Montclair, NJ – Senior quarterback Lemar Johnson registered 350 yards of total offense and accounted for four touchdowns as Morrisville State claimed a share of the New Jersey Athletic Conference championship with a 38-20 victory over Montclair State on Saturday afternoon.

Running back Cristian Pena rushed for 128 yards and two scores as the Mustangs closed out their season at 8-2, 6-1 in the NJAC as it concluded its best season in program history since moving to the Division III ranks in 2008. Morrisville also kept alive its chances for an NCAA Playoff bid and could earn that spot with a Rowan loss to The College of New Jersey next Friday evening.

Senior running back TARIQ TURNER rushed for a pair of touchdowns for the No. 23 Red Hawks (7-2, 5-1 NJAC), who had their seven-game winning streak snapped. The loss also severely damaged MSU's playoff chances as Montclair lost out on an opportunity for the NJAC's automatic bid.

A victory by the Red Hawks over Kean next week would give MSU a share of the NJAC title along with Morrisville and potentially Rowan, which is also 5-1 in the NJAC. If all three times are tied, Rowan would claim the automatic bid by virtue of the league's tiebreaker which is first-half point differential among the tied teams. If Rowan were to lose, the Mustangs would get the bid as a result of its win over Montclair State.

Johnson, the NJAC's reigning Offensive Player of the Year, engineered a 12-play, 63-yard drive to open the game capping it off with a 2-0 run for a 7-0 Morrisville lead 4:24 into the contest. Montclair State would answer back with 69-yard drive. Sophomore wide receiver Levesque pulled in a 14-yard pass and TARIQ TURNER raced 41 yards to the Morrisville 3 before taking it into the end zone two plays later knotting the game at 7-7 with 7:01 left in the first quarter.

A blocked punt by the Red Hawks' SHAON STEPHENSON set up MSU at the Mustangs 36 however Montclair couldn't capitalize and was forced to put which landed at the Morrisville 19.  Johnson then led a 10-play, 81-yard drive which ended with a Josh Powell 21-yard reception making the score 13-7 after the extra-point attempt was blocked.
It would get even better for Morrisville as the Mustangs recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and turned that into a 1-yard run by Pena which boosted the lead to 20-7 with 11:38 remaining in the second.

Morrisville held that 13-point lead into halftime but the Red Hawks quickly cut that down to one score in the third quarter. BILLY MERZ returned the kickoff 27 yards to the MSU 42. Turner ran 11 yards on the first play before RYAN DAVIES found a streaking Levesque down the right sideline for a 47-yard touchdown, trimming the lead to 20-14 just 48 seconds into the third.

The Mustangs answered right back with another long drive, this one 83 yards on 12 plays that included an 18-yard by Johnson on 3^rd-and-1 down to the MSU 33. Johnson added a 12-yard completion to Anthony Mella (Brooklyn, NJ / Grady) to the MSU 8 and Pena finished off the drive with a touchdown making the score 26-14.
The lead grew to 32-14 early in the fourth as Morrisville bridged a 74-yard drive between the two quarters with the last play a 27-yard touchdown from Johnson to Jordan Charbonneau (Corinth, NY / Corinth) with 13:43 remaining.  Montclair got the score back 13 seconds later as Merz returned the kickoff 61 yards to the Morrisville 15. Turner followed with a 15-yard touchdown run bringing the Red Hawks within 32-20.

But Morrisville countered with another long drive going 61 yards with Johnson and Powell connecting on a six-yard touchdown with 9:57 to play for what turned out to be the final score of the game.

Johnson finished 24-of-35 for 246 yards through the air and added 104 on 23 carries on the ground as Morrisville rolled up 535 yards of total offense on 97 plays while holding the ball for 42:12 of the game. Pena had 28 carries for 133 yards while Powell pulled in 10 receptions for 128 yards. Defensively, Caleb Wright (Cortland, NY / Cortland Jr.-Sr.) led the defense with six tackles and a forced fumble.

Turner totaled 84 rushing yards for Montclair State, which played without leading ground-gainer DENZEL NIEVES who missed the game with an injury. Levesque had 10 catches for 116 yards as Davies completed 17-of-27 for 178 yards. Merz, ERIC GARGIULO and Michael Tennpenny had 12 tackles apiece while MICHAEL KLIMEK and BILL SHIMKO added nine tackles each. Nick magnum registered seven tackles and a sack.

MSU takes on Kean next week in Union, NJ at 1:00 pm.