Saturday, September 21, 2013

Lebanon Valley dominates King's 38-17

by Tim Flynn '05 (Lebanon Valley Photo)
Murphy Throws 4 TDs In Win
ANNVILLE, Pa. - Brian Murphy threw for 258 yards and four touchdowns to lead Lebanon Valley in a 38-17 win over King's.

The Dutchmen (2-1, 1-1 MAC) defense limited the Monarchs (0-2, 0-1 MAC) to just 207 yards, including 48 on the ground, led by Frank Gaffney's 10-tackle, three-sack afternoon. Tyler George caught a pair of touchdowns and Darryl Sweeper and Jake Zeigler each had scores to go with Austin Hartman's rushing TD for LVC.


"We made some big plays and our defense hung in there and shut them out in the first half," said head coach Jim Monos, whose defense did not allow a point until Kevin Mulvihill's third-quarter field goal.

Murphy had a breakout performance for LVC, returning just a week after being knocked out of the Widener game to post the best performance of his career with 258 yards on 11-of-20 passing and four touchdowns, while also rushing for 42 yards.

"He made some big plays for us, running the football as well as throwing the football, and early in the game he was our best rusher," Monos said.

Murphy spread the wealth, finding six different receivers despite only having 12 completions.

"It was a great team win, the guys up front did a great job for me and the receiver corps did a great job," Murphy said. "The chemistry is rolling now, we're on a roll now and hopefully we can keep this train going."

Hartman chained together runs in the red zone to produce LVC's first touchdown, and Sweeper caught a 26-yard loft from Murphy to make it 14-0 midway through the second quarter. That was the first of three touchdowns in the quarter as George caught balls from 14 and 35 yards out to give the Dutchmen a 28-0 halftime lead.

Zeigler hauled in a 73-yard bomb up the sideline to go up 35-3, but King's Dan Kempa answered with an 11-yard catch to open the fourth quarter. Sean Fakete booted a 35-yard field goal later in the quarter for LVC's final points, and King's defensive end Ron Garrett scooped up a goal line fumble for a 95-yard touchdown return to end the game.

LVC returns to Arnold Field Sept. 28 to host FDU-Florham.

Game Notes
LVC had 401 yards of offense to King's 207 ... Fakete was 5-for-5 on extra points, becoming the first Dutchman to boot 100 in a career ... Murphy was the first LVC quarterback to throw for four touchdowns since Colt Zarilla '12 in 2011 at Wilkes ... Freshman Brendan Irving got his first career start at tailback, rishing for 27 yards ... Hartman led all rushers with 64 yards ... Gaffney led an LVC defense that produced 11.0 tackles for a loss and 4.0 sacks ... The Dutchmen broke up nine passes, while getting pressure on Tyler Hartranft all day with six hurries ... Zach Wierman led LVC with three break-ups, while Ryan Melley and Zach Halpin each had a pair ... Tyler Laudeman had an eight-tackle, 1.5-TFL performance in his first career start ... Kempa wound up with 114 yards on nine catches for King's. Hartranft had 146 yards on 12-of-33 passing.