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Montclair State (2-0) Tops #9 Springfield, 33-30;

Next up - # 7 Wesley

Upper Montclair, NJ - Montclair State stuffed #9 Springfield College's triple-option offense early, and when it counted most, late in the game to come away with an intense, hard-fought victory, 33-30.  QB Mike Jump threw for three TD passes as his counterpart, Chris Sharpe, crossed the goal line four times for the Pride.  Special team mishaps play keyed several scoring opportunities for both squads.  For Montclair, it was their second win over a Top 20 D-III team in two weeks.  Look for the Red Hawks to make a move into this week's rankings.

     Montclair forced SC to punt after three plays when DB Emmanuel Ihim rushed in to block the Pride punt to set the Red Hawks up at the Pride's 24.  PK Mario Capazzolli hit a 40-yard FG to give MSU a quick 3-0 lead.  Hawk RB Ryan  McCoach (114 yards, 1 TD) ran 18 yards to the Springfield one as the first quarter ended.  Jump connected with TE Jeremy Mercer who made a diving catch on a quick slant out pattern from the two for a 9-0 Red Hawk lead.  The snap for the PAT went high - an earlier snap for a punt went low - and sailed past the kicker where SC's Joe Harasymiak picked it up and returned the ball the length of the field for a two-point conversion for the Pride.  It was the first such score Collegefootballfan.com had seen since the 1998 Syracuse-Virginia Tech game.  The score reversal kept the Pride within a FG of the Hawks for much of the game.

     Springfield took the ensuing kick-off out to the midfield stripe.  On a fourth and one at the MSU five, FB Andrew Jackson put the Pride on the one-inch line, and Sharpe snuck it in from there.  With Chris Bush's conversion, the score was tied, 9-9.  Springfield's next series continued after the punter bobbled the punt and was roughed by Montclair for an automatic first down.  Four plays later, another bad snap came in low where the punter's knee touched the round, giving the Red Hawks possession at SC's 17.  A 16-yard slant pass over the middle to WR AJ Letizia put the Hawks on the one where McCoach went in for the MSU score to lead, 16-9, with Capozzolli's conversion.  Springfield retaliated immediately with a 60-yard drive with Sharpe running the option for a 10-yard touchdown.  Knotted at sixteen-all, with 1:08 left in the half, Jump fired a pass to Letizia on a sideline pattern to the right.  The WR snagged the ball over his head and shook a tackler as he turned up the field to race for a 65-yard TD.  The Hawks took a 23-16 lead into the half.

     We noted the MSU cheerleading squad consisting of 29 women and one "lucky" guy.  There was a pretty good crowd on hand on a beautiful day for football.  Halftime festivities consisted of two fans attempting a "Kick for dinner" sponsored by Applebee's and Chevy's.  Neither converted.  The MSU "pep band" didn't provide much pep at halftime as many fans lined up in the one line for concessions.  Pee Wee flag football players ages 5-6 from Vernon, NJ played a game on the Pro-turf during intermission.

    Montclair started the second half from their own 15, but three running plays got them to the SC 21 where they settled for Capazolli's 38-yard FG for a 26-16 lead.  Springfield came right back with a 53-yard drive and a one-yard dive by Sharpe to trail, 26-23.  Montclair's offense continued to click though starting from its own thirty-nine and driving to the five where Jump threw a TD pass once again to Mercer at the right pylon for a 33-23 lead.

     The final stanza started with SC at its own 35.  A key seven-yard run on a fourth-and-one at Montclair's 21 kept the drive alive to culminate with Sharpe's fourth TD from the one with 6:22 left in the game to close the gap, 33-30.  Montclair was held to a three-and-out, but set the Pride back to its own 19 following the punt.  With 3:30 left, Springfield made a desperation call as Head Coach Mike DeLong decided to go for broke on fourth and eleven from his own eighteen.  Not adept at passing (Sharpe finished 2 of 8 for 26 yards), the Pride tried to run a double-reverse that looked doomed at the start.  The Red Hawks threw the Pride for a five-yard loss and took over that SC's fourteen with 3:09 left.  On a fourth and one at the five, the Pride stopped MSU short on what appeared to be a bad spot by the officials.  With 2:48 remaining, SC took over with no TO's remaining.   On fourth and four from the eight, Sharpe's pass fell incomplete.  Jump took a knee on three consecutive plays to run out the clock, and the game was history.  MSU had beaten its second Top 20 foe in two weeks to remain undefeated at 2-0.  The Pride, 10-2 a year ago, fell to 1-1. 

     The Red Hawks travel next week to Dover, DE to face its most formidable foe yet.  Wesley College (3-0), winner of 24 consecutive home games including this week's over Widener, was a 2006 D-III semi-finalist.  The Wolverines lost to runner-up Wisconsin-Whitewater last season.  Springfield travels to Alfred U. to start Empire 8 competition with it sights to repeat as that conference's champion.  Collegefootballfan.com  races to finish The Goal as we take our first trip ever to Oklahoma to add two of the last for teams remaining.  On Friday night, we add Oklahoma as our 116th addition when the #3 Sooners

(3-0) visit The Tulsa Golden Hurricane (2-0) at Skelly Stadium.  On Saturday, we add the 1-2 Oklahoma State Cowboys as our 117th team when they host high-scoring 3-0 Texas Tech.  Check our game previews on Wednesday night.

Extra points: Both the Red Hawks and Pride play for successful, long-time coaches.  Rick Giancola is in his 25th season at Montclair and owns a 166-80-2 record.  Mike Delong is in his 24th at Springfield and owns a 135-97-2 mark.

We'll keep an eye on both when it comes to play-off season in November.