WILKES-BARRE, PA (September 28, 2024) – For the first time since 2009, the King's College football team defeated Widener University as Jake Ruppert denied a game-tying effort at the buzzer as the Monarchs won, 28-25, on Homecoming and Family and Friends Weekend. With the win at McCarthy Stadium, the Monarchs improve to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the MAC, while the pride drop to 2-2 with a 2-1 conference mark.
Widener (2-2, 2-1 MAC) stormed out of the gate with a 75-yard touchdown grab on the first play of the game, but after the teams traded punts, the Monarchs found their rhythm. With 6:33 to go in the first, King's (3-1, 3-0 MAC) drained 8:14 of game clock with a 16-play, 86-yard drive. A 35-yard catch by Mike DiGregorio and a 24-yard grab by EJ Schreiner fueled the first part of the run before a wild interception by the Monarchs was immediately met by a forced fumble on the return that was recovered by Jayon Hailey on the Widener 36-yard line.
King's went to its run game to help punch it in as Hailey ran the ball in from a yard out to tie the game, 7-7, with 13:11 left in the second. Another big defensive play saw Jared Reto force a fumble on the Pride's first play of the drive that was recovered by Zach Barber and returned four yards to put King's at the 10-yard line. This time, it was the Widener defense to make a play as they blocked the field goal attempt to keep the game knotted at 7-7 with 12:02 left in the half.
A lengthy 10-play drive over 5:16 of the game clock saw the Pride settle for a 26-yard field goal to regain the lead, 10-7, but King's wasted no time in putting another score on the board. Two quick runs from Hailey for 21 yards followed by 18 rushing yards by Brennan Robinson got the ball into Widener territory, and after a run by Russell Minor-Shaw, he found Ryan McCombs for a 25-yard touchdown catch on a diving effort to give King's their first lead of the game, 14-10, with 3:01 to go before the break.
Widener had one more chance to get on the board in the first half, but on third-and-6 from the King's 17-yard line, Reto intercepted a pass at the five-yard line and returned the ball six yards. The Monarchs ran out the remainder of the clock to hold a 14-10 edge heading into the locker room.
To start the third, King's methodically marched down the field over the course of 14 plays and 86 yards that was capped off by a seven-yard touchdown run by Minor-Shaw to push their lead to 21-10 with 5:32 left in the period.
The Pride maintained possession heading into the final 15 minutes of action and tacked on a score after their own eight-minute drive and put on the exclamation mark with a successful two-point conversion to close within 21-18 with 12:20 remaining in regulation.
An explosive 70-yard run that was saved by the shoestrings from Robinson on the first play of the ensuing Monarch drive put King's at the Widener five yard line. Three plays later, Minor-Shaw punched it in to give King's their 28-18 edge with 9:53 left.
Widener would not go away quietly as they closed within three yet again, 28-25, with a 57-yard drive. It seemed as though King's could run out the game clock, but a turnover put the ball back into the hands of the visitors with 3:15 remaining.
In the final plays of this thrilling MAC matchup, Widener got the ball into the red zone all the way down to the King's four-yard line. They allowed the clock to run down to just four ticks, and after a pair of timeouts, the Pride went for the game-winning play. Quarterback Eli Warfel attempted a dump pass over the line, but Jake Ruppert batted the pass down to secure the 28-25 win over Widener in the instant classic on Homecoming and Family and Friends Weekend.
Robinson had his third consecutive 100-plus yard day, totaling 129 yards on 13 carries, while Minor-Shaw ran for 109 yards on 16 carries with two touchdowns while also throwing for 74 yards and a score. Hailey added his own 62-yard effort on the ground with a touchdown. DiGregorio led the Monarch receivers with 35 yards.
Ruppert also led the defense in the contest with 11 total tackles, while Osman Kamara had a monster game with 10 tackles and 3.0 sacks for a loss of 20 yards. Amir Gibson added eight yards and two break ups, while both Reto and Alex Tristan put up seven tackles.
On special teams, Delaney Hilferty was 4-for-4 on extra-point attempts, while Aaron Losada kicked off five times for an average of 55.4 yards per kickoff.
Michael Caloiaro threw for 157 yards on 10 completions, while Bryce Casey ran for 125 yards and a touchdown. Zack Vanscovich had a team-best 96 yards on five grabs. For the defense, Dan Ficca had 11 tackles, and Jacob Kopelman added 10 with a forced fumble and a pass break up.
King's had the edge on the ground for the game, out gaining the Pride 298-177. The Monarchs were efficient on third down, converting 6-of-10, while also going 3-for-4 in the red zone.
King's has its bye weekend next week before returning to action on Saturday, October 12 as they travel to Radnor, Pa. to take on Eastern University. Kickoff in the MAC contest is set for 12:00 p.m.
--MONARCHS--