SEPTEMBER 9, 2006
KING'S USES 10-POINT FOURTH QUARTER TO DOWN LEBANON VALLEY COLLEGE 10-0
WILKES-BARRE -- Tim Lust broke open a scoreless
tie with a 21-yard field goal with 9:23 left and King's College would
score off a fumble on the ensuing kickoff as the Monarchs posted a 10-0
victory over visiting Lebanon Valley College in the Middle Atlantic
Conference opener for both teams Saturday at Betzler Field.
With the win, King's improved to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the MAC while
Lebanon Valley fell to 1-1 and 0-1.
With the game deadlocked 0-0 with 3:47 remaining in the third quarter,
the Monarchs would grind away on a long, time-consuming drive. A 12-yard
pass from Jeff Searfass to Chris Maloney and an 11-yard run by Jeramia
Jones would help advanced the ball to the Lebanon Valley 43-yard line.
King's came through with a crucial fourth-and-one conversion at the
Flying Dutchmen 23 when Jeff Field kept the drive alive with a five-yard
run. A 12-yard carry by John Ortiz would move the ball to the Lebanon
Valley five-yard line where the drive would stall. Lust would enter the
game and drilled a 21-yard field goal to put the Monarchs ahead 3-0 with
9:23 left.
On the ensuing kickoff, King's freshman Mike Little stripped Lebanon
Valley return specialist Clint Vinju of the ball and fellow Monarch
rookie Brian Mitros recovered at the Dutchmen 23-yard line. Three plays
later Searfass would find Mike Verbitski at the goal line and the
Monarch sophomore made a juggling catch to haul in his first career
touchdown reception with 7:53 remaining. The touchdown pass was also the
first of Searfass' career as the Monarch junior embarks on his first
year as the starter. Lust added the conversion kick as the Monarch lead
grew to 10-0.
Lebanon Valley attempted to answer when Dan Kelly found Adam Brossman
for 14 yards and the duo later hooked up for a 27-yard gain to the
King's 20. After John Smith had back-to-back carries of four and nine
yards for a first down at the Monarch seven, Kelly would scramble for
five more yards to the King's two. On the next play, Kelly's pass to
Brandon Shank was intercepted in the end zone by King's sophomore corner
back Shane McNamara to end the scoring threat with 2:48 left in the
contest.
King's would run out the remainder of the clock after Ortiz picked up
eight yards on an important third-and-two play with 1:27 on the clock.
Lebanon Valley would hold a slim 255-to-248 advantage in total yards
from scrimmage. The Flying Dutchmen posted 172 rushing yards compared to
139 for King's. King's out gained Lebanon Valley through the air
109-to-83 as Searfass completed 11-of-19 passes with one touchdown and
an interception. Kelly was 9-of-18 for 83 yards and an interception
while carrying for 35 yards on eight attempts.
Ortiz led all rushers with 73 yards on 19 carries while Field added 66
yards on 16 attempts. Chris Maloney made four receptions for 37 yards in
his first career start while Verbitski added three catches for 49 yards.
Senior fullback Joe Tassoni chipped in with three catches for 18 yards.
Brossman led Lebanon Valley with three catches for
47 yards while Shank made three receptions for 26 yards.
George Montras led the King's defense with 12 tackles while Tom Tulaney
and Matt Little added 10 stops each. Lebanon Valley was paced by Brian
Cottone with 10 tackles while Will Keylor, Andrew Shambach had eight
each.
NEXT GAME:
King’s will travel to Bethlehem on Saturday to face Moravian College in
a 1:00 p.m. MAC contest.
www.moravian.edu/athletics.
