Ewing, NJ (11/01/03) - Sophomore quarterback JOHN DIGIROLAMO (Morris Plains, NJ/Parsippany Hills) connected with JASPER HANKINS (Union, NJ/Union) from 25 yards in the first overtime as Montclair State knocked off 16th-ranked The College of New Jersey, 34-31, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference thriller at Lions Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

DiGirolamo threw five TD passes, tying the Red Hawks single-game record while Hankins hauled in three of them. The win was MSU's seventh straight (7-1) and kept the Red Hawks unbeaten (4-0) in the New Jersey Athletic Conference.

MSU can capture the NJAC championship with a win at Rowan on November 15th. Montclair will have a bye week on November 8th.

In a back-and-forth game, the Lions forced the overtime as Bob Schurtz hit Joe Franzone on an 11-yard touchdown pass with 30 seconds left to tie the game at 28-28. In the overtime, TCNJ got the ball first and took the lead as Blake Abbot kicked a 36-yard field goal to make the score, 31-28.

Montclair took its possession and DiGirolamo fired an incompletion on the first play. On the next, DiGirolamo found Hankins down the middle of the field in the end zone for the touchdown, sending the Red Hawk sideline into a frenzy.

The oldest active college football rivalry in New Jersey was tied 7-7 at the half, but Montclair State took the lead on its first possession in the third quater. ERIC FERRIOL (Belleville, NJ/Belleville) returned the kickoff 45 yards to the TCNJ 47. DiGirolamo hit Brian Retiemeyer (West Orange, NJ/West Orange) for 11 yards to the Lions' 35 and on the next play, he found Hankins down the middle into the end zone for a 35-yard touchdown. The Lions would answer back with 3:33 left in the period as they marched 80 yards in 12 plays capped off by a Schurtz one-yard run retying the game at 14-14.

Sophomore PAUL GOLDEN (Seaside Park, NJ/Central Regional) helped set up MSU's next touchdown as he returned a punt 33 yards to the TCNJ 43. EUGENE VICK (Newark, NJ/Hillside) ran for 13 yards and two plays later, DiGirolamo hooked up with STEVE ARMSTRONG (Rutherford, NJ/St. Mary's) on a 31-yard score for a 21-14 Montclair advantage with 14:53 left in the fourth.

But the Lions responded again with another long, clock consuming drive as they moved 16 plays and 65 yards in 6:35, converting five third downs, before Jon Hedgepath ran in from a yard out - his second TD of the game. That made the score 21-21with 8:18 remaining.

Montclair re-took the lead for a third time on its next possession as it needed just four plays. DiGirolamo hit Armstrong for 38 yards to the TCNJ 27. An incompletion and one-yard run left MSU with a 3rd-and-9 where DiGirolamo came up with a huge play. Avoiding a sack and scrambling to his left, he threw back across his body to a streaking Hankins in the in the end zone to put the Red Hawks up 28-21with 6:50 to go.

DiGirolamo, who has thrown nine touchdown passes against TCNJ in his two career games, was 12-of-25 for 236 yards as he matched Ed Collins' single-game mark set in 2001. Hankins also tied the single-game mark forTD catches that he himself matched last year against TCNJ.

Defensively, Golden had a team-high 13 tackles for the Red Hawks defense, which played over 40-minutes of the contest. RAY MEYER (Hasbrouck Heights, NJ/Hasbrouck Heights) had 10 tackles, four tackles for loss and 2 1/2 sacks while DARNELL WEBSTER (Northfield, NJ/Plainfield) had two sacks. JOHN LENNOX (Carteret, NJ/Carteret) and MORGAN BURKLOW (Pompton Plains, NJ/Pequannock) each had 13 tackles.

Montclair, which has won fie straight against the Lions, leads the series, 44-25-2. The Red Hawks outgained TCNJ, 301-299 despite holding the ball for only 21:06 in the game.