SALISBURY, MD (November 30, 2024) -- The historic season for the King's College football team came to an end on Saturday afternoon with a 33-13 defeat to the host Salisbury University at Sea Gull Stadium. The Monarchs finish their season 10-2 overall, while the Sea Gulls improve to 11-0 and advance to the Sweet 16 to take on Randolph-Macon next weekend.
 
The host Sea Gulls came out firing, scoring on their opening drive, but the King's (10-2) defense delivered, forcing a field goal on the next Salisbury (11-0) possession that was no good from 25 yards out. The Sea Gulls did not let that deter their next attempt, scoring an 11-yard touchdown run, but the extra-point attempt was blocked by Osman Kamara, his fifth of the season, to keep the game at 13-0 at the end of the first.
 
King's strung together a length drive to start the second, taking the ball 72 yards on 15 plays and chewing up 7:56 of the game clock, but the Sea Gull defense forced a turnover on downs to stop the solid possession by the Monarchs. After forcing a punt, the Monarchs found their stride as a 33-yard completion to Kival Clarke set up a 20-yard touchdown run from Brennan Robinson to put King's on the board with a 13-6 deficit with 2:31 left in the half. Salisbury answered, driving the length of the field and converting as the Monarchs faced a 19-6 halftime margin.
 
It was a slow moving third quarter as neither team seemed to have a rhythm before Salisbury tacked on another touchdown on the final play of the third and then again on their first drive in the fourth as King's faced a 33-6 deficit entering the final 12:45 of action.
 
On their next possession, Clarke returned the ball 19 yards to give the Monarchs their start at their own 22-yard line. A few short passing gains and a costly roughing the kicker penalty against the Sea Gulls kept the King's drive moving, eventually finding Connor Walsh for a 15-yard grab to bring the ball to the one-yard line. Russell Minor-Shaw punched it in for the one-yard score as the Monarchs closed within 33-13 with 6:34 to play.
 
The Monarchs defense forced a three-and-out on their next outing to give King's the ball back with 3:54 remaining. Minor-Shaw and the offense moved the ball down to the Salisbury 14-yard line, but a broken up play resulted in a turnover on downs as the Monarchs gave the Sea Gulls the ball back with 1:52 on the clock. Salisbury ran out the remaining ticks of the game clock as the Monarchs fell, 33-13, on the road in the Second Round of the NCAA Division III Football Championships.
 
Minor-Shaw finished with 16 passing yards on 16 completions and 26 rushing yards and a touchdown, while Robinson ran for 19 yards and a score on five carries. Mike DiGregorio led the receivers with 59 yards on five catches, while Clarke added 43 yards on three receptions. Jake Silver paced the defense with eight total tackles, while Jake Ruppert added seven. Richino had six tackles with a fumble recovery, while both Jared Reto and Xander Murray had five tackles. Additionally, Ahmad Griffin broke up a pair of passes, and Joachim McElroy punted three times for 95 yards.
 
SyRus McGowan led the Sea Gulls with 99 passing  yards on eight completions with a touchdown, while Ronald Clark ran for 95 yards and a score on 14 carries. Dylan Lyerly led the defense with seven tackles and a breakup, and Tucker Smack kicked off six times for 319 yards with a touch back.
 
As a team, the Monarchs had the edge in the air, throwing for 167 yards compared to just 99 by the Sea Gulls.