SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

ALBRIGHT FOOTBALL CONTINUES TO ROLL WITH 57-17 VICTORY OVER KING'S

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WILKES-BARRE — The visiting Albright College football team continued its offensive onslaught with 533 yards of total offense as the visiting Lions handed host King's College a 57-17 Homecoming defeat Saturday at McCarthy Stadium. With the victory, Albright improved to 4-0 on the year and 2-0 in the Middle Atlantic Conference. King's. Meanwhile, slipped to 1-2 and 1-1 in league competition.

Albright, which entered the game averaging 491 yards of offense per-game following a school-record 675-yard effort in a 65-26 victory over Wilkes last week, showed no signs of slowing down against King's.

The Lions, aided by a personal foul penalty against King's on the opening kickoff, marched 59 yards on nine plays, using a nine-yard pass from Adam Galczynski to Josan Holmes to take a 1-0 lead. Penalties, would be a reoccurring problem in the game for King's

King's countered with a 16-play drive, keyed by a 20-yard pass from Joe Kirchon to Jay Torres, to reach the Albright 15. There the drive would stall and the Monarchs settled for a 34-yard field goal by Mike Lloyd with 3:31 left in the first quarter to bring King;s within 7-3.

Albright quickly answered on its next possession when Galczynski, facing a third-and-six play from the Lion 46, found Scott Pillar down the right sideline for a 54-yard touchdown pass as the Lions built a 14-3 advantage with 2:32 lead in the opening stanza.

Following a King's punt, Albright assumed possession at its own 11 and mounted another drive. The Lions moved to the King's 47 before facing a fourth-and-two play. From there, T.J. Luddy passed to Holmes near the right sideline, but the Lion tailback appear to juggle the ball while going out of bounds. Game officials, however, ruled the pass complete and Albright gained a first down at the Monarch 29. After a 14-yard completion to Pillar, Albright faced a third-and-10 from the King's 15. From there, the Monarchs were flagged for pass interference, giving the Lions and first-and-goal from the 10. On the next play, Luddy dropped back to pass, avoided a sack, and scrambled into the end zone for a touchdown, upping the score to 21-3. With 9:06 remaining in the second quarter.

King's assumed possession at its own 21 following the ensuing kickoff and used a 33-yard pass from Kirchon to Torres to move to midfield.  A 16-yard run by Kirchon and a nine-yard completion to Glen Ford, advanced the ball to the Albright 25. Two plays later, Kirchon hooked up with Torres for a 22-yard scoring strike as King;s cut the lead to 21-10 with 4:47 left in the first half.

Needing a defensive stop, penalties again came into play for King's. With Albright facing a third-and-seven from the Monarch 40, King's was flagged for a defensive holding penalty, keeping the Albright drive alive.  The Lions would make the Monarchs pay, eventually scoring on a three-yard pass from Galczynski to Pillar for a back-breaking touchdown with 0:41 remaining in the opening half as Albright took a 28-10 lead into the locker room. In the first half alone, King's was flagged for seven penalties for 75 yards, each penalty seemingly coming at a critical time.

King's looked to get back in the game when it took the second-half kickoff and began to mach downfield. An 18-yard pass to Torres was then followed by a holding penalty on the Monarchs, pushing the ball back to the Monarch 41. On the next play, King's came up with its biggest play of the game when Kirchon found Torres for a 53-yard pass to the Albright six. Two plays later, tailback Eric Ofcharsky took a handoff from the five-yard line and appeared headed for the end zone. Ofcharsky, however, fumbled the ball just before reaching the goal line and Albright defensive back David Webb recovered in the end zone to deny the Monarchs.

The King's defense would force a punt and the Monarchs took over at their own 25. King's again began to march downfield, using a 13-yard completion to Jordan Haddock, a 24-yard hook-up to Tommy Armellino, and a 20-yard screen pass to Ofcharsky to give King's a first down at the Albright 18. After a pair of seven-yard runs by Haddock and Ofcharsky, the Lions were penalized for an illegal substitution, give King's a first down at the two-yard line. On the next play Ofcharsky scored from two yards and Lloyd made good on the conversion as King's trimmed the Albright lead to 28-17.

The Lion, offense, however, answered yet again with a 10-play, 83 yard drive capped by a 10-yard touchdown run by Matt Reinhardt as the Lions stretched the lead to 37-17 with 2:27 left in the third quarter.

Following a King's punt, Albright's offense struck again, converting a 10-play, 75-yard drive with an eight-yard pass from Luddy to Pillar as the Lions took a 42-17 lead with 11:31  remaining in the contest.   On King's next possession, the Monarchs were forced to punt from deep in its own territory and an errant snap sailed over the head of Lloyd, the Monarch punter. The ball then rolled out of the end zone for a safety as the Albright lead grew to 44-17 with 9:20 left in the game.

The wheels continued to come apart for King's following its ensuing kick to Albright following the safety. The Lions took over at its own 47 and on its first play of the possession, Zach Groff raced 53 yards to the end zone as  Albright's lead suddenly grew to 50-17 with 9:00 on the clock.

On King's next possession, the Monarchs advanced to the Albright 32-yard line. The snowball affect, however, would continue for King's when back-up quarterback Mike Daly was picked off by Drew Peterson and the Lion defensive back returned the interception for a 78-yard touchdown with 5:48 to go, capping a game-ending 22-point surge over a 5:43 span.

Galczynski completed 11-of-16 passes for 180 yards and three touchdowns while Luddy was 10-for-11 with one scored.  The Lions rushed for 220 yards, with 116 yards coming in the fourth quarter against a worn down King's defense. Groff totaled 74 yards on seven carries while Reinhardt had 52 yards on 10 attempts. Pillar continued his brilliant season by making eight catches for 157 yards and three touchdowns while Caleb Shilko added four receptions for 39 yards.

While Albright controlled play the majority of the game, the Monarchs lost an opportunity to seriously challenge the Lions due in large part to penalties on both sides of the ball. King's was flagged for 11 penalties for 105 yards in the game, with the majority coming in critical situations.

King's offense managed 366 total yards, paced by Kirchon who completed 17-of-30 passes for 290 yards with one touchdown and an interception. Torres had a huge day for King's, hauling in six passes for 173 yards and one score while Armellino posted four receptions for 43 yards. Glenn Ford made three catches for 38 yards while haddock added three receptions for 18 yards out of the backfield. Ofcharsky led King's rushing attack with 48 yards on 15 attempts while no other Monarch player surpassed 10 yards on the ground.

King's returns to action on Saturday when the Monarchs travel to Chester to face MAC rival Widener University in a 1:00 p.m. contest.