Antoine Basquiat
Frank Lauri - unauthorized use not permitted
Senior Antoine Basquiat scored King's lone touchdown in his final home game Saturday against Widener

King's Football Suffers 55-6 Setback to 11th Ranked Widener

11/8/2014 6:15:00 PM

Box Score  
NOVEMBER 8, 2014

KING'S FOOTBALL FALLS TO 11TH RANKED WIDENER, 55-6

WILKES-BARRE -- The 11th ranked Widener University football team amassed 525 yards of offense and built a 42-0 halftime lead as the Pride handed host King's College its worst defeat of the year by a 55-6 count Saturday at McCarthy Stadium.

Widener, ranked 11th in both the American Football Coaches Association and D3Football.com national polls, improved to 9-0 overall and 8-0 in the MAC.  King's, meanwhile, fell to 3-6 and 3-5 in MAC games.  Widener will play for the MAC title and an automatic berth into the NCAA playoffs next week when the Pride host Delaware Valley in a matchup of conference unbeatens with identical records. Last week King's fell to 17th ranked Delaware Valley 24-21.

Things started badly for King's on the first play of the game when Widener quarterback Seth Klein found Montrell Hicks-Taylor on a 58-yard scoring play.

King's looked to counter when the Monarchs drove to the Widener 16. But Mikhail Kniaziewicz missed a 33-yard field goal to keep King's off the board.  Widener answered with an eight-play, 80-yard drive, capped by a one-yard run by Terrant Morrison to push the score to 14-0 with 9:08 left in the first quarter.

The second quarter proved to doom the Monarchs as Widener put up 28 points in the second stanza. The slide started when King's Dan Kempa fumbled a punt and Widener recovered at the Monarch two. On second down, Couve Lafate scored from two yards out to bring the score to 21-0. 

After a King's punt, Widener continued to control pace as the Pride went 67 yards in six play, culminating with a 42-yard run by Chris Wickes to up the advantage to 28-0.

King's turned the ball over again on its next possession when Tyler Hartranft was picked off at the Widener 46. On third-down, Klein hit Anthony Davis for a 36-yard touchdown as the score swelled to 35-0.

The Monarchs then put together their best drive of the half as King's advanced from its own 34 to the Pride nine. But on first-and-goal, Widener's Sean Titus picked off Hartranft and returned the interception 96 yards for a touchdown with 0:30 remaining in the half.  The score enabled the Pride to take a 42-0 lead into the locker room.

King's defense played better in the third quarter in keeping the Pride off the board but the Monarchs were unable to take advantage of two scoring chances. 

On the opening drive of the second half King's advanced to the Widener 28 but were unable to maintain possession when a fourth-down pass from Hartranft to Antoine Basquiat fell incomplete. Two possessions later King's reached the Widener four, but a fourth-down pass from Hartranft to Thomas was broken up in the end zone.

Widener answered with a eight-play, 96-yard drivem capped by a nine-yard run by Wickes to brong the score to 49-0 with 14:24 to play.
King's finally got on the board with 12:41 left in the contest when Hartranft connected with Basquiat on a 72-yard strike to cut cut the lead to 49-6.

Later in the game with both teams playing substitutes, Widener drove to the King's nine. But with seconds left in the game, the Pride chose not to take a knee and run out the clock. Instead, Myles Pressey scored on a nine-yard run on the final play of the game to set the final score at 55-6.

Statistically, Widener entered the game allowing just 238.9 yards of total offense per-game. The Monarchs amassed 356 yards against the Pride, equaling Lycoming for the most yards gained against the Widener defense this season. But King's was undone by three costly turnovers and ability to score in the red zone. The Pride entered the contest allowing just 41.6 on the ground and King's did little better in rushing for 53 yards, though 27 yards in sack losses bit into the running totals.

Hartranft completed 22-of-35 passes for 278 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Marquis Miller caught five passes for 41 yards while Dan Kempa had five catches for 29 yards. Tyler Marronnni added four recpetions for 75 yards while Basquiat chipped in with three receptions for 85 yards.  Kyle McGrath ran for 37 yards on 16 carries.  King's was also hurt by the absence of junior running back Patrick Robinson, a top running and receiving threat, who missed the game due to a previously scheduled weekend military commitment with King's ROTC program.

For Widener, Klein complated 14-of-21 passes for 291 yards and two touchdowns. Davis caught four passes for 57 yards and one score while Price followed with three catches for 112 yards. Hicks-Taylor added two receetions for 70 yards and one score.
Defensively for King's, Kris Matthews had seven tackles while Bobby Russell followed with six stops. Nick Kaijala had five stops with one sack while Anthony Martuccio and Michael Martina posted five tackles apiece.

The game eas also the last home contest for 18 Monarch seniors. Those players include A.J. Hubiak, Chad Curtice, Tyler Hartranft, Vince Albano, Steve Hemmig, Dan Kempa, Derick Brown, Greg Minardi, Kyle McGrath, Bill Ardoline, Kris Matthews, Dylan Kelly, Nick Kaijala, Peter Santorelli, Lionel Rice, Jim Strelecki, Antoine Basquiat, Joe Cole.

King's will close out its season on Saturday when the Monarchs travel to meet cross-town rival Wilkes University in the annual Mayor's Cup Game at 12:00 noon in Schmidt Stadium.
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