WILKES-BARRE, PA (November 16, 2023) -- Just under 48 hours out, the King's College football team is wrapping up preparations for their second consecutive Centennial-MAC Bowl Series appearance, securing the top seed to play host for the second straight year. The Monarchs are set to welcome the Centennial Conference's second seed Franklin & Marshall College to McCarthy Stadium Saturday afternoon for the 1:00 p.m. kickoff. King's is coming off a 50-0 shutout win on senior day over Alvernia at McCarthy Stadium, while the Diplomats defeated Gettysburg 35-10 last weekend.

Event Details:
Opponent: vs. Franklin & Marshall (7-3, 3-3 Centennial)
Date: Saturday, November 18, 2023
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Location: Wilkes-Barre, PA - McCarthy Stadium (Directions)
Tickets:  Adults - $10; Students (Elementary through High School) - $3; College Students with valid school ID - Free with suggested donation to Special Olympics; Special Olympics Athletes & Children Under 6 Years Old - Free
Live Coverage: (Live Video)(Live Stats)
Centennial-MAC Bowl Series Central

Things to Know:
King's vs. Franklin & Marshall Game Notes
King's vs. Franklin & Marshall Flip Card
Tailgating Policy
Pet Policy
Spectator Policy



The Coaches: Skyler Fultz opens his first season as the head coach of the Monarchs with Saturday's contest. Fultz spent the last eight seasons in his second stint with King's, serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. During his time at King's, the Monarchs have turned into an offensive powerhouse, as his offensive units have produced All-MAC players at all positions while boasting record-setting units during each of his years as offensive coordinator. The 2023 campaign featured quarterback Tyler Moore's record-breaking season, setting four new career passing records and both touchdowns in a game and in a season records under the direction of Fultz. Tom Blumenauer is in his second season as the head coach of the Diplomats, leading the team to a 6-4 second last season in 2022. He also coached the program's first All-American in Justin Gerhart in the last nine years. Prior to his time in Lancaster, Blumenauer was the Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks coach at Williams College in the always-competitive NESCAC conference.

Looking at Franklin & Marshall: The Diplomats have essentially cruised through the 2023 season with two of their three losses to top-25 teams. As a team, Franklin & Marshall scored 29 points on 332 yards per game while giving up 20 points on 343 yards per night. Their offense is paced by quarterback Ty Tremba at 223 yards per game with 27 touchdowns and just six interceptions through 10 games, while wide receiver Gary Lewis averages 86 yards per contest with 16 touchdowns on the season. The run game is led by Mitch Wagner at 60 yards a night. Defensively, the Diplomats are led by Owen Walsh and Matt Wertz with 62 total tackles, with Wertz adding 11 pass breakups. Additionally, Jeff Decker has totaled 14.5 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks, and 13 quarterback hurries.

Home Threads: In their final contest of the 2023 season, the Monarchs will wear their red jersey with gold pants combination.

Single Digit Tough:  The Monarchs award single digits based on merit, leadership and are retained throughout their time at King's. The 2023 roster returned two single-digit members from last year while adding four more ahead of this season. Just this week, the King's coaching staff announced that Colin Hazleton will dawn a single digit for the remaining two games of the 2023 season. The Monarchs now have seven Single Digit Tough players: Jassiem Lettsome (0), Joe Carchio (1), Teone Sherrod (2), Tyler Carey (3), Colin Hazelton (4), Dallas Solomon (8), and Nate McGlone (73).

Captains This Weekend: King's will send out four captains on Saturday for the coin toss, including Dallas Solomon, Joe Carchio, Nate McGlone, and Jassiem Lettsome.

A Look at the Monarchs:

• King's will look to replace three All-MAC players in Brandon Cohen (TE), Tyler Moore (QB), and Brendan Mozeleski (LB), but return the remaining five honorees in first teamer Teone Sherrod (CB), second team honorees Tyler Carey (WR/Returner), Dallas Solomon (DL), and Joe Carchio (DB), and honorable mention recipient Amir Gibson (DB)
• Teone Sherrod returns after a breakout campaign in 2022, earning AFCA Division III Coaches' All-America First Team, D3football.com All-America Second Team, and D3football.com All Region 1 First Team honors. Sherrod was also a Cliff Harris Award Finalist and earned a spot on the D3football.com Preseason All-America Third Team. He returns to help lead the Monarchs secondary that lead the MAC in interceptions.
• The Monarchs have no shortage of veteran talent on this year's squad, returning nine players that were listed as seniors in 2022. This week's two-deep features 18 seniors listed, while the defense returns all but three starters from 2022.
• King's enters the season with a total of 12 coaches on staff, and of that group five are King's graduates or soon-to-be graduates. (Ben Bakanas, Brandon Cohen, Tommy Gilmore, Brendan Mozeleski, Enzo Poulson).
• King's was picked to finish third in the MAC Preseason Coaches' Poll among the 10 conference schools. Franklin & Marshall was slated to finish fourth in the Centennial Conference.
• The Monarchs placed a program-record 13 players on All-MAC teams released on Tuesday afternoon, highlighted by senior quarterback Russell Minor-Shaw earning MAC Offensive Player of the Year accolades.
• As a team, King's led the MAC in passing defense (121.6 yards per game), passing offensive efficiency (145.0%), punt returns (12.2 yards per return), and opponent first downs (12.9 per game).
• The Monarchs finished the regular season ranked second in the MAC in scoring defense (15.3 points per game), total defense (221.9 yards per game), total offense (347.1 yards per game), rushing defense (100.3 yards per game), passing defensive efficiency (91.6%), first downs (19.4 per game), third down conversions (40.5%), and opponent fourth down conversions (30.0%). Additionally, they were third in rushing offense (162.4 yards per game) and interceptions (12), and fourth in scoring offense (28.5 points per game), passing offense (184.7 yards per game), and fourth down conversions (54.5%).