Monmouth to Host Holy Cross in NCAA FCS First Round

WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ - Monmouth University's football team, ranked 12th in the nation and Big South Conference champions, will host Holy Cross in the 2019 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs at 12 PM on Saturday, November 30, the NCAA committee announced live on ESPNU on Sunday.

Tickets will go on sale for any playoff game hosted at Kessler Stadium at 1:30 PM on MonmouthHawks.com. Cost is $25 per ticket for premium seating, $20 for reserved and 15 in the endzone seating. You can also purchase tickets M-F from 9AM to 5PM by heading to the OceanFirst Bank Center box office or by calling 732-263-5735.

"We are really excited about the fact that we will be at home at Kessler Stadium against a team we have a little bit of knowledge about because they are in our region and we have played them a number of times," said Monmouth Head Coach Kevin Callahan. "I know the team is excited about being able to play at home."

The Hawks, winners of eight straight, closed out the 2019 season with an 10-2 record and a perfect 6-0 Big South Conference mark. Over that eight-game winning streak the Hawks have outscored opponents 334-137 and is averaging 41.8 points per game. Monmouth won its first outright Big South Conference title after going 6-0 in league play.

The Monmouth offense features two of the top players in the country in fifth-year senior quarterback Kenji Bahar (Baltimore, MD/Calvert Hall) and junior running back Pete Guerriero (Lyndhurst, NJ/Lyndhurst) who are both on the Walter Payton Award Watch List.

It will be the second time in the 27-year history of the program that Monmouth will play in the playoffs, the first coming in the 2017 season when the Hawks were selected as an at-large team. Monmouth was 6-0 at home this year, and have lost just once (16-1) since Kessler Stadium opened prior to the 2017 season.

Monmouth hasn't lost since Sept. 28, when it fell to seventh-ranked Montana in a game which was a six-point game in the fourth quarter. The only other blemish on the MU record was a season-opening loss to FBS foe Western Michigan.

Game time is set for 12 PM, tickets are available now on MonmouthHawks.com The game will also air on ESPN3.