BY JEREMY SCHILLING

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Losing 27-0 is not fun. That was clear from being around the Monmouth football team this week, who were clearly trying to put in a better effort this week against Liberty than they did last week against Charleston Southern, all while searching for their first Big South Conference win.

Well they certainly turned it up from last week, putting in high-energy effort on Saturday in Lynchburg, Virginia and ending up in a shootout with Liberty University. First goal accomplished.

But sometimes shootouts leave little margin for error, and that’s exactly what to Monmouth, as a sack-fumble late in the fourth quarter on quarterback Brandon Hill led to a field goal that turned a seven point game into a 10-point game, and helping Liberty (7-3, 3-0) never look back, beating Monmouth (5-4, 0-3) 34-24 and leaving the Hawks winless in the Big South Conference and on a three-game overall losing streak.

“I was really proud of the way our team played today,” said Monmouth Head Coach Kevin Callahan. “They put forth a great effort and made some difficult plays in critical situations. Unfortunately, we were not able to pull the game out in the 4th quarter. I felt that we went into the game with a great plan on both sides of the ball and our players did a good job of executing it.”

The game was tied at 24 after a 37-yard Hill touchdown throw to wide receiver Darren Ambush when Liberty launched the longest drive of the game, a 15-play, 77-yard drive that lasted 8:03 and was capped off by a two-yard run by running back D.J. Abnar that made it 31-24 Flames with 11:15 left in the ballgame.

But six plays into the Hawks next possession Hill was stripped by Liberty’s Chima Uzowihe, with the ball recovered by the Flames’ Nick Newman at the Hawks 43 yard line. The Monmouth defense successfully kept Liberty out of the end zone but the drive did lead to points via a 27-yard John Lunsford field goal, giving Liberty a 10-point lead at 34-24 with 3:27 left in the ballgame.

The ensuing Monmouth possession from deep in their own territory was a three-and-out that featured two sacks on Hill, and after Monmouth couldn’t get a stop on the Liberty possession that followed, the game was over and so was their hopes of heading home with a victory.

It’ll be an emotional defeat for Monmouth, one that saw them put out 344 yards of total offense and saw them re-establish a running game for the first time in a month. They were also a depleted group, playing without key components Neal Sterling, Eric Sumlin, Dan Sullivan, Kevin Butler, Eric Macik, and Andrew Jurcyznski. That’s what made this effort all the more impressive and the result all the more disappointing for Monmouth – as it was a lot of guys who weren’t expected to see a major role having a major role and play well while doing it.

The game did not start off on a positive note for Monmouth, as Liberty took the opening possession right down the field, capped off by Abnar’s first touchdown of the game from five yards out that quickly made it 7-0 Flames.

But the Hawks fought back immediately, using a bit of trickery to get in the endzone by way of wide receiver Matt Choi taking a reverse and throwing it for a 68-yard scoring grab to tight end Hakeem Valles, tying the game at seven and seemingly giving the Hawks the emotional lift they needed to know they had a chance to hang with this team.

The game then became a back-and-forth affair, with few punts or defensive stops and lots of impressive offense. Liberty scored next, by way of a 31-yard pass from quarterback Josh Woodrum to wide receiver Darrin Peterson. Monmouth responded with a three-yard pass from Hill to fullback Jake Mauro to tie it at 14 with 12:09 left in the second quarter.

The teams then exchanged four punts, the last of which being a Monmouth punt that only went 30 yards and gave Liberty prime field position at the Hawks 34 yard line with 3:46 left in the half. Needing a defensive stand to hold the scoring to a minimum, Monmouth only let them get as far as the nine yard line, with a Lunsford 26-yard field goal ending the half and making it 17-14 Liberty.

The second half started with Monmouth getting a 24-yard Lucas Santangelo field goal to tie the game on the opening possession, which capped off a 15-play, 68-yard drive. Liberty immediately responded with a 13-yard touchdown throw from Woodrum to Gabe Henderson, which was followed on the ensuing possession by the aforementioned Hill pass to Ambush that tied the game at 24 and seemed to put Monmouth right in the thick of things to get its first Big South win.

For the game Hill was 18-of-28 passing for 189 yards and two touchdowns, while Lavon Chaney gained 92 yards on 14 carries on the ground. Woodrum was 13-of-19 passing for 203 yards and two touchdowns while Abnar had 164 yards and those two touchdowns on the ground off 39 carries.

So now Monmouth will try next Saturday to get that elusive first conference win, this time on the road against Coastal Carolina, who currently sit at 10-0 and at the top of the Big South standings. Kickoff is 3pm.