Monmouth football crushes Hampton, 61-10; Jaden Shirden runs for 276 yards, 4 TDs
Monmouth’s ground game flexed its muscles, with Jaden Shirden rushing for 276 yards and four touchdowns, while the Hawks’ defense shut down one of the nation’s top rushing attacks in a 61-10 pummeling of Hampton Saturday in a key Coastal Athletic Association game in West Long Branch.
With Shirden and Sone Ntoh each rushing for a pair of first-half TDs as a steady rain fell at Kessler Stadium, and the defense limiting the Pirates to an early field goal in building a 35-3 halftime advantage, the Hawks (3-3) won their second straight and improved to 2-1 in league play heading into a difficult season-ending stretch.
It was the fifth 200-yard game of Shirden's career, tying him with Pete Guerriero for the most in program history, while Monmouth's seven rushing touchdowns is the new program standard. It was Monmouth's highest point total ever at home, having scored 110 points over the last two games, with over 1,100 yards of offense.
“Obviously, very happy with the outcome today," Monmouth coach Kevin Callahan said. "I thought our team was well prepared. Our staff did a really good job over the last two weeks, including the bye, of getting the team ready to play and our guys came out with a great deal of focus, a lot of energy, and we're really intent on putting our best foot forward as a football team."
After Ntoh scored on a 4-yard TD run to put Monmouth up 7-3, Shirden followed with scoring runs of nine and 63 yards, his longest of the season. Ntoh upped their advantage to 28-3 with a 5-yard scoring run with 11 minutes left in the first half, before a defensive stop on fourth down set up a 31-yard TD pass from Marquez McCray to tight end Ashanti Caviness in the final seconds of the half.
Shirden broke a 72-yard TD run in the third quarter to make the score 54-10.
It marked the second straight big effort by Monmouth’s defense, forcing a pair of first-half turnovers while stopping Hampton on six straight possessions to close the first half. Hampton came into the game averaging 249 yards on the ground, but was limited to 151 yards, with the Pirates producing just 118 yards of offense after three quarters.
Special teams chipped in a big way as well, with T.J. Speight returning the second half kickoff 98 yards for a TD, the program's longest kickoff return for a score ever, increasing the lead to 41-3. Speight also returned a first-half kickoff 69 yards to set up a score.
Monmouth returns to action next Saturday when the Hawks travel to face Elon, which entered the weekend atop the CAA standings.
Monmouth football vs Hampton: Scouting report, analysis and prediction
WEST LONG BRANCH – So much has changed in the four years since Monmouth and Hampton last met.
Back then, Monmouth rolled to a 48-13 victory in a clash of Big South foes, with the Hawks featuring the best team in program history, winning 11 games, including an FCS Playoff game.
Now, when the two tangle at Kessler Stadium Saturday, it marks an important measuring stick for both programs as they try to find their way in the Coastal Athletic Association, with Monmouth and Hampton, both in their second season, looking to find their way as newcomers in a league featuring 15 teams for football this season.
And while Monmouth was the dominant team in the league back then, the Hawks find themselves in a position of having to prove themselves all over again against a much deeper CAA talent pool that includes a Pirates’ team that’s been very competitive this season.
By late Saturday afternoon, one of them will be in good position in the standings, while the other will be searching for answers.
HAMPTON (3-2, 1-1) at MONMOUTH (2-3, 1-1)
When: Today, 1 p.m.
Where: Kessler Stadium, West Long Branch.
TV/Streaming: SNY (tape delay at 4:30 p.m.)/FloSports.com (live).
Series: Monmouth leads the series 3-0, including a 48-13 victory in 2019.
When Monmouth has the ball
QB Marquez McCray showed what he’s capable of with a little time, throwing for 333 yards and four TDs in a 49-7 win over Lehigh last time out, while WR Dymere Miller ranks among the top receivers in the country. Allowing Monmouth’s passing game to open up avenues for the ground attack will be key. And they’ll likely have to do it without LT Jordan Hall (ankle). The rotation of RBs Jaden Shirden and Sone Ntoh, the short-yardage specialist with 8 TDs, was much better last game, with Ntoh breaking a 92-yard TD run. TE Jack Neri has 10 catches and has done a good job in the trenches. LB Qwahsin Townsell was a Preseason All-CAA first team selection, and comes off an 18-tackle effort in a loss to Campbell. DB Stanley Garner leads the Pirates with a pair of interceptions.
When Hampton has the ball
The Pirates feature a talented dual-threat QB in Chris Zellous (6-3, 220), while the RB tandem of Elijah Burris, the CAA rushing leader, with four straight 100-yard games and a gaudy 8.7-yard average, and Darren Butts, who is sixth in the CAA, and averages 6.1 yards with four TDs. Monmouth is hoping to get graduate CB Eddie Morales, a defensive captain, back from a knee injury, as well as LB Jake Brown (knee), a CAA Defensive POW earlier this season. What the Pirates have done well this season is break off big chunk plays, particularly in the running game. The Hawks have been prone to surrendering big plays this season, and in a game where one long gainer could make the difference, containing the Pirates’ backs will be key.
Prediction
Monmouth 35, Hampton 30.
Former walk-on now Hawks' captain, top tackler, emotional heartbeat
WEST LONG BRANCH – A tape measure, scale and stopwatch are time-honored tools in projecting a player’s ability to succeed at the next level. But they’ve yet to develop an accurate way to measure determination and heart, which is why there are always players like Ryan Moran.
Despite making 276 tackles for Ocean Township, including a program-record 25 in one game, Moran was undersized and underrecruited.
