NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y., October 19, 2019 – After suffering its first defeat of the season last weekend, the No. 14-ranked Monroe College football team got back on track on Saturday, shutting out Hudson Valley Community College, 53-0, at Joseph F. Fosina Field. The Mustangs improve to 6-1 on the season with the win, while Hudson Valley falls to 3-4.
 
Quarterback Dominique Shoffner had another strong day on Saturday, as the Mustangs' signal-caller accounted for four total touchdowns. He completed 15-of-20 passes for 238 yards and two scores, while rushing eight times for 30 yards and another two touchdowns. Shoffner also added a two-point conversion late in the game. Shoffner now has 17 passing touchdowns on the season, as well as eight scores on the ground.
 
Marquise Cooper got the start in the backfield for the Mustangs and had a solid day in limited work. He rushed four times for 69 yards and a score, adding a 15-yard reception. Troy Booker carried the ball nine times for 49 yards and a touchdown, and caught one pass for 12 yards. Jayvon Benton added 46 yards on six carries.
 
Pierre Moudourou led the way on the receiving end with three catches for 84 yards and a touchdown. Halim Dixon-King made three receptions of his own for 65 yards and a score. Yousef Alawie made his only reception count, as it went for a 15-yard touchdown. Lucas Nunez made two receptions in the game for 53 yards.
 
The defense kept it simple on Saturday, going into full shutdown mode without needing an interception or fumble recovery. Charles Amankwaa had three pass breakups in the win, as well as a tackle for loss and two total tackles. Zharell Walker had Monroe's only sack and a pair of tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Tim Donnahue led the team with six total tackles, adding 1.5 tackles for loss. Isaiah McNeil was dominant on special teams for the Mustangs, making four tackles on returns and one more on defense late in the game, adding a blocked punt to his big day.
 
Idrissa Nikiema made a season-long 44-yard field goal in the win, while making 6-of-6 extra points on the day.
 
The Mustangs wasted no time in Saturday's contest after starting on their own 40-yard line after a short kickoff to open the game. Cooper took the first handoff of the day on first down 60-yards down the left sideline for the score to immediately put Monroe ahead, 7-0.
 
Monroe's third drive needed more than one play to get downfield, but it yielded similar results. With 2nd-and-5 on the Hudson Valley 40, Shoffner completed a 38-yard pass down the right sideline to get the Mustangs down to the two, but a facemask penalty on the Vikings made it 1st-and-goal on the one-yard line. Shoffner called his own number from there, plunging in for the one-yard score to double the lead at 14-0 with 4:34 left in the first.
 
The Mustangs forced the Vikings to turn it over on downs early in the second quarter, taking over at their own 43-yard line with 12:18 left in the half. The Mustangs went backwards to start the drive, as Shoffner went down for a sack on first down, and then a holding penalty pushed Monroe back to its own 30-yard line for 2nd-and-23. That proved to be no problem for the Mustangs, as Shoffner hit Moudourou for a 45-yard reception for a first down at the Hudson Valley 25-yard line. A seven-yard completion to Travis Thomas on third down gave the Mustangs another first, and then Shoffner finished off the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Alawie to push Monroe's lead to 21-0 with 9:36 left in the second frame.
 
Another turnover on downs gave the ball right back to the Mustangs with 8:01 still remaining in the first half. A 25-yard reception by Lucas Nunez helped the Mustangs get down to Hudson Valley's 22-yard line, and then a pass interference by the Vikings on another pass toward Nunez set up Monroe on the 14. Booker took care of things from there, rushing it in from 14 yards out on the next play to make it a 28-0 game.
 
The Vikings had a long drive going late in the half, coming down to the final seconds before the break. 12 plays got the Vikings down to the three-yard line, where a pass interference call in the end zone on the Mustangs set up the Vikings with a 1st-and-goal on Monroe's two-yard line with seven seconds left before halftime. The Vikings elected to hand it off to their tight end Jeremy Clayton, who tried to dive through the pile and into the end zone, but he was ruled down before the goal line, allowing time to expire and end the half without the Vikings getting on the board.
 
The opening kick of the second half went to the Vikings, but they were unable to do anything with it, stalling on their own 38-yard line and being forced to punt. McNeil was able to burst through the line on the attempt, blocking the punt for a loss of 13 yards to give the Mustangs the ball at the Vikings' 25-yard line.
 
The Mustangs had nothing going on the first three plays of the drive, but elected to go for it on 4th-and-10. Under pressure, Shoffner took off and broke a few tackles, sprinting toward the near sideline and stretching the ball out for the pylon, but he was ruled out of bound at the one, setting up the Mustangs for 1st-and-goal. For the second time in the game, Shoffner took it in himself from one yard out, giving the Mustangs a 35-0 advantage early in the third quarter.
 
The Mustangs relied more on the ground game from that point forward, helping them burn a little more clock on their next possession. An 11-play, 30-yard drive stalled when Shoffner was sacked and set up Monroe with 4th-and-16. Monroe elected to kick the 44-yard field goal this time, and Nikiema came through with plenty of leg to spare, hitting his longest field goal of the season to push Monroe's lead to 38-0 with 2:58 left in the third.
 
The Mustangs next received possession 13 seconds into the fourth quarter. A penalty on second down pinned the Mustangs on their own 16-yard line for 2nd-and-24. Shoffner then completed a 30-yard pass to Nunez for the first down, but the ball was knocked loose on the play. Nunez recovered on Monroe's 44-yard line, where personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against the Vikings resulted in the Mustangs gaining 30 more yards, setting them up on Hudson Valley's 26-yard line. Three plays later, Shoffner threw one up the seam to Dixon-King, who caught it in the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown to make it a 45-0 game.
 
The Mustangs got the ball back again shortly after, taking over on their own 20-yard line with 9:56 remaining. Kyle Kaplan took over for Shoffner, but Benton carried the ball five-straight times to open the drive, including a 24-yard run down to the Hudson Valley 36. Kaplan then used play action to complete a 20-yard strike to Moudourou and get Monroe down to the 16, but a delay of game penalty backed them up to the 21. Three plays later, Kaplan tossed one up to the right side of the end zone for Moudourou, who powered his way over the defender to snag the ball for a 19-yard touchdown. The snap was botched on the ensuing point-after attempt, but the holder Shoffner picked it up and rolled to his right, finding Thomaz Whitford in the back of the end zone for the two-point conversion to bring Monroe's lead to 53-0.
 
The Mustangs outgained the Vikings, 471-176, in the win. They rushed for 194 yards, while the nation's leading run defense held the Vikings to just 42 yards on the ground. Monroe converted 5-of-11 third downs and 2-of-2 fourth downs in the game, while the Vikings converted just 3-of-14 third downs and 0-of-3 fourth-down attempts.
 
The Mustangs will hope to carry this momentum into another big contest next Sunday, Oct. 27, when they visit Northeast Football Conference rival, and No. 20-ranked ASA College at the Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn, N.Y. The game is set to kick off in primetime at 7 p.m.
 
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 31 teams competing across nine sports. There are 19 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's and women's rugby, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has 12 teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
 
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at www.MonroeCollegeMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (Monroe College Athletics), Twitter (@Monroe_Mustangs) and Instagram (@monroemustangs).