Montclair, NJ - The Montclair State football team rode the play of its defense and special teams as the Red Hawks closed out the 2017 season with a 27-20 victory over William Paterson at Sprague Field on Saturday afternoon.
MSU scored on the opening kickoff and returned two interceptions for touchdowns as Montclair State finished 5-5 overall, 5-4 in the
NJAC as it completed a sweep of the New Jersey based teams in the league. The Red Hawks also improved to 43-3-1 against its local rival winning for the 23 times in the last 24 meetings.
Quarterback Cornelius
Kinchen threw for 209 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Pioneers (0-10, 0-9
NJAC).
Montclair State took a 7-0 lead before the fans in attendance fully sat down in their seats.
Kason Campbell received the opening kickoff and moved up along the left sideline before breaking free at midfield and outrunning the coverage for a 91-yard touchdown 15 seconds into the game. It was the first time MSU returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown since October 2003 when Shaun Murray raced 85 yards versus Kean in a 9-0 victory.
The teams traded possession with William Paterson getting the back with 11:49 to go in the first. On the second play from scrimmage, Kinchen looked to swing a pass out to the right side, however lineman
NICK VOLPE tipped the ball in the air, came down with it and rambled 23 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 Montclair advantage.
A 27-yard punt return by
JULANEE PRINCE to the WPU 44 helped set up MSU's next score, a 40-yard field goal by
HUNTER DALY with 5:03 left making the score 17-0. Cornerback
TYQUESE JACKSON picked off Kinchen on the Pioneer play and returned it to the WPU 16. That miscue turned into a 29-yard field goal by Daly for a 20-0 lead with 3:37 left.
William Paterson's Alex D'Angelo recovered a muffed punt at the MSU 13 in the second quarter. The Pioneers could not capitalize on the turnover however it would pay off later on as two possessions later it took over at the MSU 37 with 3:59 to go before halftime. Dahmiere Willis had a 13 yard run and later added five more down to the MSU 5. A penalty on fourth down kept the drive going and William Paterson cashed in as Aqeel Daniels-Lundy scored from a yard out with 16 ticks cutting the lead to 20-7 at the break.
Getting the ball to start the second half, WPU stalled however another muffed punt gave the Pioneers the ball at the MSU 36. William Paterson would drive to the MSU 6, however
SHAON STEPHENSON intercepted Kinchen in the end zone to stop the scoring threat.
William Paterson pulled closer early in the fourth with a nine-play, 68-yard drive capped off by Kinchen's seven-yard pass to Kelvin White, Jr. with 9:46 left. The extra point was no good as Montclair held a 20-13 lead.
The Pioneers forced a three-and-out on the next MSU touch of the ball. But on the first play, Jackson stepped in front of another pass and brought its back 32 yards for the touchdown widening MSU's lead to 27-13 with 7:50 remaining.
WPU answered a 14-play, 73-yard drive that included two fourth-down conversions. Kinchen hit William Frese from the MSU 1 as the Pioneers got back within a touchdown at 27-20 with exactly three minutes left.
The Pioneers got another defensive stop and using its timeouts got the ball back with 1:37 remaining at its own 24. Kinchen found White for 18 yards and then completed an 11-yard pass to Tyler Vivian on fourth down out to the MSU 33. A spike to stop the clock and two incompletions left WPU with a 4
th-and-10. This time William Paterson couldn't convert as senior
MICHAEL STRADFORD intercepted Kinchen's at the MSU 28 and returned it 10 yards to seal the game.
Linebacker
NICK CATALANO led the MSU defensive effort with 11 tackles while lineman
CHRIS PALMA had nine tackles. Stradford and
JOSHUA BETTS had eight tackles apiece for Montclair State, which intercepted five passes in a game for the first time since picking off six at Southern Virginia in 2014.
Daly's two field goals gave him 11 on the season, the most by an MSU kicker since Jake DelVento had 14 in 2011. Daly finished the year 11-of-14 setting a new single-season mark for field goal percentage at 78.6 percent.
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