OCTOBER 24, 2008
KING'S FOOTBALL FALLS TO LEBANON VALLEY, 40-14
ANNVILLE – Entering its game at Lebanon Valley College, the King's College football team was well aware the Flying Dutchmen possessed the leading rushing attack in the MAC. Unfortunately for King's, it was Lebanon Valley's seemingly toothless passing game that provided the biggest bite.
The Flying Dutchmen passed for 170 yards in the first half, including two long touchdown passes to build a 20-6 half-time lead, en route to a 40-14 victory at Arnold Field in Annville.
With the win, Lebanon Valley improved to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the MAC. King's, meanwhile, fell to 2-5 and 1-3 in league games.
The game began 15 minutes late following torrential rains and lightening forced the opening kickoff to be postponed.
When the game finally began, Lebanon Valley threatened to push across the first score of the game on the opening drive when the Dutchmen slowly marched to the King's 15. After a one-yard rushing loss and an incomplete pass, the Dutchmen faced a third-and-11 from the 16. A screen pass to Charlie Parker would net just one yard forcing a fourth-and-10 from the King's 15. Caleb Fick's pass into the end zone was broken up by Brian Mitros as the Monarchs kept Lebanon Valley off the scoreboard..
After three changes of possession, the Monarchs took over at their own 29-yard line following a punt. Senior tailback Claude Connor would start the drive with a five-yard run before Corey Lavin hit Justin Dalton with a nine-yard gain to the 43. Lavin then connected with Mike Verbitski for 19 yards to the LVC 38. O'Connor would then pick up seven yards before gaining one on the next play. On third-and-two from the 36, O'Connor was stuffed for no gain on the final play of the first quarter. On fourth-and-two, Lavin picked up the first down with a 13-yard bootleg to the LVC 23. O'Connor then followed up with a 19-yard carry and a first down at the Dutchmen four-yard line. But the drive would stall and Andrew DeRito made good on a 28-yard field goal attempt to put King's ahead 3-0 with 12:34 left in the second quarter.
Lebanon Valley would respond quickly after assuming possession at its own 38. On the second play of the drive, Fick found Sean Donovan alone down the left sideline for a 60-yard catch and run touchdown. Brittany Ryan's point-after attempt bounced off the right upright as the Dutchmen took a 6-3 lead with 11:50 remaining in the half.
King's attempted to counter when it assumed possession at its own 40 following the kickoff. Lavin hit Dalton for 13 yards before Phil Shaw followed with a seven-yard run, then added two more yards on the next play. On third-and-one from the Dutchmen 38, Shaw picked up the first down with one-yard run to the Dutchmen 37. On the following play, however, Lavin lofted a pass downfield but a the ball would bounce off the hands of a Monarch receiver and into arms of LVC defensive back Matt Lillis for an interception at the Dutchmen 15.
Lebanon Valley would take full advantage, moving the ball to their own 46 following a pass interference penalty on the Monarchs. On the next play, Zarilla looked downfield to find Sean Brennan all alone at the Monarch 30. The Dutchmen receiver then broke two tackles to score on a 54-yard hook-up, capping a six-play, 85-yard drive. The point after gave Lebanon Valley a 13-3 lead with 7:00 remaining in the second quarter.
King's again looked to answer when the Monarchs took over possession at its own 32. On first down, O'Connor picked up 18 yards to midfield, then added five to the Lebanon Valley 45. After a one-yard run, Lavin hit Rob Lane for 14 yards to the Dutchmen 30. After another short run, Lavin found Dalton for seven yards to the 23. On third-and-two, O'Connor broke several tackles to pick up a first down with a 13 yards to the Dutchmen 10. Lavin then connected with Doug Mucha for five yards before O'Connor gained one yard to the four. On third-and goal, Lavin scrambled for one yard and King's settled a 21-yard field goal by DeRito to close to within 13-6 with 1:24 left in the opening half.
After the Dutchmen took over at their own 45 following the kickoff, Parker rumbled for eight yards to the King's 48. Fick then broke free from several King's tacklers to run for 15 yards to the Monarch 33. After an LVC timeout with 1:05 on the clock, Fick hit Matt Donnelly for eight yards to the 25. On the next play the pair connected again, this time for 16 yards to the King's nine. The Dutchmen made good on the drive when Fick found Donovan for a nine-yard scoring pass to stretch the Lebanon Valley lead with 0:30 remaining in the half. The extra-point kick gave the Dutchmen a 20-6 advantage.
The Monarchs tried to cut into the lead, advancing the ball to the Lebanon Valley 30. But DeRito's 48-yard field goal attempt with 0:02 left was wide as the Dutchmen took a 20-6 lead into the break.
On the third possession of the third quarter, the Dutchmen used a 22-yard punt return to asumme possession at the King's 46. From there the LVC running game began to take over as five rushes and two short passes moved the ball to the King's six. On the next play, Parker capped the eight-play drive with a six-yard touchdown run to give the Dutchmen a 26-6 lead with 6:55 left in the third quarter.
King's finally answered on its next possession, keyed by a 14-yard catch by Matt Ihlein on a critical third-and-10 play, giving the Monarchs a first down at their own 48. After a three-yard run by O'Connor, Lavin broke free when he rambled 49 yards on an option keeper to score King's first touchdown of the game. The Monarchs made good on the two-point conversion when King's ran a reverse to Mike Verbitski to cut the lead to 26-14 with 4:16 remaining in the third quarter.
The Monarchs would take over at its own four-yard line following a Lebanon Valley punt. After a short gain by Shaw, Lavin's was intercepted by Lillis for the second time in the game and the senior raced down the left sideline into the end zone for a Dutchmen score. Ryan's point-after would push the score to 33-14 with 1:35 left in the third quarter.
After forcing another King's punt the Dutchmen took over at their own 27. Lebanon Valley would string together a 13-play, 73-yard drive, capped by a one-yard run by Parker as the lead swelled to 40-14 with 8:23 left in the contest. Neither team would score the rest of the way.
The King's defense did an admirable job in the first half, limiting the Dutchmen ground game to 85 yards after the team entered the contest atop the MAC with a 224.5 yards per-game average on the ground. With King's offense unable to sustain drives the Monarch defense was eventually worn down, surrendering 135 rushing yards in the second stanza.
All toll, Lebanon Valley amassed 414 total yards, including a season-high 193 yards through the air. Fick completed 8-of-12 passes for 131 yards with two touchdowns while Zarilla went 2-of-3 for 62 yards and one score. Parker tallied 107 rushing yards on 22 carries while Ben Guiles added 76 yards on 15 attempts.
The Monarch offense, which gained 220 yards in the first half, was held to 136 over the final 30 minutes of play. O'Connor rushed for 83 yards on 20 carries to pace the Monarch attack. Lavin completed 11-of-21 passes for 128 yards with three interceptions. He added 68 rushing yards on seven carries with the Monarchs' lone touchdown.
Verbitski posted four catches for 57 yards while Dalton tallied three catches for 29 yards. Defensivelt, P.J. Nivens had 12 tackles for King's while Ryan Kelly added nine stops.
