OCTOBER 28, 2006
SHEFFIELD 176 RUSHING YARDS, DELAWARE VALLEY
FORCES FOUR TURNOVERS IN 10-0 WIN OVER KING'S
WILKES-BARRE -- Jake Sheffield rushed for 176
yards while equaling a school-record of 44 carries and the Delaware
Valley College defense forced four turnovers including a game-changing
blocked punt as the Aggies posted a 10-0 victory over host King's
College Saturday at Betzler Fields.
With the win, Delaware Valley improved to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in the
Middle Atlantic Conference. King's, meanwhile, slipped to 5-3 overall
and 5-2 in MAC play with its second straight conference loss.
The game was played following nearly two inches of rain overnight and
into early Saturday morning in Wilkes-Barre, leaving standing water on
much of the natural grass surface at Betzler Fields. Both teams played
cautiously in the first half and few scoring opportunities surfaced for
either team.
After a scoreless first half, the Delaware Valley
special teams came up a game-changing play midway through the third
quarter. The Aggies would force a King's punt from its own 34 yard line
and Joe Barnicle would charge through the Monarch line to block a Tim
Lust offering and the Aggies would recover at the King's 35.
Sheffield would gain six yards, and, after an incomplete pass, added
three more to set up a key fourth-and-one play from the King's 26.
Sheffield would then pick up the all-important first-down with a
two-yard run to keep the drive alive. Two plays later Sheffield would
add a nine-yard carry to the 12, then followed up with five more yards
to the Monarch seven. On the next play Sheffield would run off right
tackle and broke a pair of tackles at the two-yard line to find the end
zone for the first score of the game. Bill Miller added the conversion
as Delaware Valley took a 7-0 lead with 3:07 left in the third quarter.
The Aggie defense would force another King's punt and assumed possession
at the Monarch 47. Sheffield would carry the ball on five straight plays
to moved the ball to the King's 13. The Aggies would reach the Monarch
seven-yard line where the drive would stall, but Miller converted on a
24-yard field goal to give the Aggies a 10-0 advantage with 11:46
remaining in the contest.
From there the Aggie defense would take over as Delaware Valley would
not allow King's to cross the midfield stripe on the Monarchs' final
three possessions and interceptions by John Kiphorn and Niger Herbert on
the Monarchs' final two possessions would seal the victory.
Delaware Valley missed out on a scoring chance on its first possession
of the game when the Aggies drove to the King's 27-yard line. The
Monarch defense would stiffen and a fourth-and-six pass from Isgro to
Don Marshall fell incomplete to end the drive. Three possessions later,
King's failed to convert its best chance of the game when the Monarchs
drove 60 yards to the Aggie 18-yard line. On a fourth-and-11 pass play,
Monarch quarterback hit Chris Maloney at the Aggie nine, but the Monarch
junior fumbled while being tackles and teammate Andrew Cuenco would fall
on the ball two yards shy of the first down.
Later in the second quarter, the Aggies failed on another scoring chance
when Justin Porter intercepted Searfass at the King's 35. Delaware
Valley would advance to the 20 where the drive stalled and Miller's
35-yard field goal into a strong wind fell well short as the game
remained scoreless with 2:22 remaining in the half.
In the third quarter, Delaware Valley would again
miss out on another scoring chance when the Aggies marched 40 yards to
the King's 25. Miller would attempt a career long 42-yard field goal
with the wind at his back, but King's Mike Collins blocked the kick to
keep the game scoreless.
On King's next possession, however, the game would change when Barnicle
registered the key punt block.
Sheffield, meanwhile, would enable the Aggies to maintain possession for
most of the second half as he carried the ball 28 times in the second
half alone, grinding out 123 yards over the final 30 minutes of play.
Delaware Valley would maintain possession for 23:13 of the second half,
compared to just 6:36 for King's.
Delaware Valley would hold a 246-to-141 advantage
in total yards as Sheffield out gained the entire Monarch squad. The
Aggies would throw for just 21 yards as freshman quarterback Mike Isgro
completed only 2-of-10 passes on the day. Don Marshall made both catches
for the Aggies, surpassing the 3,000 yard receiving mark for his career
in the process.
King's would muster just 55 rushing yards, led by Jeff Field with 50
yards on nine attempts. King's leading rusher John Ortiz was held to a
season-low 12 yards on 10 carries. Searfass finished the game by
completing 11-of-25 passes for 86 yards with three interceptions. Joe
Tassoni made three catches for 33 yards while Maloney had two catches
for 26 yards. Joe Winning also made two receptions for 25 yards for the
Monarchs.
Tulaney led King's with 11 tackles while George Montras and John Haller
added 10 stops each.
King's will resume its season Saturday when the Monarchs travel to face
FDU-Florham at 1:00 p.m. in Madison, NJ.
