Rhody football defeats Monmouth in first win of season, 27-24

By: Kayla Panu

Posted: 9/5/08

With a new coach and a new training routine, the University of Rhode Island football team came away with its first victory Saturday against Monmouth University, 27-24.

"All in all I'm happy for the win," head coach Darren Rizzi said. "It was more exciting than it had to be," he said in reference to the opposition scoring later in the game.

Rhody jumped out in front on a 26-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Derek Cassidy to junior wide receiver Tolbert Evans. Monmouth answered with a field goal after a seven play, 47-yard drive.

By halftime, the Rams were in control with a 17-3 lead. The Hawks scored a touchdown starting off the second half to decrease their deficit 17-10 but URI went on to gain 47-yards on six plays to kick a field goal. Both teams exchanged touchdowns for a score of 27-17 with URI in front.

"Our strategy was to not turn the ball over on offense and on defense to fly around and swarm the ball," Rizzi said. "We wanted to keep the penalties to a minimum and cut down on [Monmouth's] big plays."

Monmouth scored the last touchdown of the game with just over a minute remaining .to give URI the 27-24 victory.

Cassidy recorded a career high of 257 yards passing. Sophomore linebacker Matt Hansen recorded a career-tying 10 tackles, making Saturday's game the third 10-tackle game in his collegiate career.

Freshman kicker Louis Feinstein was selected as CAA Football Rookie of the Week.

"We actually recruited him out of California," Rizzi said. "He's going to have a great career. Louis has a lot of talent. The sky's the limit for him and we are happy for him."

Rizzi has positive things to say about his new team this year and they are not just about the football season.

"Probably our number one goal is overall improvement in the program," he said. "We want progress in every area and improve in every aspect. This spring we had the best academic year. We are trying not to focus on the result."

Rizzi went on to explain how this team is already different from last year. "We are not trying to just put all our focus on one season but to lay the foundation and build consistency," he said.

After the seniors graduated in May and a few other players left for personal reasons, Rizzi said, the staff went out to rebuild. Forty-five percent of the team this year is new, which Rizzi said is a challenge but also a great thing.

"We signed a great class," he said.

Once the team was assembled with its new coach, they started to train and prepare to play. Rizzi said that 90 percent of his players are in the best shape of their life.

"They are not at the championship level but it's the best progress they've made so far," he said. "We are starting to get where we want to be."

Rizzi was hired in December to replace Tim Stowers. Rizzi was a part of the Rutgers University football coaching staff for six seasons before returning to URI. He attended URI and graduated in 1992. He was a former Ram All-American tight end and was a team captain his senior year.

"I'm extremely excited to be back at URI," he said.

Rizzi's team travels to Fordham University this Saturday for a game to be played at 6 p.m.

"We want to improve from week one to week two [including] mental mistakes and missed assignments," Rizzi said. "I'm excited to go out and play each and every Saturday."