College Football: Monmouth opens Kessler Stadium in style

WEST LONG BRANCH - Monmouth University's football team opened the renovated Kessler Stadium in style Saturday afternoon with a 31-12 win over Lafayette College before a crowd of 3,898.

Sophomore running back Pete Gurriero ran for 139 yards and two touchdowns. Sophomore quarterback Kenji Bahar threw for 243 yards and a TD after a shaky start.,

Junior wide receiver Reggie White had eight receptions for 120 yards and a TD and  junior running back Devell Jones had a 6-yard TD run.
 

The defense, led by standout senior strong safety and former Brick Memorial star Mike Basile held Lafayette to minus 1-yard rushing.

Observations: Kessler Stadium is a beautiful facility

Even Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan, who has been the only head coach the football program has had in its 25-year history, admits it was hard to envision Monmouth having a facility like this when the program started.. 

This facility was worth every penny of the $16 million it cost to renovate old Kessler Field.

The stands can hold 4,200 people, and the new state art of the press box can rival any  big-time facility in the country. 

The press box  of the old facility only had one area where assistant coaches of the two teams, broadcasters, Monmouth athletic department personnel and members of the media all had to co-exist together. 

This press box separates the two coaching staffs, broadcasters,and members of the media. There is plenty of working room without distractions for everyone to do their jobs.

There is also not a bad view of the action from anywhere in Kessler Stadium.

The stadium officially was dedicated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 12:30 p.m., 2 1/2 hours before kickoff. Callahan and John Kessler, for whom the stadium is named for along with his wife, Henni, spoke at the  ceremony.
 

Monmouth may have found a running back in Guerriero.

Guerriero, who was the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion in the 100 and 200 meters last spring,  came to Callahan last May and said he wanted to give college football a try. 

It looks like the decision will turn out to be beneficial for both him and Monmouth. The 5-foot-10, 190-pound Guerriero, who was an All-Bergen County selection in both football and track and field by The Record of Hackensack at Lyndhurst High School, has the speed to run outside and the power to run inside. 

He showed his breakaway speed on his 47-yard TD run in the fourth quarter and his power on his 16-yard TD run with 34 seconds left in the first half that gave Monmouth a 7-0 halftime lead.

Monmouth improved gradually as game went along

The Hawks struggled in the first quarter as they squandered possession that began at their own 40, the Lafayette 20 following an interception by Basile (eight solo tackles, one assisted tackle, 1.5 tackles for a loss and the INT) and the Lafayette 33. 

Monmouth had no first downs and just 1 yard of offense in the first quarter as it struggled with opening-game jitters and it was trying to figure out exactly what Lafayette, under first-year head coach John Garrett -  a Monmouth Beach native and the brother of Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett,- was doing. 

Bahar, particularly struggled at first. 

However, once Monmouth figured things out, its offense had its way with the Leopards' defense. Monmouth finished with 418 yards of offense and scored on five of six possessions from late in the first half to late in the fourth quarter.

They said it

Basile on the excitement of playing in renovated Kessler Stadium:
"It felt great "We've been waiting for a while. We saw this built from the bottom down. It was great to be out there. We were excited to play. We had a lot of people out there supporting us.

"It was an exciting moment for us, especially with the 25-years (25th anniversary) of Monmouth football. It was a great time to be out there.''

Callahan on the emotion of the day:
"I was very happy and very proud. I think it started (Friday night) when probably more than 100 former players and their families were back here to take part in the opening of the stadium and also to celebrate the 25 years of Monmouth football. 

"I think, to a guy, when they (the former players) saw the new stadium, they were a little bit envious.that they didn't have the opportunity to play in it, but they were also very proud because they knew their investment of effort and their investment of time was what made this day possible.

"You really saw the linking of the alumni group with some of our current players that were there (Friday night). You really saw they come together as one big family. I was very happy to see that.''

Callahan on whether he envisioned all of this:
"To say 25 years ago, I thought we would have a facility that you see today. That would probably be an overstatement. It was something we were hoping for. We've always done here at Monmouth, and with all of our sports, work with what we have as kind of grind our way, year-by-year, things improve, things get better.''
 

Injury report

Monmouth senior linebacker Agbai Iroha left in the second quarter and did not return. Callahan said he expected to know more about what the injury was later Saturday night or on Sunday.

Iroha was having a monster game before he got hurt. He had six tackles, three for a loss.

Up next: Monmouth hosts Lehigh next Saturday. Lafayette hosts Sacred Heart next Saturday.