For a moment it looked as if Georgetown’s version of the Tennessee Titans’ “Music City miracle” was about to result in a last second Hoyas victory. Down by two against the Monmouth Hawks with 16 seconds remaining, senior wide receiver and return specialist Luke McArdle took the kickoff and threw a lateral pass the width of the field to sophomore running back Kim Sarin. With one man to beat, Sarin was tackled at the Monmouth 44-yard line, and the Hoyas lost their third straight game, 12-10.
Junior quarterback Andrew Crawford had a tough day, throwing for 169 yards and three interceptions. After a stagnant opening 15 minutes, first-year quarterback Alondzo Turner was called on for several plays in which he ran the option effectively and opened up the field. Crawford returned a few plays later to hit McArdle for a 31-yard touchdown strike with 41 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
Although the Hoyas had trouble putting points on the board, they kept the chains moving through a hard-nosed running game. Sophomore running back Marcus Slayton rushed for 67 yards, keeping the Hoyas offense afloat during the first half. Crawford and McCardle’s sixth touchdown connection of the season was enough to give the Hoyas a 7-6 lead going into the half.
Following the break, Crawford continued to look for his top receiver, hitting McArdle in stride for a 44 yard gain during the Hoyas’ first drive. Despite the big play, the Hoyas were unable to do much inside the red zone. Georgetown failed to convert on a 37-yard field goal, stalling the team’s fast third quarter start.
“We didn’t do much right,” said Head Coach Bob Benson. “We didn’t make many plays, and when you don’t make plays, it’s hard to win.”
Three minutes into the fourth quarter, the Hoyas recovered a muffed punt return, giving them great field position inside the Monmouth 25-yard line. Once again, the field goal unit was unable to put needed points on the board, as the Hawks blocked the Hoyas 19-yard attempt, keeping the game close at 7-6.
“We needed to close them out, we needed to score in the red zone,” said Benson.
On the defensive side, the Hoyas kept coming through with big plays. Less than a minute after the blocked field goal, senior linebacker William Skultety recovered a Hawks fumble. The Hoyas didn’t waste good field position on this occasion, and converted a 31-yard field goal to take a 10-6 lead with 7:33 left in the game.
Monmouth came storming back, with a nine-play 55-yard drive that stalled at the Hoyas eight-yard line. The Hoyas lead nearly shrank to one with a 24-yard Hawks field goal attempt, but Monmouth proved equally unable to put points on the board when their field goal try went wide left, with five minutes to play.
Crawford and the offense ran time off the clock, and punted the ball back to the Hawks with 2:25 left in the game.
Starting at their own 31-yard line, Monmouth sophomore quarterback Brian Boland led the offense down the field. Up by four with minutes remaining, the Hoyas defense played in prevent formation in an attempt to avoid big plays by the Hawks offense. Faced with a pivotal fourth-and-17 from their own 39-yard line, Boland was able to hit senior wide receiver Billy Lynn for a game-saving first down.
“We should have stuck to the pressure defense, we shouldn’t have played the prevent defense,” said senior linebacker Andrew Clarke.
In a scene reminiscent of the two-minute drill Colgate executed against the Hoyas in week one, Georgetown could not stop Monmouth when it counted most. Boland connected with senior wide out Pete Raspitzi in the corner of the end zone for a ten-yard touchdown pass that put Monmouth ahead for good, 12-10.
“We made a few too many mistakes,” Clarke said. “We all know we could have won this game, we just got to make a couple more plays.”
The loss keeps the Hoyas winless on the season. Up next is a road game at VMI this Saturday. Benson and the rest of the squad know their fortunes could easily be different, but he urged that they would work hard to break their slump.
“There are nine games left,” he said. “Nobody said it was going to be easy, we just have to regroup.”