“In my mind, I did think I was a Division I player. I really didn’t get an opportunity out of high school,” he said.
So Moran walked on at Monmouth, worked his way up from the scout team, and now he’s a 225-pound graduate student who is a team captain and leading tackler, having started 22 straight games between being inserted into the lineup against Princeton in 2021 and this Saturday’s home CAA showdown with Hampton.
He’s been the Hawks’ heart-and-soul in many respects, making 143 tackles since getting on the field, with 8.5 for losses and 3.5 sacks, while never missing a game. And this year he’s taking on a bigger leadership role this season, helping the Hawks develop a group of young linebackers.
“I never thought I’d have the respect to be voted a captain by my teammates,” Moran said.
MORE: Hawks drub Lehigh, 49-7, rolling up over 600 yards of offense
“I think the team has a lot of respect for what he’s been able to do,” head coach Kevin Callahan said. “They recognize not only his ability in the games but the work ethic that he brings. He’s one of those guys who does everything he has to do all the time. And he’s always doing it full speed and to the best of his ability and that’s why he has had the success. He’s earned the success.”
In the first four starts of his career as a junior, he had 32 tackles, 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble. This season, he had 36 tackles over the first four games, including 13 tackles in a 42-20 season-opening loss at Florida Atlantic, an FBS opponent.
“I got the opportunity to come here late and when I did I came in with the mindset I wanted to make the most out of it. I worked my way off the scout team my second year, and once I took the spot I’ve never let it go since. Every day I come out here I just focus on getting better and beating the guy behind me.”
His leadership and production on their field has helped the defense move forward. The unit that finished last in the CAA in total defense currently ranks seventh among 15 teams.
“Coming out of high school he struck us as someone who was a very hard worker,” Callahan said. “The type of player that would do just about anything you ask of him, and do it to the best of his ability with great effort in everything he did and he certainly hasn’t disappointed us. That is who he is. That’s what he does. He’s that way in school. He has great grades, that’s why he’s going to have a masters at the end of the year.
“He’s one of those kids that came in without a scholarship but demonstrated to us that he deserved to have some scholarship money. But he earned it.”
Top backs clash
Saturday's game looms as an intriguing showdown between the two best running backs in the CAA this season.
Hampton junior Elijah Burns leads the CAA in rushing with 567 yards and a gaudy 8.7-yard average, pacing a ground game that ranks No. 1 in the league at 249.7 yards-per-game, and No. 7 nationally. Monmouth junior Jaden Shirden, third in voting for the Walter Peyton Award after rushing for 1,722 yards last season, is second with 536 yards.
It’s also a battle of the best backfields in the league, with Burns teaming with Darran Butts, sixth in the CAA in rushing, and Shirden joined by Sone Ntoh, who leads the CAA with eight TD runs and a 10.6-yard average.
Monmouth’s ability to slow the Pirates’ ground game and limit chunk plays that alter the score and field position lies at the heart of any defensive gameplan.
“Hampton is very dynamic,” Callahan said. “They’re scoring over 30 points-per-game, they have an extremely big offensive line and they’re very talented at the running back position - they are going to pose some challenges to our front seven. We’re going to have to be very sound. And we’re going to have to play very physically.”
After the 195-pound Shirden carried the ball a staggering 64 times over a two-game stretch earlier this season, the Hawks found a nice balance with Ntoh, a 230-pound short yardage specialist, last game. Shirden carried 12 times for 119 yards, while Ntoh ran eight times for 110 yards and two scores, including a 93-yard TD run.
“I think what we found out the first four weeks is we may have been asking too much of Jaden,” Callahan said. “When he was well over 30 carries-per-game that’s way too many for him - we tried to achieve more of a balance in terms of the running game and I think in that balance we found out that everybody can be more effective.”
'Records don't matter': For Monmouth football, CAA parity provides path forward in 2023
While it’s been a roller-coaster ride for Monmouth so far, from a two-game skid to the 49-7 pummeling of Lehigh last time out, the wild swings mirror the Coastal Athletic Association in general through the first half of the season, with surprising results each Saturday.
And as the Hawks (2-3, 1-1 CAA) arrive at a pivotal crossroad Saturday (1 p.m.) at Kessler Stadium against Hampton (3-2, 1-1), the league’s parity is providing hope heading into a brutal six-week gauntlet.
“Records don’t matter,” Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan said. “It doesn’t matter what anyone’s done the previous week, or the week before that. All that matters is what happen in those three hours on the field on Saturday.”
It’s been a heck of a ride.
New Hampshire’s been ranked as high as No. 11 in FCS polls, having just missed an FBS win at Central Michigan, but is 0-2 in the league, including an overtime loss to upstart Towson, which Monmouth beat. And Albany, which nearly beat FBS-foe Marshall, knocked off No. 16 Villanova, and then beat Towson.
It’s hard to keep up. Elon, the only team at 3-0, beat No. 5 William & Mary, the CAA preseason favorite. And Hampton, picked to finish last among 15 teams, defeated Richmond, picked to finish second, and lost by a field goal to Campbell, which beat Monmouth by two touchdowns.
What New Hampshire, Albany, William & Mary and Elon all have in common, in addition to appearing in the FCS Top 25 this season, are remaining games against Monmouth. But the momentum a win over Hampton would generate could go a long way.
“That is the message we’re trying to instill in our guys. We’ve got to be at our best every week to just have a fighting chance of coming out on top,” Callahan said.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: College football games this weekend: Monmouth vs Hampton
