By: Benjamin Rodriguez | Publish Date: October 8, 2026
Parents and students alike lined up outside of Sprague Field, home of the MSU Red Hawks, as a sea of red filled the stands for MSU’s homecoming night. With clear skies, 70-degree temperatures and picture-perfect football weather, the atmosphere was set from the moment fans arrived. By kickoff at 5 p.m. ET, it was clear that both teams were ready for a physical and aggressive battle.
However, this was a dominant performance by the Red Hawks. Montclair overwhelmed Kean, 42–14, in front of its homecoming crowd.
“At the end of the day, in any football game, you only have two things to look at when you win or lose. It is our effort and execution,” Kean Head Coach Daniel Garrett said. “Our guys played with good effort, but our execution was poor. We didn’t execute the basic fundamentals in order to win versus a team on the road.”
Looking at the box score would not tell the full story of the first half of this game. The Cougars began the game by forcing a punt by the Red Hawks offense and later became the first team to score, being led by a 37-yard touchdown run from Kean’s quarterback Ty Kline.
Despite Kean’s troubles, it was clear from the beginning that Kline was mobile and was not afraid to use his legs for first downs while Garrett called many quarterback designed run plays to keep the chains moving.
The Cougar offense took a while to get started, but their defense is what kept things under control for the most part in the first half. The huge missed opportunities for Kean in the first half after the 2 forced fumbles is what allowed MSU’s Red Hawks to respond by putting points back up on the board.
“…In the next 2 consecutive series we came up with fumble recoveries. So, anytime you can start a game on the defensive side of the ball with three turnovers in your first three series, it cannot start much better than that, but we need to finish,” Garrett said.
Kean’s defense in the first quarter forcing two fumbles (one fumble recovered by Cougar Khyron Hill) is what set the tone early on, but the offense for the Red Hawks would later show to be too much.
The Red Hawks scored multiple times in the second quarter after a 83 yard dot to MSU Junior TJ Kachala. Kachala’s connection with Red Hawks quarterback Luke Henrich seemed to be on par that Saturday after Kachala connected for 7 receptions for 130 yards.
Red Hawks kicker Mike Firett, then nailed a 48 yard field goal right before halftime giving Montclair a 17-7 lead at the half.
The Cougars were not done yet as they received the ball to start the second half. Garrett was set to make some adjustments after the half, and one would think he would want his offense and receivers to get more involved. This was just a quiet day for the offense all around.
It was, in a way, the same story for the Cougar’s offense in the second half being stale, except for their first drive after halftime. There were clear adjustments made and, thanks to a defensive pass interference call against MSU, the Cougars immediately began to respond back after the half and marched down the field.
Kline then connected with Kean receiver Jason Marasciulo in the corner of the endzone giving the Cougars plenty of life, making it 17-14 Red Hawks. The game had looked to be a completely brand new one as the Cougars had responded in the third quarter.
However, the Red Hawks would later be led by senior running back Diante Wilson as he ran all over the field rushing for 155 yards on 21 carries. Wilson, having a monster day with 4 touchdowns is what clearly was the game changer on offense for the Red Hawks. They were allowed to lean on the run with Wilson. The Red Hawks offense would later close out the game scoring 25 unanswered points.
In general it was a battle in the trenches all day long for both teams’ linemen. The Red Hawks prevailed, giving their students a wild show on homecoming night.
Kean’s defense aims to bounce back this following week and both sides of the football aim to work together.
“The defense didn’t play well enough. We showed flashes. We have a higher standard than what we put on display Saturday night,” Garret said. “We may have played well to the fans for 3 quarters, but we are much better than what we showed on Saturday.”
Kean’s Cougars are set to take on Christopher Newport next Saturday at home.
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