WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Right before the half, Lebanon Valley reached deep into its bag of tricks: a fake field goal turned into a 26-yard touchdown pass as time expired, cutting the King’s lead down to one point and silencing the McCarthy Stadium crowd.
Some teams might get deflated after a play like that. The King’s defense simply got right back to work.
The Monarchs shut out Lebanon Valley in the second half and pulled away for a 28-13 victory on Saturday afternoon, the fifth win in a row for King’s.
The fake field goal, in which Lebanon Valley jumped into a different formation and scored on a pass from holder Jeremy Bours Jr. to Sheadan Makosy, was the only major blemish on a day where the King’s defense blocked two field goals and an extra point, intercepted two passes and generally controlled the game.
“We told the guys all week that the team that executes the best is going to win this game,” King’s coach Mike Cebrosky said. “We didn’t play our best football, but it doesn’t matter. We’ll take the win.”
Leading 14-13 after surrendering the trick play touchdown, the Monarchs came out after half and put together a 77-yard scoring drive, with Russell Minor-Shaw finding EJ Schreiner in the corner of the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown to give King’s some breathing room.
The Monarchs blocked their second field goal of the afternoon on the next Lebanon Valley drive, and would stretch their lead to two scores after Jayon Hailey scored on a 49-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
It was Hailey’s second touchdown of the afternoon: in the second quarter, Hailey made a one-handed grab on a screen play and scored from 13 yards out.
Hailey’s partner in the backfield, Brennan Robinson, had the biggest highlight of the day, and it came on the Monarchs’ first drive of the game. After the King’s defense made a stand on its own goal line, Robinson broke off a 92-yard touchdown run to open up scoring.
“This is a special group. … They’re earning everything they do,” Cebrosky said.
Lebanon Valley’s passing attack, while racking up 264 yards on the day, was inconsistent at best. But down two scores, the Flying Dutchmen were forced to take to the air down the stretch to try and get back in the game.
The result: interceptions from King’s defensive backs Ahmad Griffin and Amir Gibson, the latter on fourth down and about 35 after King’s edge rusher Osman Kamara came up with a huge sack on third down.
King’s is alone in first place in the MAC standings at 5-0 with the win, and the Monarchs have won five in a row after dropping the Mayor’s Cup to Wilkes in the season opener.
The Monarchs are on the road next Saturday to take on FDU-Florham, one of three teams tied for second place in the league standings.
King’s 28, Lebanon Valley 13
Lebanon Valley`6`7`0`0 — 13
King’s`7`7`7`7 — 28
First Quarter
KC — Brennan Robinson 92 run (Delaney Hilferty kick), 7:53
LV — Drew Campbell 11 pass from Braden Bohannon (kick failed), 4:01
Second Quarter
KC — Jayon Hailey 13 pass from Russell Minor-Shaw (Hilferty kick), 8:16
LV — Sheadan Makosy 26 pass from Jeremy Bours Jr. (Tim Kissinger kick), 0:00
Third Quarter
KC — EJ Schreiner 8 pass from Minor-Shaw (Hilferty kick), 9:20
Fourth Quarter
KC — Hailey 49 run (Hilferty kick), 11:26
Team statistics`LV`KC
First downs`30`16
Rushes-yards`45-197`29-296
Passing yards`264`114
Total yards`461`410
Passing`20-49-2`13-19-0
Sacked-yards lost`2-21`0-0
Punts-avg.`2-38`2-32.3
Fumbles-lost`0-0`2-0
Penalties-yards`6-53`5-55
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LV, Avrey Grimm 11-72, Malachi Williams 17-71, Logan Klitsch 7-28, Dion Bryant 6-27, Braden Bohannon 3-2, Adam Acker 1-(minus-3). KC, Robinson 9-133, Hailey 7-106, Minor-Shaw 11-70, Joachim McElroy 1-(minus-13).
PASSING — LV, Bohanon 15-32-0-182, Klitsch 4-15-2-56, Bours Jr. 1-1-0-26. KC, 13-19-0-114.
RECEIVING — LV, Rylee Stahl 5-60, Alex Vassallo 4-47, Deshawn Wilson 4-47, Malaki Blair 3-41, Makosy 1-26, Ethan Heisey 1-21, Campbell 1-11, Tommy Delgado 1-11. KC, Schreiner 3-35, Hailey 3-28, Bobby Hill 2-17, Robinson 2-13, Tony Brinson 1-11, Ryan McCombs 2-10.
INTERCEPTIONS — LV, none. KC, Ahmad Griffin 1-40, Amir Gibson 1-0.
MISSED FGS — Kissinger, 2-79.
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