guys outside and inside, on both sides of the line of scrimmage, guys that can make plays everywhere on the field. So, we know when we play together as one unit there's not many people in this country that can stop us."