Montclair, NJ – Salisbury scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to spoil Montclair's home opener 27-24 on Saturday afternoon at Sprague field.

Quarterback Jack Lanham ran for 80 yards and two touchdowns and added 129 yards through the air and one more to help Salisbury (3-0, 1-0 NJAC) remain undefeated. RALPH MCLEAN and CRAIG MERKLE added rushing touchdowns for the Red Hawks (1-3, 0-1).

Salisbury got on the board in the first quarter after Lanaham found a streaking Shamar Gray in the middle of the field for a 39-yard score. The extra point was missed giving the Seagulls a 6-0 lead in the first quarter.

Montclair State used its special teams to jump start their offense in the second quarter. The Red Hawk pressure forced punter Michael Gillespie to hold onto the ball and force a turnover on downs, giving MSU the ball at the Salisbury 11-yard line.

Merkle ran two-yards around the left edge to tie the game up at six with 12:05 left in the first half.

The Red Hawk defense helped give MSU another short field in the second quarter. Michael Stefkov sacked Lanaham and DOMINIC FERRARA recovered for the Red Hawks, giving them the ball at the Salisbury 40-yard line.

McLean capped off a three play, 40-yard drive with a 16-yard scamper off the left edge to give the Red Hawks a 13-6 lead with 9:33 left in the second-quarter.

Following a pair of three-and-outs by both teams, Salisbury orchestrated a 10-play 92-yard drive to tie up the game with 57 seconds in the half. Lanham ran it in from 14-yards out to even the score at 13 at the half.

Montclair provided the only offense in the third quarter with a field goal. The Red Hawks got the ball down to the Salisbury 8 yard-line following a 62-yard pass from JA'QUILL BURCH to DAUNTE FLETCHER. The Red Hawks would have to settle for a 24-yard Anthony Marinel field goal to give the Red Hawks a 16-13 lead with 1:37 lead in the third quarter.

Salisbury proved to be too tough to stop in the fourth qurter. Lanham and the Seagulls answered the Red Hawks as he scored from 3-yards out to give the Seagulls a 20-16 lead with 10:24 left in the game.

The Seagulls would put the game out of reach with a nine-play 42-yard touchdown drive capped off by a Chad Gleason 4-yard touchdown run. Salisbury ran it on all nine plays and left only 3:05 remaining on the clock.

Burch would find KASON CAMPBELL for a 10-yard touchdown pass and converted the two-point conversion to make it a three-point game.

Salisbury recovered the ensuing onside kick and would kneel it three consecutive times to hold on for the 27-24 win.

ZACK ZACCONE and BRENNAN RAY each had 11 tackles in the loss. JAIER GARRETT forced a fumble and had 10 tackles for the Red Hawks. Burch ended the day 13-for-30 for 181 yards and one touchdown. He added 53 yards on the ground.

The Red Hawks travel to Ewing, NJ to square of against TCNJ next Saturday at 12 p.m.