NOVEMBER 18, 2011

KING'S FOOTBALL TEAM CLOSING OUT SEASON WITH MAKE-UP GAME AGAINST BETHANY COLLEGE

WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College football team finishes up its season on Saturday when the Monarchs travel Bethany, WV to face Bethany College to make-up a game that was postponed from September 10. The game kicks off 1:00 p.m. at Bison Stadium.
    
The Monarchs are 1-8 overall and finished 1-7 in the MAC, while the Bison are 4-5 overall and holds a 3-5 record in the Presidents Athletic Conference. The game will be part of the MAC-PAC Challenge Series   


FOLLOW THE GAME:
The game will also be available on the Internet via LiveStats and also on Live Video. Both can be accessed at the following link:         
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/bethanywv.portal#

ABOUT THE SERIES:   
This  is just the 2nd meeting between the two teams with Bethany squeaking out a 31-29 win last season. The Monarchs  held a 23-13 halftime lead, but the Bison rallied in the second half to earn the win. Trailing 31-29 the Monarchs made a defensive stop to get the ball back with 3:26 to play.  King's was able to move the football all the way to the Bethany 18 yard line. King's attempted a 35-yard field goal, but it sailed wide left as time expired.

MAC-PAC CHALLENGE:       
This game is part of the final year of the football challenge series between the Middle Atlantic Conference and the President's Athletic Conference.  Six of the eight games from the challenge were played on Sept. 10, but this game and the Wilkes University vs. Waynesburg game were cancelled due to the threat of flooding in the Wilkes-Barre area.  The MAC has already sewn up a win in the challenge going 5-1 in the earlier games. Wilkes-Waynesburg was not rescheduled.

THE COACHES:      
Monarch  mentor Jeff Knarr is in his second season of rebuilding the program at King's and owns a 2-17 career record. Bethany College head coach Tim Weaver is in his sixth season with the Bison and holding a 23-36 record.

LAST WEEK:   
A week ago the Monarchs fell 54-7 to Lebanon Valley dropping their seventh straight contest.  Bethany College lost 20-14 to Saint Vincent in their PAC finale.          

KING'S ON OFFENSE:    MULTIPLE-I                     
King's is averaging  229.3 yards of total offense per-game. The Monarchs have averaged 146 passing yards and 83.3 rushing yards. At quarterback, freshman Bryant Klein made his third career start last week against Lebanon Valley. Klein finished the game 9-of-20 for 70 yards including a six yard touchdown to Jay Torres. Klein also ran the ball 17 times for a total of 14 yards. Junior tailback Eric Ofcharsky leads the team with 285 rushing yards on 85 carries and two touchdowns while adding 10 catches out of the backfield for 63 yards. Freshman tailback Kyle McGrath has 224 yards on 52 attempts and has caught five passes for 31 yards. Senior tailback Matt Spencer contributes 165 yards on 42 carries. Senior fullback Jordan Haddock has rushed for 122 yards on 22 carries while catching 24 passes for 144 yards. Freshman Delano Mullings toted the rock 21 times for 62 yards to lead all rushers against the Dutchmen.

Senior Jay Torres leads all receivers with 36 catches for 538 yards and five touchdowns. Torres pulled down three passes for 35 yards and a touchdown last week against Lebanon Valley. Torres currently ranks fifth in the MAC in all-purpose yards with 954 yards an average of 106 yards per game and is eighth in the MAC in receiving yards per game with 59.8.  Senior tight end Glen Ford adds 19 receptions for 173 yards and one score while sophomore split end Chris Greene has contributed 17 receptions for 148 yards. Mike Lloyd is the sixth highest scorer among kickers in the MAC with 31 points on 7-of-8 field goals and 10-of-12 PATs.

BETHANY ON OFFENSE:   MULTIPLE SPREAD OPTION  
The Bison offense is averaging 23.6 points per game behind and average of 228 yards through the air and 146.3 on the ground. A year ago, Bethany amassed 445 yards of total offense, including 387 rushing yards. Dual threat quarterback Matt Grimard leads the Bison attack. Grimard has completed 162-of-274 passes for 2,052 yards with 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. On the ground Grimard has rushed 150 times for 343 yards and four scores. Against King's last season, Grimard rushed for 150 yards on 20 carries while completing 8-of-16 passes for 58 yards and one score. Sophomore tailback Nico Irizarry leads Berhany in rushing with 470 yards on 90 carries and three touchdowns and has hauled in 24 passes for 265 yards and a pair of scores.

Senior running back Eric Walker has added 90 carries for 420 yards in just seven games and made six catches for 96 yards. A year ago, Walker enjoyed a big game against the Monarchs with 220 yards on 30 carries. Junior wideout Ed Holmes leads the Bison receiving corps with 42 catches for 495 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Alex Evans is a close second with 35 grabs for 486 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Sophomore Daryl Powell has hauled in 34 balls for 424 yards and four touchdowns.

KING'S ON DEFENSE:    MULTIPLE 3-4   
King's defense has yielded an average of 407.1 total yards per-game, including 173.2 rushing yards and 233.9 passing yards each contest.  The Monarchs have forced six turnovers on the season.  Junior inside linebacker Ryan Cordingly tops the squad with 66 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and a sack. His 7.3 tackles per game rank eighth in the MAC. Fellow junior linebacker Ryan Kelly follows with 60 tackles and 1.5 sacks. Senior safety Jim McHugh adds 50 tackles with an interception and five pass breaks. Junior defensive end Jake Lehnowsky has posted 36 tackles with 10 tackles for loss totalling 48 yards and 3.5 sacks while Chris Shuster has added 31 tackles with one tackle for loss and two pass break ups.

Junior linebacker Matt Henry has made 29 stops with 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack. Junior cornerback Evan Crisman contributes 28 tackles. Sophomore nose-guard Jon Koslop has made 26 stops. Junior Andrew Yablonski, freshman Kris Koslop and senior cornerback Mike Schifalacqua have chipped in  23 tackles each. Freshman defensive end Devon Sanchez has made 21 stops in six games with one TFL.  

BETHANY ON DEFENSE:    4-3   
The Bison defense enters the game allowing 304.1  yards of total offense per-game, including 165.4 rushing yards and 138.7 passing yards per-contest. Bethany has forced 15 opponent  turnovers. Junior linebacker Kyle Arrington leads the team with 79 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and half a sack.  Sophomore defensive back Jamaan Webb has made 66 stops with one tackle for loss.  Webb has five pass break ups, a pair of interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Senior defensive lineman Kasib Talalib-Din has 59 tackles with 13.5 tackles for loss totalling 44 yards and five sacks for 21 yards while forcing two fumbles. Sophomore defensive back Jordan Joyce has made 45 stops with 2.5 tackles for loss and four pass break ups. Tyrell Scott has made 39 tackles from his linebacker position including three tackles for loss and half a sack.  Senior defensive back Jeff Joyce has netted 36 tackles with 3.5 tackles for loss, a pair of sacks and two interceptions. 

KING'S vs. BETHANY ALL-TIME (Bethany Leads 1-0)
2010 - L 31-29