Dan Kempa
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Senior Dan Kempa broke King's all-time career receiving yards record with 131 yards against Lycoming

King's Football Drops 28-13 Decision to MAC Front-Runner Lycoming, Kempa, Hartranft Set Career Marks for Monarchs

9/20/2014 4:58:00 PM

Box Score

SEPTEMBER 20, 2014

MAC FRONT-RUNNER LYCOMING REMAINS UNBEATEN WITH 28-13 OVER KINGS, KEMPA AND HARTRANFT SET CAREER MARKS FOR MONARCHS

WILLIAMSPORT -- Senior quarterback  Tyler Jenny completed 19-of-27 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns as Middle Atlantic Conference front-runner Lycoming College posted a 28-13 victory over visiting King's College Saturday at David Person Field.

With the win Lycoming improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the MAC while King's fell to 0-3 and 0-2 in conference play.

Lycoming struck first on the third possession of the game when the Monarchs were forced to punt from its own 33. King's  punter Eric Haenggi was unable to handle an accurate snape from center and was tackled at the Monarch 22.

From there Jenny hit John Sibel for 15 yards to the Monarch seven before tailback Craig Needhammer picked two yards to the five-yard line. On the next play Needhammer ran off right tackle and into the end zone for the first score of the game. Devon Flynn added the point-after as Lycoming took a 7-0 lead with 7:49 left in the first quarter.

King's looked to answer when Tyler Hartranft found Dan Kempa on a third-and-nine play for 42 yards to the Lycoming 30. The Monarchs moved to the Warrior 12 where the drive stalled and a 29-yard field goal by Mikhail Kniaziewicz sailed wide as the score remained 7-0  Lycoming.

The Warriors took advantage and drove to the King's three where Jenny hooked up with Ryan Umpleby for a three-yard scoring pass to cap a seven-play, 80-yard drive. Flynn added the extra-point as the score grew to 14-0 with 13:29 left in the second quarter.

King's countered when Kempa took the ensuing kickoff 76 yards to the Lycoming 11. On a fourrth-and-two play from the Warrior three, Patrick Robinson took a pitch-out and raced untouched into the end zone. Kniaziewicz added the extra-point kick as the Monarchs closed to within 14-7 with 10:59 remaining in the first half.

On the ensuing kickoff Needhammer followed answered with a 59-yard return for Lycoming, giving the Warriors possession at the King's 38. Jenny would eventually find Pat Whalen for an 11-yard touchdown to stretch the lead to 21-7 with 7:41 remaining in the second quarter.

Two possessions later King's would force a punt from mid-field and caught a break when the Lycoming offering netted just four yards, giving the Monarchs the ball at its own 42 with 1:48 to play.  

A 14-yard pass to Kyle McGrath to the Lycoming 44 was followed by a 10-yard pass from Hartranft to Kempa to the Warrior 32 with 1:01 on the clock. King's eventually reached the Warrior four-yard line where the drive stalled as the Monarchs settled for a 20-yard field goal with 0:20 on the clock to cut the lead to 21-10 at the break.

In the third quarter the Monarchs were unable to put together a punted as Lycoming took over at its own 20. On first-down Jenny hit Sibel with a 45-yard pass to the King's 40. Two plays later Jenny hit Ryan Umpleby for 27 yards to the 18. Two plays later a holding penalty moved Lycoming back to the 15 but on the next play King's was flagged for a highly questionable pass interference penalty on a ball that was uncatchable beyond the back corner of the end zone. But after a meeting of officials, the call stood and Lycoming scored on the next play when Needhammer found pay-dirt from two yards out to push the score to 27-10 with 7:05 remaining in the third quarter.

King's scored the final points of the game when the Monarchs drove from their own 30 to the Lycoming 11. But there the drive stalled again and King's made good on a 28-yard field goal from Kniaziewicz to set the final score at 28-13.

In defeat King's played perhaps its best game of the season against their best opponent to date.  Lycoming outgained King's 340-to-251 in total yards and had 17 first downs compared to 15 for the Monarchs. For the second straight game King's hurt itself with penalties, drawing nine flags for 103 yards.

 
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Kempa
Hartranft completed 18-of-37 passes for 219 yards without a touchdown or interception and ran for a team-high 42 yards on 11 attempts. Kempa had solid game for the Monarchs with 10 catches for 131 yards. His 10 catches equaled his career high as the second most in a single-game in program history. He also became King's career receiving yards leader, reaching 2,029 and breaking the previous mark of 1,965 set by Julian Walker from 2002-05.  King's running game was completely  shut down by the Lycoming defense as the Monarchs totaled just 32 net yards on 27 carries. Other than Hartranft, no Monarch runner gained more than three yards on the ground.
 
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Hartranft

In addition to Kempa's record-setting performane, Hartranft became the Monarchs' all-time passing yards leader as his 4,509 yards bettered the previous record of 4,322 set by Tom Pierantozzi from 1998-2001. Hartranft's mark is even more impressive as it was compiled in just over two seasons after the Monarch signal-caller transferred to King's after a season at Susquehanna University.

Defensively for King's sophomore linebacker Bobby Russell had a career-high 16 tackles.

For Lycoming, Needhammer had 81 yards on 26 carries and scored twice while Umpleby led the Warrior receivers with five catches for 57 yards. Sibel added three receptions for 73 yards.

King's will look to record its first won of the season on Saturday when the Monarchs host Misericordia University, a 35-0 winner over FDU-Florham, in King's Homecoming game at 1:00 p.m.
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