2008 Woodie Awards
Red Hawks Win Their Sixth Straight; 34 - 26
Lou Ruggieri
Issue date: 10/30/03 Section: Sports
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The scoreboard told the final score of the Montclair State Redhawks win at home against the Buffalo State Bengals on Saturday. But what it didn't tell was the story of the two halves of football played by MSU.
The first half was sheer domination for the Red Hawks. Scoring a total of 27 first half points, MSU showed their talent. There was no questioning why they are now 6-1 because the offense was firing on all cylinders. Kicker Vincent Duffont started the attack with one of his two field goals of the half (28, 44). Jasper Hankins added fuel to the fire by capping off a nine play 80-yard drive with a 16-yard TD catch from quarterback John DiGirolamo who went completed 14 of 21 passes for 184 yards and two TD passes.
The star of the offense though had to be running back Eugene Vick. He book ended Hankins TD with a pair of touchdowns to accompany his 164 first half yards on 19 carries. He totaled 186 yards on 26 carries while averaging 7.2 yards per carry for the game. Cornerback Shaun Murray said it best, "The offense did a tremendous job." At the end of the first half, it was MSU 27, Buffalo State 10.
The team that came out of the locker rooms for MSU for the second half however, were not the same Red Hawks. They were more akin to some polar opposite practice squad that forgot they had another half of football to play before they could tally the win. Although John DiGirolamo and Jasper Hankins hooked up one more time to make the score 34-10 in the third, defensive coach Todd Argresta put it best, "we spent too much time looking at the scoreboard."
The 1-6 Bengals on the other hand, played their hearts out in the second half. Their defense rallied to force the Redhawks to go a paltry three of 12 on third down conversions and added three more sacks to their first half three. Late in the fourth quarter, the Buffalo State offense added eight points to the scoreboard by driving 84 yards on seven plays to make the score 34-18 still in favor of MSU.
The first half was sheer domination for the Red Hawks. Scoring a total of 27 first half points, MSU showed their talent. There was no questioning why they are now 6-1 because the offense was firing on all cylinders. Kicker Vincent Duffont started the attack with one of his two field goals of the half (28, 44). Jasper Hankins added fuel to the fire by capping off a nine play 80-yard drive with a 16-yard TD catch from quarterback John DiGirolamo who went completed 14 of 21 passes for 184 yards and two TD passes.
The star of the offense though had to be running back Eugene Vick. He book ended Hankins TD with a pair of touchdowns to accompany his 164 first half yards on 19 carries. He totaled 186 yards on 26 carries while averaging 7.2 yards per carry for the game. Cornerback Shaun Murray said it best, "The offense did a tremendous job." At the end of the first half, it was MSU 27, Buffalo State 10.
The team that came out of the locker rooms for MSU for the second half however, were not the same Red Hawks. They were more akin to some polar opposite practice squad that forgot they had another half of football to play before they could tally the win. Although John DiGirolamo and Jasper Hankins hooked up one more time to make the score 34-10 in the third, defensive coach Todd Argresta put it best, "we spent too much time looking at the scoreboard."
The 1-6 Bengals on the other hand, played their hearts out in the second half. Their defense rallied to force the Redhawks to go a paltry three of 12 on third down conversions and added three more sacks to their first half three. Late in the fourth quarter, the Buffalo State offense added eight points to the scoreboard by driving 84 yards on seven plays to make the score 34-18 still in favor of MSU.