Photo by Adrienne Terzuoli
A Wagner Homecoming tradition will continue on Saturday when two Seahawks are selected to receive special awards for outstanding play. The James Robb Memorial Trophy is annually presented to the outstanding offensive player at Homecoming while the Nick Lia Memorial Trophy is awarded to the Seahawks' outstanding defensive player. Established in 1949, the Robb Trophy was named in memory of James Robb, a Seahawk gridiron star who was killed in action during World War II. It was presented to Wagner's outstanding individual player in the annual homecoming game until 1969. In that season, the Lia Trophy was introduced in honor of another Wagner football player, Nick Lia, who was killed in the Vietnam War. An outstanding defensive player and team captain, the Staten Island native was a graduate of Curtis High School. Today, the Robb Trophy goes to the offensive MVP, with the game's defensive MVP taking home the Lia Trophy.
Hall of Fame Day
As a result of their efforts in Saturday's 24-14 victory over LIU, Wagner quarterback
Christian Alexander-Stevens and outside linebacker
Tevaughn Grant were named Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively. In the win over LIU, Alexander-Stevens completed 27-of-36 passes for 267 yards, ran for two scores and threw for another, accounting for all three Seahawk touchdowns, in the Green & White's NEC opener at steamy Hameline Field on Saturday. The graduate student from Lakeland, FL, who shares this week's Offensive Player of the Week honor with Merrimack wide receiver Marquise Spence, completed 75.0 percent of his pass attempts while playing turnover-free football. On the other side of the ball, fifth-year senior
Tevaughn Grant recorded team highs in total tackles (9), sacks (2.5 for minus 13 yards), and tackles-for-loss (4 for minus 19 yards), to go with a forced fumble and one quarterback hurry. The Paterson, NJ native's 2.5 sacks were a part of a season-high six-sack effort by the Wagner defense. For Grant, the 2.5 sacks, 4 tackles-for-loss and nine total tackles were all career highs.
25th All-Time Matchup Between Former NEC RivalsSaturday's contest will mark the 25th all-time meeting on the gridiron between these former NEC rivals whose campuses are separated by 45 miles. The schools had met for 23 consecutive seasons, from 1993-2015, with all but the first three meetings (1993-95), and the four most recent meetings (2013, 2014, 2015, 2018), coming as NEC members. Each school was a founding member of the NEC football conference, which began play in 1996 with the Seahawks and the Hawks competing for 17 consecutive seasons (1996-2012) as league rivals. In 2013, Monmouth began play as a member of The Big South Conference. Since then, the teams have met in four non-conference matchups, including last season's edition which Monmouth won in a wild 54-47 home shootout.
More on the Series
Wagner's 44-29 win at Monmouth in 2011 marked the third straight for the Seahawks over the Hawks and gave the Green & White a 10-9 lead in the all-time series. Since then, Monmouth has won the last five meetings between the schools and now holds a 14-10 lead in all-time head-to-head matchups. The last time these teams met on Grymes Hill was on November 9, 2013 when the Hawks came away with a 23-6 victory. Wagner fifth-year head coach
Jason Houghtaling is 0-2 all-time vs. the Hawks.
Callahan's Wagner ConnectionOne of the stops on Monmouth head coach Kevin Callahan's journey to becoming the only head coach in the history of Hawks' football history, was a stint at Wagner under
Walt Hameline from 1981-1983. During his three seasons with the Seahawks, where Callahan served as defensive coordinator, linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator, Wagner compiled a 25-4-2 record and ranked in the top 10 in Division III each of his three seasons. In 1983, the Seahawks reached the quarterfinals of the Division III playoffs. At Monmouth Callahan has amassed a 144-118 record entering the 2018 season, with those 144 wins ranking 10th among active coaches at the FCS level.
