Trick & Treat: Unique formations spark Monmouth football to 6th straight win

WEST LONG BRANCH -- Monmouth football broke out the tricks with the treats this Halloween, and the Hawks had the Bryant defense seeing ghosts all Saturday afternoon at Kessler Stadium.

After hitting the road on six of their first eight games, the FCS No. 17 Hawks came home for the holiday and delivered an emphatic victory - their sixth straight - in their return. With several unique running designs to spark the offense, Monmouth (7-2) raced out to an early 24-0 lead and never looked back as the team cruised to a 34-21 victory.

"I was very happy with how we played in all three phases. Guys had great energy. I thought we were the more physical team today, and that was a dangerous team," Monmouth head coach Jeff Gallo said. "We did a really good job from the start. We're trying to make it known what it's like to play us here at home."

After a relatively slow start in the first half in a dominant 49-13 win over Hampton last week, the Hawks wasted no time setting the tone against Bryant (5-4) at home. On the opening drive, the Hawks marched 75 yards to the end zone before finishing the possession with a first glimpse at their offensive innovation: a pistol formation with the quarterback motioning out to receiver to reveal a wildcat formation. Elijah Jennings took the snap and ran a counter right up the middle for an 18-yard touchdown.

"Just banking those reps all week," center Kevin Shriner said. "It's really a shout out to our scout team, giving us a great look. It's a great job by the running backs rotating, no matter who's back there taking the wildcat, I know they're going to get through."

All four of Monmouth's touchdowns came on some variation of that wildcat offensive concept, including two explosive touchdown runs of 37 and 55 yards in the first half that put the game firmly in the grasp of the Hawks by halftime. It was another banner day for the team's dynamic backfield duo, as Jennings finished with 167 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries while Kenny Smith Jr. had 162 yards and two scores on 18 runs.

Combined with a lights out defensive performance for three quarters and a strong day for the much-improved special teams unit, highlighted by two field goals by Sky Sholder, the Hawks were unquestionably the superior team against a Bryant squad that had emerged as a potential contender for the conference title before losing to Stony Brook last week.

"Skyler's done a great job," Gallo said. "When it's time to kick a field goal, we trust that he can get those points. I think in general, our special teams coach Dennis Long has done a great job of improving every week. We've gotten better every week. Our kickoff team is really fun to watch right now, and we found some good returns."

The Monmouth defense delivered an early dagger with an interception by Omar Ibrahim on Bryant's first play from scrimmage in the second half. It was both a steady defensive performance and one shaped by the Hawks' ability to generate negative plays.

"We preach it all week, every week: we want to start fast and finish faster," linebacker Charlie Sasso said. "We want to start the game exactly how we did. We obviously want a better finish to the game than we had. Our coaches put us in a great spot to really finish through practice every day, and I think that's transitioning over to games where we're playing harder in the fourth quarter."

The Bulldogs got two fourth quarter touchdowns, including one with 27 seconds remaining, to add some window dressing to the result. But it was arguably the best performance of the season for the Monmouth defense, which held Bryant to 94 rushing yards and 39 passing yards through the first three quarters. Linebacker Ryan Russo was another individual star in the game, finishing with two sacks.

"He works harder than anybody I know. We have team lifts every week, he's lifting extra on his own every week. He's in at night lifting, he's at home doing recovery," Sasso said. "He puts everything into this that he has and it really shows in the way he plays."

The lone blemish was the modest passing game, which was scarcely needed given the dominance on the ground. Quarterback Frankie Weaver finished 10-for-20 for 81 passing yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. It was Monmouth's lowest passing yardage total in a victory since 2002.

"We're going to try to be balanced all the time. And balance means we can throw it when we want to throw it and run it when we want to run it," Gallo said. "We were having success early. We could stay with that. These guys did a great job of finding holes, and there were also some long explosive runs, which set us up for great success. But we're going to continue to fight to be balanced."

Ultimately, balance wasn't necessary Saturday given the Hawks ability to bulldoze their way to a victory against a Bryant front that was rated highly coming into the matchup.

"It fires us up every time. Everybody's working as one, everybody's on the same page," offensive guard Reed Collins said. "Seeing them bust those long runs gets us really excited and we're gonna be a really exciting offense as we keep going forward."

Monmouth's 319 rushing yards were a testament to work of the offensive line, although they did concede two sacks after not allowing one through 507 snaps. It's proof the team still has more room to grow, a good point of motivation to counterbalance the team's immense success through the first two months of the season.

"I'm proud of how hard these guys work every week," Gallo said. "There's still a lot of football left, and we're gonna focus NC A&T and that's a one-week season. And that's what I'm proud of these guys to be able to do is compartmentalize—learn from the win or the loss and then focus on the next opponent. That's what I'm the most proud of and we've done a good job of that and we're gonna keep doing that."

The Hawks now sit alone atop the CAA standings with a 6-0 record in conference play, the last unbeaten team. No. 25 Albany, the team that ruined Monmouth's playoff bid a year ago, has emerged as an unlikely ally of sorts after toppling No. 15 Campbell in a 45-35 win. Monmouth beat Albany 28-20 on Sept. 19, which means the Hawks have the clear path to their first conference title since 2019 and their first as a member of the Coastal Athletic Association.

Monmouth also knows all too well the pain of being undercut by a loss late in the season after that season-ending loss to Albany last November. With three games left, there's still plenty of room for variables. With two upcoming games against teams with losing records, it might seem like a manageable slate. But the double-edged sword means any losses would be more damaging to the Hawks' playoff hopes.

As this week's results demonstrated, there are no guarantees in the CAA. And next week's opponent, North Carolina A&T (4-5) has now won three straight games.

"We said it all offseason. Our motto was leave no doubt," Sasso said. "We don't want to leave anything up to anyone else other than how we perform on the field."