Montclair, NJ (11/19/05) –  Senior Jeff Chick had five catches for 111 yards and a touchdown in being named Most Outstanding Player for Widener, 27-18 winners over Montclair State in the ECAC South Atlantic Bowl at Leslie C. Quick Jr. Stadium.

The victory gives the Pioneers (8-3) their first postseason title since capturing the 1981 NCAA Division III championship and the first triumph in their three ECAC contests.  

Montclair State finishes its season at 5-5 as it lost in an ECAC title game for the first time in three appearances. MSU won the 1993 Southwest title over Dickinson (17-9) and defeated Widener, 15-7, in the 1998 Southeast Championship.

The Red Hawks struck first early in the second quarter when Vin Doffont booted a 32-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. The field goal was the 25th for Doffont, who moved into a tie for second place on the all-time MSU field goal list, tying Brent Grablachoff (1999-2002).

Widener was quick to answer on the next drive. Freshman Khalee Prothro rushed 34 yards to the MSU 14 yard line and sophomore Dominic Rock followed with a touchdown run with 10:12 left for a 7-3 margin.

The Pioneers struck once more late in the half for a 14-3 lead.  Chick hauled in a pass and raced 26 yards to the Red Hawks four yard line.  On the next play, senior Mike Lomas found a wide open Mike Schmidt in the end zone with 1:13 to go in the half.

Widener bumped its lead to 21-3 with 6:31 to play in the third quarter thanks to Chick's 28-yard touchdown catch from Lomas.  A.J. Lettizia caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from ERIC FERRIOL and RYAN MCCOACH added a one-yard scoring run for MSU.  They were sandwiched around two Widener field goals from senior Frank Vinci.

Lomas completed 20-of-34 passes for 266 yards, becoming the first player in school history to throw for over 8,000 yards (8,163).  Todd Fairlie finished with 15 tackles and fellow senior Fran Golden  also played solidly with 10 tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Ferriol completed 24-of-49 passes for 301 yards with McCoach contributing 17 carries for 91 yards.  BRIAN REITMEYER caught five passes for 96 yards for Montclair State, which owned a 417-341 edge in total offense. Lettizia had five catches for 61 yards while FRED CARTER also had five for 60 yards.

 Defensively, linebacker MORGAN BURKLOW had nine tackles, including three for loss and a sack while FRED DEFINIS added eight tackles.