The 4-1 Montclair State Red Hawks women’s flag football team defeated the 12-1 Eastern University Eagles 7-6 on Thursday, April 11 at Sprague Field in a tight defensive battle. The win marks Montclair’s fifth of the season and comes in a rematch of their March 17 overtime loss to Eastern.
Eastern University began with the ball but was quickly forced off the field by Montclair’s defense. Senior linebacker Genevieve Fara pressured Eastern quarterback Kira Green, forcing a punt on the opening drive of the game.
With the change of possession, Montclair brought out its offense, and on the second play of the drive, quarterback Haddiyah Bell connected with Serenity Muhammed for the first touchdown of the game, giving Montclair a 6-0 lead.
On the extra point conversion, Bell threw to wide receiver Kimora Weston, extending the lead to 7-0.
After the first quarter, both defenses kept the game at a low score.
Defensively, Kyla Massenburg led Eastern with nine tackles and two sacks, while Bri Carter recorded seven tackles and two sacks for Montclair.
Eastern appeared like they were going to score late in the second quarter, but back-to-back penalties pushed the offense out of scoring range, ending the half with Montclair still leading.
In the third and fourth quarters, it was a similar story, with the score remaining 7-0. However, with just over six minutes remaining, Kira Green connected with Molly Schellpeper in the end zone to cut the deficit to one.
With a chance to tie the game, Eastern lined up for the extra point. Green handed the ball off to Kyla Massenburg, who ran toward the end zone, but Montclair’s Serenity Muhammed pulled the flag to deny the conversion, keeping the score at 7-6.
Montclair regained possession late and controlled the clock behind runs from Haddiyah Bell and Genevieve Fara, sealing the 7-6 victory and avenging their only loss of the season.
Montclair State University will play on Saturday, April 11 against Mount Saint Mary College at Sprague Field at 12 p.m.
