A familiar matchup for Monmouth’s quarterback Derek Robertson was underway on Saturday Sept. 14 as the Hawks traveled to Maine to face Robertson’s former team.
With seven catches for 227 yards, wide receiver Josh Derry led Monmouth (1-2, 1-0 CAA) to their first win of the season against the University of Maine (1-2, 0-1 CAA) in a dominating 51-22 final score to open CAA play.
The Hawks wasted no time finding their momentum and scored the first three touchdowns of the game all in the first 15 minutes of play. Running back Sone Ntoh secured Monmouth’s first touchdown of the day as he capped off a 75-yard opening drive with a 4-yard run into the endzone.
The second touchdown came after a fake to Ntoh, when quarterback Derek Robertson found tight end Jack Neri for an 11-yard connection and six more points for the Hawks. Not long after Robertson sought out tight end Marcus Middleton on a wide open 25-yard pass for his first-career touchdown.
Maine answered with just under a minute left in the first quarter with a 98-yard kickoff return by Maine’s Trevin Ewing, making the score 20-8 after a successful two point conversion. Monmouth continued to lengthen their lead when Ntoh went for his second touchdown of the day with a 2-yard run to send the Hawks into the half up 27-8.
Ntoh was not the only Hawk to secure two touchdowns in this matchup. Wide receiver Josh Derry scored the first touchdown to come back from halftime after escaping the Black Bears defense on a 56-yard reception, making the score 34-8. Derry had an outstanding performance in Saturday’s game, and sealed the win with a 94-yard touchdown early in the fourth, setting a new program record. Derry finished with seven catches for 227 yards and two touchdowns. The 227-yards are the second most by an FCS player in 2024 and fourth most in Monmouth history. Monmouth put together 242 rushing yards on the day, and averaged 6.2 yards per carry while Robertson threw for 390 yards, which are tied for sixth in a single game in Monmouth history.
Defensively, Monmouth held Maine to a total of 286 total yards and forced two turnovers. Linebacker Ryan Alexander made a key sack, first of his career, while defensive back Justin Bennin led the Hawks with a career-high seven tackles.
According to the Monmouth Athletics Website, Football Head Coach Kevin Callahan stated, “We’re excited about the win and very happy with it. Having started out 0-2, this was an important game for us and it was important to get one in the win column. We knew we would have to play almost a perfect game in order to do that. I was very happy with the way we played offensively, we were able to move the ball down the field and combine that with some explosive plays, and then on the defensive side, particularly in the first half, we did a really good job getting off the field and giving the ball back to our offense. Any time you play complementary football like that, you have a really good chance of being successful.”
This marked Monmouth’s first ever win against Maine which makes the series now 1-4.
Monmouth looks to take on FIU as they travel to Miami for an FBS matchup on Saturday Sept. 21.
