EWING, N.J. – A week after a devastating loss as time expired, the TCNJ football team balanced the scales with some buzzer-beating elation of its own.

Bobby Wortman drilled a 43-yard field goal as the clock hit zeroes, handing the Lions a pulse-pounding victory 18-15 victory over Montclair State that seemed about to slip through their fingers. Just six days earlier, TCNJ was on the wrong end of a heartbreaker at Rowan, which culminated in a long field goal on the last play of the game.

The Red Hawks had pulled even late in the fourth quarter and had a chance to win it in regulation, but the defense stood tall and gave Trevor Bopp and company one last opportunity. The junior signal-caller hit Thomas Burke for consecutive first-down conversions, the last of which was accompanied by a face-mask call that put the ball into field-goal range. Wortman shook off an icing attempt and boomed the kick through the uprights, setting off a wild celebration on the Lions Stadium turf and clinching TCNJ's first NJAC victory of the season.

Nick Cevetillo snapped a perfect ball to Bopp, who got it down for Wortman to easily clear the cross-bar.

Montclair State (2-5, 0-3) tied the game with 3:57 remaining on a short TD run by Abellany Mendez and got the ball right back after sacking Bopp on third down. Facing 3^rd-and-1 near midfield, Tardogno shot through the A-gap like a missile and brought down the ball-carrier for a three-yard loss, necessitating a Red Hawks punt. But the Lions jumped offside, giving Montclair State a first down at its own 47.

A holding penalty negated a third-and-long completion by Montclair State, and McCormack tipped a heave on the next play to make the Red Hawks punt it away again.

Bopp connected with Burke for a first down at TCNJ's 44, and with 10.0 ticks remaining, then found him again for a leaping catch at the Red Hawks' 41. A face-mask penalty on the play moved the ball up to the 26, giving Wortman a chance to win it from 43.

After a scoreless first rife with punts, TCNJ (2-3, 1-1) struck first thanks to a huge play from its defense. Rookie corner Jack Young made a juggling interception on a third-down slant and took it all the way down the right sideline. After a 61-yard return, a penalty on the Red Hawks put the ball on the 6-yard line for the Lions, who quickly cashed in on the next play as Bopp hit a wide-open Malin Jasinski on a slant to the left side of the formation.

The Red Hawks used a long kick return to matriculate into the TCNJ red zone, but the Lions defense stiffened once again as Sal Tardogno and Young chased down quarterback Mason Murdock on a third-down scramble. Montclair State attempted a fake field goal, with the holder tossing to Eric Cowan in the left flat, but Shane Kelly was wise to it and made a drive-ending tackle on the 6-yard line, a yard short of the marker.

The Red Hawks got on the board late in the half, sacking Bopp in the end zone for a safety to make it 7-2 with 1:29 to go before intermission.

Montclair State took advantage of a botched snap early in the third, taking its first lead on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Murdock to Jamie Hamilton down the right sideline. Jacob Maurice broke up the ensuing two-point conversion pass, limiting the Red Hawks to an 8-7 advantage with 8:50 on the timer.

The Red Hawks threatened to extend the lead after an interception returned all the way to the TCNJ 36, but Mark Pierro's third sack of the day short-circuited the visitors' golden opportunity and gave the ball right back to the Lions.

Eric Flaherty made a massive tackle on the last play of the third quarter, tripping up Murdock in space on a scramble to prevent a first down.

The game turned two plays later, when Montclair State's Kimani Carrington appeared to have come down with an interception only for T.J. Sheehan to rip the ball out of his hands for a 30-yard reception and a first down at the Red Hawks' 33. Bopp eluded a heavy rush for a first-down scramble, then flipped just in time to avoid a sack to Joe Ciempola for a 16-yard gain down to the 6-yard line.

Bopp found Thomas Burke wide open on the next play to give TCNJ the lead, then hit his tight end again in the back of the end zone on the ensuing two-point attempt to make it 15-8 with 12:32 remaining. It was the first touchdown of the season for Burke, who had been stopped at the edge of the goal line on multiple occasions earlier in the year.

TCNJ put its dominant defense on display once more, racking up 4.5 sacks in the first half alone and 8 for the afternoon to add to its nation-leading tackles for loss average. The Lions harassed Murdock all day and allowed a measly 2.8 yards per play in the first half. Montclair State finished with just 219 yards of total offense, averaged 1.7 yards per carry, and went just 2-of-17 on third down.

Tardogno led TCNJ with 10 tackles, including three for loss, with Flaherty and Cole Groschel adding nine and eight, respectively. Pierro racked up 2.5 sacks, McCormack had 1.5, and Nick Celli matched Tardogno and Flaherty with one apiece.

Burke was targeted 11 times and finished with seven grabs for 63 yards, with Jasinski posting three receptions for 41 yards. Bopp was 23-of-41 for an even 200 yards and two touchdowns, completing passes to 11 different receivers.

Ciempola rushed 14 times for 37 yards.

The Lions stay home to take on Salisbury in their Homecoming game next Saturday.