Buena Vista, VA – For the second straight week the Montclair State football team put plenty of points on the board and gave up very little as the Red Hawks won their second straight, blanking Southern Virginia, 45-0 in an NJAC matchup on Saturday afternoon.
Senior quarterback Ryan Davies threw for 282 yards and a pair of touchdowns – both to freshman Julanee Prince as Montclair upped its record to 2-3 overall, 2-2 in the NJAC with their second win over the Knights (0-5, 0-4 NJAC) in as many meetings. The shutout was also the first by MSU since a 7-0 victory over Morrisville State in 2012.
Montclair took the opening kickoff and marched 65 yards in nine plays for the game's first score 5:35 into the contest. Davies connected with Williams on passes of 13 and 16 yards, the latter moving the ball to the SVU 19. Denzel Nieves ripped off a 13-yard run to the 1 and then barreled in on the next play giving MSU a 7-0 lead.
After forcing a punt, Montclair State put together an 80-yard scoring drive with the final 38 coming on a beautiful diving catch by Prince along the right sideline into the end zone giving the Red Hawks a 14-0 advantage with 3:33 to go in the opening quarter. Late in the second quarter, MSU pinned the Knights at their own six. Two plays into the drive, Bill Shimko intercepted a Shawn Honeycutt pass and returned it 29 yards for the touchdown making the score 21-0 with 3:46 to play before halftime.
Kicker Frank Schneeberger got the final score of the half hitting from 24 yards out with 42 ticks as Montclair State took a 24-0 lead into halftime.
Shimko would help figure into the Red Hawk scoring in the third quarter as he intercepted his second pass on the first play of the third quarter. MSU turned that miscue into a 7-play, 60-yard drive that ended when John DiStefano raced in from nine yards out for the touchdown increasing the lead to 31-0 with 12:05 left.
The Red Hawks got the ball back on their next possession and went 65 yards for the next score. Michael Petrizzo had an 11-yard reception on a 3rd-and-9 to keep the drive going as MSU moved the ball out to its own 42. Seven plays later, Montclair got a bit of good fortune as Davies picked up a misfire on the shotgun snap and found Prince again all alone in the middle of the field for a 40-yard touchdown boosting the Montclair score to 38-0 with 5:24 to play in the third.
Freshman Willie Barr, the NJAC Offensive Rookie of the Week, got the final score in the fourth as he accounted for 46 of the 64 yards on the drive which ended with his one-yard touchdown run.
The Red Hawks, who have scored 119 points the last two weeks, rolled up 491 yards, including 308 in the air. Davies was 17-of-24 with Prince and Aaron Williams each recording five receptions and 114 and 59 yards, respectively. Petrizzo had three catches for 72 yards. Barr led the ground attack with 78 yards on 14 carries. DiStefano and Nieves accounted for 43 yards apiece.
Defensively, Montclair was led by senior linebacker Michael Tenpenny, who had six tackles including the 100th of his career. Michael Stradford and Josh Brown had five apiece for MSU, which held SVU to 176 yards of offense in the game. Rahmein Herron added a 79-yard interception return while Craig Pitts and Chris Palma posted a sack apiece.
Montclair State is back home next week as the Red Hawks face Christopher Newport at Sprague Field beginning at 1:00 pm.