newjerseynewsroom.com

BY JEREMY SCHILLING

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. -- Bouncing back well from a mistake is always a good quality to have.

The good teams bounce back at the next available opportunity. The bad ones have it hold them back and prohibit them from success.

As anyone who has followed the Monmouth University football team knows, they lost every which way last year. And when a freak play happened, they basically crumbled. But they set out for 2012 to be different. And today was a prime example of that, and the focal point of the Hawks (3-1, 2-0) 27-14 victory at home today over Sacred Heart (0-3, 0-1).

Monmouth football defensive back Pat Gray made a mistake. He admitted so to his team at the halftime. After intercepting Sacred Heart quarterback Tim Little with no time left in the half he should have either given himself up immediately or knocked the pass down.

Instead, after intercepting the ball at the one-yard line with the half over, he allowed himself to be pushed, and upon being pushed into the end zone he fumbled, and it was recovered by the Pioneers for a touchdown by Tyler Dube to tie it at 14 at the half. The call was controversial, but the facts of the situation weren’t: a Sacred Heart touchdown was just scored when, if the right mental decision was made, it should have been a seven point halftime lead for the Hawks.

Monmouth could have crumbled after being faced with this out of nowhere turn of events. But instead they didn’t.

They calmly came out, got the second half kickoff, and drove 47 yards in 11 plays, leading to a 32-yard Eric Spillane field goal to make it 17-14.

The offensive would tack on 10 more points, the defense pitched a shutout, Gray got redemption with an interception later in the second half, and they never looked back.

Quarterback Kyle Frazier thought it was big moment in the game.

“Some of that stuff did happen last year and I think that’s the difference between last year’s team and this year’s team,” Frazier said. “We were young last year and when something usually went wrong we kind of folded sometimes. But this year we came into the locker room and said, ‘Everything’s fine, we just gotta keep doing what we’re doing. Be smarter out there, and limit the penalties’ and we knew we would be fine. We knew if we just came out and played our own game we’d be fine in the second half.”

Head Coach Kevin Callahan was pleased at what the bounce back win got them.

“We’re happy to get our second win in Northeast Conference play,” Callahan said. “That puts us 2-0 and puts us in control of our own fate in terms of the conference race.”

Following the Spillane field goal, Monmouth next scored two possessions later. After getting the ball at their own 49 yard line, they drove 51 yards in eight plays, including a nice pitch and catch to Mike McLafferty that got the ball down to the four yard line. On the following play Frazier hit Tristan Roberts in the front left corner of the end zone to make it 24-14 with 1:29 left in the 3rd quarter. Frazier finished 32-of-43 passing for 313 yards and two touchdowns.

They would tack on another score on their next possession when Justin Pandorf ran a fake punt 32 yards to put Monmouth into field goal range. Six plays later Spillane made a 32-yard field goal to make it 27-14 and also entered the record books, tying the Monmouth record for career field goals with 31.

Gray’s second interception and a turnover on downs prevented any more chances of the Pioneers getting back into the game.

Monmouth got out to a quick 14-0 lead in this game, when they scored on consecutive possessions in the first quarter.

Bill Louch intercepted Little on Sacred Heart’s second possession, and Monmouth turned that into six points when Frazier hit Roberts from 15 yards out for the first of his two touchdowns. Roberts finished with two touchdowns and 71 yards receiving on six catches.

The second touchdown came on a 7-yard touchdown run on a reverse by Eric Sumlin to make it 14-0 Monmouth. The drive featured two fantastic receptions by Lamar Davenport, who has developed a knack for making circus catches.

“We got a lot of playmakers,” Davenport said. “I just try to play my role and fit in where I can get in. Kyle’s a great quarterback so I know if I just run my routes and be where I’m supposed to be he’ll find me.”

Sacred Heart got their first touchdown two drives later when Little hit Robert Dim for a 33-yard score.

Little went 18-of-33 passing for 199 yards, one touchdown, and three interceptions overall.

Sacred Heart would score again – off Gray’s mistake in the end zone – to tie it at the half but it’s all they would get, as the Hawks rose up in a big moment and bounced back successfully, notching another victory.

Monmouth begins a two-game road trip next Saturday at Albany in a 1 p.m. kickoff.