Box Score


NOVEMBER 1, 2014

KING'S FOOTBALL FALL SHORT IN UPSET BID OF 18TH RANKED DELAWARE VALLEY, 24-21

WILKES-BARRE — The King's College football team battled back from a 17-0 deficit and missed a game-tying 39-yard field goal at the final horn as the Monarchs dropped a hard-fought 24-21 verdict to 18th ranked Delaware Valley Saturday at McCarthy Stadium in the Betzler Athletic Complex.

With win Delaware Valley improved to 8-0 overall and 7-0 in the Middle Atlantic Conference while King's slipped to 3-5 and 3-4 in conference games.

With King's trailing 24-14, the Monarchs used a 10-play, 63-yard drive to hit pay dirt when Kyle McGrath scored from one-yard out on the final play of the third quarter. Mikhail Kniaziewicz added the extra-point to bring the Monarchs to within 24-21 with 14:56 left I the contest.

Later in the game Delaware Valley drove to the King's two-yard line and on a fourth-and-goal play, the Monarch defense came throughout with a stop at the one-yard line to take over possession with 3:03 left in the contest.

With 99 yards for a touchdown, King's picked its spots with a seven-yard run by Kyle McGrath, a six-yard run and subsequent personal foul penalty on Delaware Valley over the ball to the King's 32. Tyler Hartranft that found Robinson on a 16-yard pass play and a 12-yard pass to Dan Kempa gave King's possession the the Aggie 41. Two more completions of nine and seven yards put King's at the Delaware Valley 25 . With 0:09 on the clock King's settled for a three-yard pass to Kempa to bring the Monarchs to the Aggie 22 with 0:05 left..

From there Kniaziewicz entered the game to attempt a game-tying 39-yard field goal into a stiff wind. Kniaziewicz, whose career long field goal was 33-yards, made firm contact with the ball but the attempt would only reach the back line of the end zone as the Monarchs' comeback attempt fell short.

In defeat, KIng's put forth an admirable effort against an excellent Delaware Valley squad.

The game did not start well for the Monarchs as KIng's turned the ball over in its own territory on the first possession of the game. Hartranft dropped back to pass but was flushed from the pock and fumbled at the Monarchs 29-yard line. Delaware Valley wasted little time in making the Monarchs pay when Aaron Wilmer found Rasheed Bailey for a 14-yard touchdown pass to give the Aggies a 7-0 lead just 2:15 into the game. Later in the quarter, Delaware Valley used a three-play-72-yard drive when Wilmer hit Bailey for a 79-yard scoring toss. Bailey entered the game leading all of NCAA Division III with 1,195 yards.  The point-after kick gave the Aggies a 14-0 lead with0);7 left inn the first quarter.

Delaware Valley extended the lead when the Aggies drove 75 yards but were forced to settle for a 24-yard field goal from Brandon Snyder to take a 17-0 lead with 3:17 left in the first half.

King's finally got its offense going when the Monarchs went 62 yards in four plays, capped by a 49-yard touchdown pass from Hartranft to Kempa with 1:53 on the clock as King's closed to within 17-7 at the half.

In the third quarter the Monarchs took advantage of a short Delaware Valley punt from deep in its own territory, assuming possession at the Aggie 35. King's used seven plays to reach the end zone when McGrath scored on a two-yard run to trim the lead to 17-14.

Delaware Valley, though, immediately responded with a 10-play, 69-yard drive, capped by a three-yard run by Chris Smallwood to push the lead to 24-14 with 5:10 to play in the third quarter.

King's then answered with its 63-yard drive to close to 24-21 before the Monarch's late game heroics fell short.

Statistically, Delaware Valley entered the game averaging over 48 points per-game but were limited to half their average by the King's defense, thanks to a bend-but-don't-break game. The Aggies averaged 516 yards of total offense per-game but outgained King's 421-to-327 in total yards. The Aggies had 22 first downs compared to 18 for the Monarchs. KIng's which had been averaging nearly 10 penalties each game, committed only five in the contest.

Individually for the Monarchs, McGrah rushed for 88 yards on 16 carries and scored twice while adding four receptions for 30 yards.. Hartranft completed 16-of-27 passes for 200 yards with one touchdown and did not throw an interception. Kempa caught eight passes for 123 yards and one score while Tyler Marroni and Patrick Robinson added two catches each for 24 and 23 yards respectively.

Smallwood had a big day for the Aggies as his 169 rushing yards on 30 carries was the most against the King's defense this season. Wilmer completed 13-of-28 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns. Bailey also produced for the Aggies, catching five passes for 115 yards and two scores.

For KIng's defensively, senior linebacker Nick Kaijaja had 14 tackles while junior safety Anthony Martuccio followed with 11 tackles and one fumble recovery. Senior safety Kris Matthews contributed nine tackles on the day.

KIng's will return to the gridiron on Saturday when the Monarchs face another unbeaten, nationally-ranked squad. Widener University (8-0, 7-0) will travel to Wilkes-Barre to face King's at McCarthy Stadium at 1:00 p.m.