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| Sr QB Chase Williams (A www.macfb.com Photo) |
The 11-yard score was followed by a four-and-out by the Monarchs (2-2 overall, 1-2 MAC), with the final pass falling to the turf behind the intended receiver, allowing the Warriors (1-3 overall, 1-2 MAC) to take the knee for the win.
Before Williams’ penultimate rush, the game was an offensive slugfest, with Lycoming rolling up 492 yards of total offense and King’s posting 408. Williams ended up completing 25-of-44 passing for 337 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted twice, but also ran the ball eight times for 69 yards and the final score.
King’s Zach Whitehead finished 25-of-44 for 272 yards and four touchdown passes while he ran 22 times for 80 yards and two more scores.
The Warrior offense’s explosive output was most evident in the passing game, where two receivers went over 100 yards for the first time since 1996, as junior Nick Costello (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) had eight catches for a career-high 104 yards and a score and junior Brock Zollicoffer (Owings Mills, Md./Owings Mills) finished with five catches for a career-high 108 yards and two scores. Sophomore Dante Gipson (Bordentown, N.J./Bordentown Regional) had six catches for 92 yards.
Down by three points at halftime, the Warriors tied the game with a 10-play drive to open the half, as sophomoreJamie Fisher (Folsom, Pa./Ridley) hit a 25-yard field goal. The Monarchs responded with an 11-play drive, scoring on a 26-yard route by Tyler Marroni for his second score of the game. Lycoming was forced into a punt on its next drive and King’s got the ball at its own 15-yard line. Just five plays into the ensuing drive, though, senior Mike Palmer (Chester, Pa./Monsignor Bonner) broke through the line and tipped a pass right into the waiting arms of junior Ahmad Curtis (Effort, Pa./Pleasant Valley), who walked untouched into the end zone to tie it at 34.
The Warriors took the lead early in the fourth quarter, rolling 56 yards in eight plays setting up a 36-yard trifecta from Fisher, his third of the day, with 10:00 remaining. King’s rolled 75 yards in 10 plays in response, with Whitehead making a leaping pass to Trey Campbell for a four-yard score with 7:25 left.
The Warriors’ next drive stalled at the King’s 35 with a pair of incomplete passes, giving King’s the ball with 4:39 left. On the first play of the next drive, senior Cody Stemrich (Sweet Valley, Pa./Wyoming Seminary) drove through the line and got to Whitehead for a loss of four yards. Two plays and one-yard later, the Monarchs were forced to punt with 2:55 left.
The Warriors got the ball back at their own 29-yard line and converted their first first-down on the drive thanks to a defensive holding penalty on fourth-and-five. Williams then began to find open receivers, tossing five straight completions to get the ball to the King’s eight-yard line as the clock ticked under a minute. Two plays later, he made his dash into the end zone.
In a wild second quarter, the Monarchs and Warriors combined for five touchdowns, with King’s scoring the final one on a 32-yard fly route into the corner of the end zone with 11 seconds left to take a 27-24 lead into the break. The Warriors drew first blood in the quarter, using a 10-play, 66-yard drive to get into the end zone, with junior Nick Costello (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) leaping for a 3-yard touchdown to cap the drive.
King’s answered with two straight scores, taking advantage of an interception and a muffed punt to take a 20-17 lead with 1:23 left in the half. Lycoming answered with a 72-play drive that took just 28 seconds, with a big play from sophomore Dante Gipson (Bordentown, N.J./Bordentown Regional) helping the Warriors get to the 34-yard line, where senior Chase Williams (Damascus, Md./Damascus) found junior Brock Zollicoffer (Owings Mills, Md./Owings Mills) for a touchdown with 49 seconds left. The Monarchs drew ahead just before the half though, with a 66-yard drive ending with Marroni’s catch.
After Lycoming forced a three-and-out to start the game, the Warriors went on a 10-play, 42-yard drive before Fisher hit a 41-yard field goal with plenty of distance to give Lycoming the early lead. The Warriors forced another three-and-out and got the ball back at their own 43-yard line. Just three plays later, Williams found Zollicoffer, who bounced through a pair of tackles and found space for a 53-yard touchdown.
The Monarchs drew within 10-6 with a score on a 4-yard run from Whitehead on a four-play drive that took just 49 seconds.
Fisher hit field goals of 40, 25 and 36 yards and knocked six kickoffs into the endzone for touchbacks, as he became the first Warrior since Zack Czap in 2013 to hit three field goals in a game, as he tied a school-record with the performance. Senior Sam Dressler (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) posted 13 rushes for 56 yards.
Marroni finished with eight catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns and Campbell added six catches for 59 yards and two scores for King’s.
Sophomore Sam Pawlikowski (West Seneca, N.J./Seneca) and sophomore Trey Smith (Hughesville, Pa./Hughesville) each notched eight tackles to lead the Warriors and both senior Mike Ward (Edgewater, Md./South River) and junior Jarrell Payne (Jersey City, N.J./Liberty) each had seven stops. Junior Sam Romanofksky (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) posted two sacks and Stemrich notched 2.5 tackles for loss.
Jake Manetti led King’s with 10 tackles, two for a loss. Both Justin Foster and Trevor Hill each had interceptions.
The Warriors get back on the field on Saturday, Sept. 30, when they host Wilkes in another MAC showdown at 1 p.m. at David Person Field.
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