Wilkes-Barre Township -- The King’s College football team almost pulled off the upset of the year on Saturday, losing a heartbreaker, 38-28, to nationally ranked Ithaca College at Betzler Fields. A week after their impressive 34-13 win over Randolph-Macon College the Monarchs looked to come out confident against the 21st ranked Bombers.
The Monarchs jumped out to an early 7-0 when they recovered an Ithaca fumble on the Bomber nine yard-line. Sophomore quarterback Olayinka Soda threw his first of three touchdown passes to senior wide out Mike Verbitski to give the Monarchs the early edge. King’s will look for Verbitski to have a monster year in 2008 after missing most of last season with a knee injury.
Ithaca bounced back and answered with an eighty-yard drive, capped off by a 26-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at seven apiece. Following a Monarch punt, Ithaca drove eighty yards on nine plays to put the score to 14-7 with 46 seconds left in the first half. King’s fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Ithaca recovered at the King’s 31 yard-line. The Bombers added a field goal before time expired to make the score 17-7 going into halftime.
The start of the second half seemed to be all Ithaca as they added two more touchdowns to make the score 31-7.
King’s mounted its comeback by putting together a long drive of its own. The Monarchs drove 58 yards on nine plays before Jeramia Jones capped the drive off with a one-yard touchdown rush. Ithaca blocked the extra point to put the score at 31-13.
On the Bombers next possession sophomore safety, Matt Carrol, recorded an interception and returned it to midfield. King’s took advantage of the field position and scored on another Verbitski touchdown catch. King’s went for and completed the two-point conversion to get back in the game.
With momentum on its side and fans coming to life, King’s went for an onside kick which was recovered by junior defensive back Justin Zlotek. With the ball back, King’s continued the rally when Soda hit Verbitski for a 17-yard score to make it a 31-28 game.
The Monarchs got the ball back with 52 seconds remaining on their own 19 yard-line. With the sidelines and stands now alive, Soda looked to get another score. As the Monarchs drove the field, Soda threw his third interception of the game, this one getting returned for a touchdown. The interception sealed the game for the Bombers as they took a 38-28 lead.
The Monarchs showed that they are a talented team with potential to do great things after performances shown on both sides of the ball in the first two games of the season. People won’t just be coming to see the new turf; they will come to see the Monarchs football team that will be playing on it. King’s will play on the road this weekend as they take on the Tigers of Hampden-Sydney Saturday at 1PM in Hampden-Sydney, Virginia. |
