Published: November 07, 2009 11:09 pm      

Visiting Monmouth runs past St. Francis

LORETTO — The Monmouth Hawks controlled the line of scrimmage Saturday in a Northeast Conference game against St. Francis, amassing 229 yards of rushing against the Red Flash.

On the other side of the ball,

St. Francis ran into problems when it received opportunities to put points on the board, resulting in a 24-10 Monmouth win at DeGol Field.

Monmouth senior running back David Sinisi rushed for 168 yards on

27 carries, scoring one touchdown.

“They are so very good, and we knew that,” St. Francis coach Dave Opfar said about the Hawks’ offensive line. “Their running back is tremendous at being patient and finding the gaps. They were able to match up with us very well.

“They weren’t knocking us off the ball, but he was just finding that one gap that it’s impossible to defend.”

The Hawks built a 16-3 halftime lead, scoring two touchdowns and a field goal. However, the game was close early.

Monmouth moved to a field goal on its first possession as Jake DelVento connected from 34 yards out.

The Red Flash reciprocated, taking advantage of DelVento’s kickoff, which went out of bounds, giving the Red Flash possession at their own 40. St. Francis drove to the Monmouth 15 before the drive stalled.

Freshman Josh Thiel then hit a

32-yard field goal to tie the game at

3-3 with 6:38 left in the first quarter.

Monmouth took the ensuing kickoff and moved 59 yards on just six plays for a score.

Monmouth quarterback Kyle Frazier was close to being sacked by Red Flash sophomore linebacker Tyler Gillmen.

However, Frazier eluded the rush, rolled to his right and found Sinisi on the sideline, taking it in from 30 yards out for a touchdown. DelVento’s kick for the PAT increased that lead to 10-3 at the 3:54 mark of the first quarter.

Then the Red Flash ran into problems offensively. Freshman running back Kyle Harbridge has explosive speed, and he took the kickoff back

59 yards to the Monmouth 39. Despite outstanding field position, the offense could move no closer than the 15.

Thiel’s 34-yard field goal was blocked. Later in the quarter, the snap for a Red Flash 32-yard field goal was mishandled, resulting in their not capitalizing on the field position.

“We have to take care of the ball,” Opfar said. “You have to get field goals when you have the opportunity, and you have to get off the field defensively. There were opportunities on both sides of the ball and on special teams.”

After it blocked the Red Flash field goal, Monmouth put together an

80-yard drive, moving in just eight plays to take a 16-3 advantage with 11:21 left in the first half. Frazier hit Ryan Folsom on a 10-yard pass for the score, but the kick for the PAT was wide right.

Monmouth coach Kevin Callahan praised his line for the first-half domination.

“We thought coming into the game that we had to win the battle up front,” Callahan said about his team, which is

5-4 overall, 4-2 in the NEC. “We thought that if we could control the line of scrimmage a little bit and get the run going and keep their offense off the field, that it would play to our advantage.”

Sinisi scored on a 1-yard run with 5:39 left in the game and Frazier hit Ron Lauch for a 2-point conversion to close out their scoring.

Dan Conley scored on a fourth-and-goal from the 1 with 2:48 left and Thiel converted to set the final score.

Monmouth had a 357-283 advantage in total offense, with a 229-141 margin on the ground. St. Francis quarterback John Kelly completed 12 of 19 passes for 142 yards, with one interception, giving the Red Flash a 142-128 edge through the air.

St. Francis, now 2-7 overall, 1-5 in the NEC, journeys to Bryant (R.I.) next week.