OCTOBER 6, 2007

 

KING’S FOOTBALL FALLS TO WIDENER WITH FIVE SECOND HALF TURNOVERS
 

CHESTER – The King’s College football team was unable to make a 17-7 half-time lead hold up as a five second-half turnovers doomed the Monarchs as host Widener University posted a 21-17 comeback victory Saturday at Leslie C. Quick Stadium in Chester.

With the win, Widener improved to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the Middle Atlantic Conference while King’s fell to 0-5 and 0-2 in MAC play.
 

King’s was outstanding in the first half and controlled play on both side of the ball in building a 17-7 lead at the break. But things turned sour on the Monarchs third possession of the second half.

Following a Widener punt, King’s quarterback Jeff Searfass was intercepted by Widener linebacker Shane Szumski to give the Pride possession at the Monarch 34. The Monarch defense would hold when Matt Little broke up a pass to Jamie Schild as King’s took over on downs at its own 28.

 

But the turnover proved to be a sign of things to come as Pride cornerback Orlando Brown picked off Searfass and returned the pass 30 yards to the King’s 16. Things became even more complicated for the Monarchs when Searfass, who also doubles as King's punter, was injured on the play.

From there tailback Steve Cook ran for 12 yards to the King’s four before three straight running plays would advance the ball to the one. On fourth and goal, Matt Campbell would reach the end zone on a quarterback sneak. Tom Laurich’s conversion kick would bring Widener to within 17-14 with 1:16 left in the third quarter.
 

King’s would again turn the ball over on its next possession when Brown intercepted Monarch backup quarterback John Cuiffo, who was inserted into the game in place of Searfass, at the Widener 42, as the third quarter came to a close.
 

Campbell would find Andre Payton for 12 yards but a personal foul penalty on King’s moved the ball to the Monarch 37.  Ian Decker would rush for six yards and a subsequent encroachment penalty on the Monarchs gave the Pride a first down at the King’s 26. After a two-yard loss, Campbell found Falkenstein for 17 yards to the 11. On the next play, Payton would take a pitchout and broke a tackle at the two before reaching the end zone to give Widener its first lead of the game. Laurich added the point after as the Pride took a 21-17 lead with 12:37 left in the contest.
 

King’s would assume possession at its own 40 following the kickoff. Cuiffo would carry for a yard before Field picked up 10 yards for a first down at the Widener 49. After Field picked up two yards, Cuiffo found Miles Hanson for eight yards and a first down at the Pride 39. Two plays later the Monarchs would commit their fourth turnover of the half when Cuiffo and Field were unable to connect on a toss play and Widener recovered at its own 43-yard line.
 

On third-and-seven, Campbell hit Bill Calhoun for 13 yard to the King’s 41. After a short run and an incomplete pass forced a third-and-eight play from the Monarch 39, Edwyn Edwards would come up with a critical interception for the Monarchs at the King’s 23 with 7:25 left.

The Monarchs were unable to move the ball and a short 19-yard punt gave Widener possession at the Monarch 46-yard line. From there, field position would play a critical factor for the remainder of the game.

King’s defense would hold firm and Widener punted the ball out of the end zone with King’s taking over at its own 20 with 4:30 left in the contest.
 

Cuiffo would find Rick Ritter for nine yards, but a screen pass to Jones was stopped for a two-yard loss. On fourth-and-seven, King’s would bypass the punt and attempt to register a first down but were unsuccessful when Cuiffo was intercepted by Brian Pastor at the Monarch 29 with 3:46 left.

King’s caught a break on the next play when Campbell fumbled the snap from center and Monarch safety Justin Zlotek recovered at the King’s 32 with 3:30 left.
 

After three straight incomplete passes, King’s would again go for it on fourth down. But Cuiffo’s pass to Ritter down the left sideline fell incomplete as Widener took over on downs at the Monarch 32 with 3:13 remaining.
 

From there Widener would pick up two critical first downs and managed to run out the clock to escape with the victory.

King’s came out strong on the first possession of the game when Searfass drove the Monarchs to the Widener 32. From there, the Monarch signal-caller Searfass found Bob Cirko all alone down the middle for a 32-yard touchdown to cap a 12-play, 81-yard drive. It was Cirko’s first action of the season since a leg injury sustained in pre-season camp. Tim Lust added the extra-point as King’s took a 7-0 lead with 10:02 left in the first quarter.

 

Widener would counter when quarterback Campbell found Mike Falkenstein for 41 yards to the King’s 23-yard line. Two plays later, tailback Steve Cook would break a tackle to the line of scrimmage and raced 21 yards for a Pride touchdown. Laurich added the point-after, knotting the score at 7-7 with 8:03 remaining in the opening stanza.

 

King’s answered on the next possession when the Monarchs drove 16 yards and used a 31-yard field goal by Lust to give King’s a 10-7 lead with 0:56 left in the first quarter

 

Widener would again attempt to answer on its next possession when the Pride drove to the King’s 17. From there the drive would stall and Laurich missed a 34-yard field goal as King’s maintained its 10-7 lead with 12:16 remaining in the half.

 

After the teams traded punts on the next four possessions, King’s would take over at its own 29 and started to drive. Searfass and Jones ignited the drive when the duo hooked up for 19 yards on a screen pass to the Widener 49. After a five-yard run by Field and a seven-yard pass to Brandon Murray, King’s faced a third-and-four from the Pride 32. From there, Searfass again found Cirko open down the middle of the field for his second 32-yard touchdown catch of the day. Lust added the conversion as King’s lead grew to 17-7 with 1:04 left in the half.

 

On the ensuing kickoff, however, Widener’s special teams came up with a big play when Kevin Fisher returned the Lust offering 47 yards to the Monarch 37 with 0:55 remaining in the half. Widener would drive to the King’s 29, but junior defensive end Tom Tulaney came up big with his ninth quarterback sack of the year to force the Pride into a third-and-25 from the Monarch 39 with 0:03 on the clock. Widener would attempt a hook-and-lateral but the play gained 18-yards to the Monarch 21 as time expired with King’s taking a 17-7 lead into the break.

The second half began with three successive punts until King’s first turnover of the game started the Monarch demise.

 

With its big second half, Widener would out gain King’s  259-to-254 in total yards as the Monarchs managed just 33 yards of offense over the final 30 minutes of play. King’s which held a 17-13 advantage in first downs, also registered a 34:01-to-25:59 lead in possession time, but was undone by turnovers.

Searfass completed 13-of-22 passes for 160 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions while Cuiffo, who was seeing his first action of the year, completed 4-of-13 for 13 yards and two picks. Jones rushed for 62 yards on 21 carries and caught four passes for 22 yards while Jeff Field added 28 yards on 10 attempts. Ritter led the receivers with five catches for 55 yards while Chris Maloney had three receptions for 14 yards. Cirko had two catches for 32 yards and two scores.

For Widener, Campbell was 12-of-24 for 175 yards and an interception. Cook rushed for 45 yards on 14 carries while Falkenstein made six catches for 95 yards.

King’s returns home next week for the first time since September 15 when the Monarchs hosts Albright College at 1:30 p.m. at Betzler Fields.

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King's College
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Questions or comments to:  Bob Ziadie, King's College Sports Information Director
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