SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

 

 

WILKES-BARRE -- The King's College football team will return from an unexpected one-week hiatus when the Monarchs travel to Owings Mills, Maryland on Saturday to open Middle Atlantic Conference play against upstart Stevenson University in a 1:00 p.m. matchup at the new Mustang Stadium.

Fans can watch the game on Live Video at the following link:
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/stevenson.portal

King's student radio station WRKC 88.5 FM will broadcast the game, which will also be voice streamed over the Internet at the following link: http://wrkc.kings.edu/list/current.html

 

The game will also be available on the Internet via LiveStats at the following link: 

http://livestats.prestosports.com/stevenson/

King's is coming off a week that did little to help the team's progress following a 13-6 season-opening loss to William Paterson University on September 3.  Last week King's was forced to practice outside in heavy rains both Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday morning, a serious threat of flooding forced a city-wide evacuation in Wilkes-Barre, resulting in King's campus being vacated with all student-athletes returning home to their families or staying at the homes of friends.

With King's being shut down Thursday through Sunday, the Monarchs' Saturday game at Bethany College was canceled. The result was a loss of much-needed practice time and game experience critical to a young squad looking to sharpen its skills for this weekend's MAC opener at Stevenson.

The game will feature the two most recent football additions to the MAC. King's added varsity football in 1993, its first season in the MAC. Stevenson, meanwhile, stands as the first new conference member since King's joined the league, adding the sport a year ago where it has spent its time recruiting and practicing.

In Stevenson, King's will face a squad that hardly resembles a team in its very first year of varsity football. The Mustangs have received huge financial support from the college, purchasing the Baltimore Raven's former practice facilty, while also constructing a brand new football stadium costing in excess of $9 million. 

The Mustangs also had over 200 players in pre-season camp and have a number of transfer students, including starting junior quarterback C.J. Hopson. Hopson started nine games in two seasons at NCAA Division I-AA Bucknell University in 2008 and 2009 before transferring to Fairmont State University in West Virginia last season where was on the 2010 roster but did not see action.

Now attending his third different college, Hopson led Stevenson to its first-ever victory in just its second game Saturday night as the Mustangs posted a thrilling 46-43 double-overtime victory over Christopher Newport in the team's historic inaugural home contest. Christopher Newport was the 2010 USA South Conference champion and an NCAA Division III national playoff qualifier a year ago.  

 

In that game, Hopson led the Mustangs to 472 yards of total offense, completing 19-of-37 passes for 284 yards with five touchdowns and one interceptions. Equally adept with his feet, Hopson rushed for 91 yards on 11 carries and avoided several sacks with his athletic ability, extending plays to find receivers open down field.

In his first two games at Stevenson, Hopson has completed 28-of-57 passes for 472 yards with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. The team has averaged 366.0 yards of total offense per-game, including 119.5 rushing yards and 246.5 passing yards.

Hopson's favorite target has been Jeromie Miller with 10 catches for 136 yards and three touchdowns. Jae Deshields follows with seven receptions for 216 yards and three touchdowns, while veraging a whopping 30.9 yards per-catch averge. Emmanuel paul is the team's top rusher, averaging 59.5 yards while Hopson follows at 43.0 rushing yards each contest.

 

King's offense, meanwhile, will look to find itself after a difficult time against William Paterson. The Monarchs managed only 70 yards of total offense behind a young offensive line featring four first-year starters, along with a first-year starter at quarterback in senior Joe Kirchon. King's ran for only 20 net yards in the game while Kirchon was 13-of-29 for 102 yards and was sacked seven times.

Sophomore tailback Eric Ofcharsky led the ground attack rushing 14 times for 38 yards and had three catches out of the backfield. King's core of receivers was paced by Tommy Armellino who snagged two balls for a total of 40 yards while 2010 all-MAC second team receiver Jay Torres caught one pass for 12 yards. Senior tight end Glenn Ford made three catches for 27 yards while senior fullback Jordan Haddock posted three catches for 22 yards.

 

King's defense will look to contain the Mustangs and hope for a similar effort as produced against William Paterson. In that game the Monarchs yielded 173 yards of total offense, including 82 rushing yards and 91 passing yards. King's allowed 87 yards on two plays in the game, a 32-yard run and a 55-yard pass. The Monarch defense limited William Paterson to 86 yards on the remaining 54 plays of the game, allowing an average of just 1.6 yards per-play in the process.

 

Junior linebacker Ryan Kelly, who became just the fourth player in King's history to surpass the 100-tackle mark a year ago, started the 2011 season with eight stops. Fellow junior linebacker Jake Ksiaziewicz also made eight tackles, including a sack. Junior linebacker Ryan Cordingly, a 2010 second-team All-MAC choice, made five tackles in the first half  before leaving the game early with a minor injury. He is set to start against Stevenson. Sophomore safety Chris Shuster contributed eight tackles; senior free safety Jim McHugh posted seven tackles with two pass beak-up; while junior linebacker Matt Henry tallied four tackles. Junior defensive end Jake Lehnowsky made five stops and 1.5 tackles for loss. 

Stevenson's defense has allowed an average of 483.0 yards of total offense per-game, including 255.5 rushing yards and 227.5 passing yards. The Mustangs did alow 472 yards of total offense in the double-overtime win over Christopher Newport, but the unit did play well in the red zone, forcing CNU to kick five field goals in the contest.

The defense has been paced thus far by Donnell Brown who has made 32 tackles with 4.0 tackles for loss. JaRon Cody and Jerel Williams follow with 16 tackles each. Mike Higgins adds 12 stops while Scott Lange has contributed with 11 tackles.  Shane Clough, Mark Mazur, and Ricky Congo have tallied eight tackles apiece while Chris Conley chips in with seven stops.

 

 

King's continues MAC play when the Monarchs make their home conference debut as King's celebrates Homecoming with a 1:00 p.m. matchup against Albright College.