Box Score

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

KING'S FOOTBALL REGISTERS 55-17 VICTORY OVER MISERICORDIA IN FIRST-EVER MEETING BETWEEN TEAMS

WILKES-BARRE — Sophomore tailback Kyle McGrath rushed for 226 yards on 20 carries and scored three touchdown and the King's College football team amassed 341 total rushing yards to post a 55-17 victory over visiting Misericordia University on King's Homecoming Saturday at McCarthy Stadium.

With the victory, King's improved to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in the MAC following its first-ever meeting with Misericordia.  The Cougars, meanwhile, slipped to 0-4 and 0-3 in the MAC.

King's took advantage of a pair of early Cougars Mistakes to jump out to the early lead. On the first possession of the game, King's Peter Santorelli recovered a Misericordia first-down fumble at the Cougar four-yard line. The turnover set up a four-yard touchdown run by McGrath as King's took a 7-0 lead just 0:21 into the game following Kevin Mulvihill's conversion kick

On Misericordia's next possession the Cougars drove to the Monarch 18, but on second down, Monarch safety Kris Matthews intercepted Jeff Puckett at the 13-yard line to snuff out the scoring threat.

King's proceeded to march 87 yards on 11 plays, capped by a one-yard quarterback sneak by Tyler Hartranft to give the Monarchs a 14-0 lead with 7:41 left in the first quarter.

Twi possessions later King's was forced to punt from deep in its own territory and a 22-yard punt gave Misericordia possession at the Monarch 33. The Cougars used six plays to reach the end zone when Puckett connected with Shannon Johnson on a nine-yard scoring play, trimming the King's lead to 14-7 with 9:49 left in the half.

Later in the period with Misericordia looking to drive from its own 28, King's used a huge defensive play when Evan Crisman piked off Puckett on a second-down play and raced 28 yards down the left sideline untouched into the end zone. Mulvihill made good on the point-after as King's lead grew to 21-7 with 2:08 left in the second quarter.

King's forced another Cougar punt and assumed possession at its own eight-yard line. After a 19-yard run by McGrath, Hartranft hooked up with Dan Kempa for a 73-yard touchdown with 0:39 remaining in the half.  The 14-point spurt in the span of 1:29 gave King's a healthy 28-7 lead at the half.

The Monarchs would receive the second-half kickoff and immediately established the running game. McGrath used four straight carries for 27 yards before a six-yard pass from Hartranft to Henry gave King's a first-down at the Cougar 32. Goimbert carried for 19 yards to the 13, then added a five-yard run. On the next play McGrath raced 18 yards into the end zone as King's lead swelled to 35-7.

Misericordia countered with a 54 yard drive that resulted in a 26-yard field goal by Steve Clemson to cut the lead to 35-10. The Cougars would assume possession at midfield following a King's punt. Two plays later Puckett found Juwan Pettis-Jackson in the end zone for a 44-yard touchdown play. The point-after raised hope on the Cougar sideline as 10 straight points cut the King's lead to 35-17.

But the Monarchs quickly ended any comeback hopes when Kempa returned the ensuing kickoff 23 yards to the King's 44. On the first play of the drive, McGrath struck again with a 56-yard touchdown run to push the Monarch lead to 41-17 with 2:56 left in the third quarter.

Following another Misericordia punt, King's regained possession at its own 48 and resumed its ground-and-pound attack. McGrath burst free for 20 yards before Goimbert added back-to-back carries of 16 and 26 yards to advance King's to the Cougar 10. On the next play, Goimbert ran off  left tackle and reached the end zone untouched to extend the Monarch lead.  Mulvihill made good on the extra-point kick as King's built a 48-17 lead with 0:21 remaining in the third quarter.

King's managed its final score when Kempa returned a Cougar punt 49 yards to the Misericordia 15. Two plays later Duron Wilson carried three yards for the final touchdown of the game with 1:09 remaining in the contest. Mulvihill would add the conversion kick to bring the final score to 55-17.

The Monarchs amassed 466 yards of total offense in the game, including a whopping 359 rushing yards.  McGrath posted the fourth-highest single-game rushing total in King's history while Goimbert was also outstanding with a career-high 103 yards on just 12 carries.  With King's ground game dominating the game, Hartranft only threw nine passes, completing five for 113 yards and one score.

King's defense performed well, holding the Cougars to just 47 rushing yards on 32 carries. Puckett played well for the Cougars, completing 17-of-34 passes for 193 yards and two scores. Paul Brace had a team-high seven catches for 68 yards while Johnson posted five receptions for 43 yards and one touchdown. Matthews led King's defensively with eight tackles and an interception. Jake Ksiaziewicz and Ben Ray added seven stops each while Ryan Kelly tallied six stops. Ron Garrett had four tackles with two sacks to pace the red and gold defense.

Prior to the Homecoming game King's recognized members of the 2002 MAC championship football squad who returned to enjoy the Monarchs performance. Select players were part of the day as honorary team captains and participated in the pre-game coin toss. Those serving as honorary team captains included Bobby Nawrocki, Chris Rispoli, Craig Humble, Derek Zambino, 2002 all-American defensive tackle Rubin Doster, 2002 all-American defensive end Chris Keene, and two-time first-team all-American Steven Wilson, the 2002 National Defensive Player of the Year. Wilson was also selected to toss the coin.

King's returns to action on Saturday when the Monarchs travel to Williamsport to face MAC co-leader Lycoming College at 1:30 p.m. at Person Field.