OCTOBER 27, 2012

KING'S FOOTBALL DOWNS STEVENSON BEHIND MCGRATH, HARTRANFT

?WILKES-BARRE -- Sophomore tailback Kyle McGrath accounted for 210 total yards with three touchdowns as the King's College football team posted a 34-21 victory over visiting Stevenson University in a Middle Atlantic Conference matchup Saturday at McCarthy Stadium.

With the win, King's improved to 2-6 overall and 2-5 in the MAC. Stevenson, meanwhile, slipped to 1-7 and 1-6.

King's pushed across the first points of the game on the Monarchs' second possession. Taking over at its own 45 following a Stevenson punt, King's used runs of 29 and six yards by McGrath and an 11-yard pass from Tyler Hartranft to Josh Sanders to give the Monarchs possession at the Stevenson 25. McGrath then carried for 14 yards, then followed up with an 11-yard carry to reach the end zone. Kevin Mulvihill added the extra-point kick to give the Monarchs a 7-0 lead with 1:48 left in the first quarter.

Stevenson was forced to pount again on its next possession and Dan Kempa returned the offering 25 yards to the Mustang 42. A 10-yard run by McGrath set up a 34-yard touchdown pass from Hartranft to Adam Kudlacik to pad the Monarch lead. The extra-point kick failed but King's built a 13-0 advantage with 14:11 remaining in the first half.

After the teams traded three punts, King's assumed possession at the Stevenson 48. After three running plays totaled 12 yards, Stevenson was flagged for an unspsortsmanlike conduct penalty, giving the Monarchs a first-down at the Mustang 20. After an offside penalty on King's, McGrath followed with an eight-yard run. On the next play, Hartranft hit Darren Mitchell down the left sideline for a 33-yard scoring strike. Mulvihill made good on the point-after kick as King's stretched the lead to 20-0 with 4:10 left in the opening half.

Stevenson finally got on the board on the ensuing possession when quarterback John Gasparovic scrambled for seven yards and K.K. Smith broke free for a 27-yard gain. On the next play Gasparovich found Jeromie Miller for a 40-yard touchdown at the 2:52 mark, cutting the King's lead to 20-7 at the half-time break.

King's controlled the first half statistically, outgaining Stevenson 230-153 in total yards while holding a possession time advantage of 20:13 to 8:47.

Midway through the third quarter, the Monarchs took over at their own 15 following a punt and put together perhaps its best drive of the game. Hartranft found Dan Kempa on the first play for 22 yards over the middle. Aided by a face-masking penalty on Stevenson, King's used a 12-yard run by McGrath and a three-yard carry by Judens Goimbert to reach the Mustang 35. Hartranft then found Kempa again for 27 yards to the Stevenson eight. Two plays later, McGrath ran for a 10-yard touchdown as King's extended its lead to 27-7 with 3:03 remaining in the third quarter.

Stevenson answered with a five-play, 71-yard drive, capped by a 39-yard run by Miller on a wide receiver reverse, trimming the score to 27-14 with 0:58 left in the third.

Two possessions later King's Ryan Cordingly stripped Alpha Jalloh of the ball and Ryan Kelly recovered for the Monarchs at the King's 39. The Monarchs made the Mustangs pay when McGrath took a screen pass and rumbled 47 yards to the Stevenson 13. Goimbert then carried for 11 yards to the two. Two plays later McGrath scored on a five-yard pass from Hartranft to push the score to 34-14 with 8:45 left in the contest.

Stevenson produced the final score of the game with an eight-play, 75-yard drive, capped by a three-yard run by Anthony Reid with 3:08 to play, bringing the final score to 34-21.

McGrath finished the game with 210 total yards, rushing for 145 yards on 26 carries with two touchdowns and catching four passes for 65 yards and one score. He enabled KIng's to build its comfortable half-time lead by rushing for 105 yards on 16 attempts. Hartranft had a solid game as well, completing 15-of-22 passes for 223 yards and three scores. Kempa finished with three receptions for 60 yards while Kudlacik added three catches for 49 yards.

The Monarch defense did an admirable job defensively on Stevenson tailback K.K. Smith, who entered the game atop the MAC with a 143-yards per-game average on the ground. King's contained Smith to the tune of 90 yards on 14 attempts and just three catches for zero yards. Stevenson outgained King's 447-to-399 in total yards, but 145 of those yards came on the Mustangs' final two possessions, long after the game was decided.

Gasparovic completed 11-of-27 passes for 126 yards with one touchdown and an interception. Miller had six catches for 92 yards and a score while Reid was effective coming in at quarterback on the Mustangs final two drives, rushing for 64 yards on six carries while completing 7-of-16 passes for 95 yards.

Cordingly and Ryan Matthews led the King's defense with nine tackles each while Kelly followed with seven stops.

King's will play its second straight home game next week when the Monarchs host Lebanon Valley College Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at McCarthy Stadium.