Deshaun Clayborne Media

Montclair State’s Homecoming matchup with Wilkes University seemingly had all the stars aligned for a magical finish. But, unfortunately for all of the fans that showed up and showed out at Sprague Field, the magic ran out in the game’s final moments, and they fell just short, 24-21.

After an abysmal first half, the Red Hawks soared back into the game and overcame a large deficit in the second half. Their valiant comeback efforts showed their resilience for the second week in a row, but this time, they could not quite escape the jaws of defeat.

This marks the first homecoming loss of coach Mike Palazzo’s tenure, and Montclair State falls to 1-2 on the season. 

The Red Hawks’ offense struggled heavily to find their rhythm in the first half. 

Of their first six drives, four of them were punted away, one of them was a botched punt that gave Wilkes the ball in the red zone, and one was fumbled away after a big third-down conversion.

The litany of errors committed early on in the ball game was highlighted by wide receiver TJ Kachala’s 47-yard touchdown catch, which was called back for a holding penalty, which turned out to be a crucial blown opportunity in the end. The lack of production put their defense in unfavorable spots and caused them to fall behind 14-0, which marked the third straight game that Montclair State faced a 14-point deficit.

However, even with the offense at a standstill, Kachala was not fazed.

“My mindset is always next play, new play,” Kachala said postgame. “I mean, guys make mistakes all the time. Who am I to blame him? Pick him up, and back at it next play.”

The mentality that he spoke of is a sentiment echoed by Palazzo’s staff and shared around the locker room, and it is exactly what kept Montclair State afloat throughout the nightmare first half.

While the first half was deflating for the homecoming crowd, the second half of the ball game told a completely different story. 

One minute after halftime, running back Chris Arnold rushed 70 yards to the house and put Montclair State on the board. Then, early on in the fourth quarter, Kachala’s mentality paid off, as his 75-yard touchdown catch tied the game. The Red Hawks flipped the game on its head and showcased the exact mentality of resilience that this group carries.

“It’s a football game, man,” Arnold said. “There’s a lot of ups and downs. Not everything is going to go your way… If we execute to the best of our ability, there’s not a lot of teams that could stop us, and the second half of last week was a great example of that.”

The late surge wasn’t quite enough to dig them out of the hole they dug themselves into in the first half, but despite the loss, the Red Hawks are feeling good about where they are at.

“I didn’t feel a lot of panic or anything like that from the team, which is always good,” Arnold said. It’s good to keep that poise, especially when you’re down… We still came up short, but we didn’t blink an eye, and that’s what I’m most proud of.”

“It hasn’t happened in the win-loss column yet, but we’ve certainly made some progress,” Coach Palazzo said. “We have a lot of first-year players, a lot of first time starters. So, we’re just trying to build these guys up the right way, and make sure they understand what we’re trying to do and the standard that we hold.”

“We have to start faster. I mean, we can’t be sleeping through the first half games, and just expecting to have a second half comeback.”

Coach Palazzo’s team will get another chance to improve on their slow starts when Montclair State takes the field at Kean University for their homecoming game. For now, they’ll look to clean up some of their issues this week on the practice field.