Penn State Report Card: Lions get a late lift from defense

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Wilkes-Barre mayoral hopeful Sorick: ‘Same old, same old’ won’t produce results

DALLAS TWP. &#8212; For the first seven weeks of the college football season, Matt DeMarco has patiently waited for a breakout game.The King&#8217;s College wide receiver has showed potential earlier in the season with average outputs, but something always kept him from having a big game whether it was a dropped pass, a fumble, or something else.In the second half of Saturday&#8217;s game at Misericordia, that all changed.The Meyers grad showed in the final 30 minutes why he was a Division-I recruit for Monmouth as he scored his first receiving touchdown of the season, set up the team&#8217;s go-ahead TD with a long kick return and recovered an onside kick attempt at the end of the game helping the Monarchs defeat the Cougars 28-14 at Mangelsdorf Field.&#8220;This is how I should play every game,&#8221; said DeMarco, who finished with a game-high six receptions and 91 yards. &#8220;I should be able to catch every ball and open the offense for the rest of the team.&#8221;With the score tied 7-7 starting the third quarter, DeMarco received the kick to open the half and took it 47 yards sparking a 23-yard touchdown run by Jordan Downes on the drive giving King&#8217;s a lead that it wouldn&#8217;t relinquish the rest of the game.Downes&#8217; first career touchdown was just the start of what the Monarchs (3-3 MAC, 3-4 overall) were about to accomplish.After the teams traded three-and-outs, the Cougars were driving in the red zone looking to at least cut into the 14-7 deficit. But quarterback Jeff Puckett threw to the end zone and was picked off by Tyler Mejasic which really gave King&#8217;s momentum.&#8220;We&#8217;re in the red zone you got points potentially that&#8217;s the last place you want to turn the ball over and we threw an interception,&#8221; Cougars coach Mark Ross said. &#8220;That was one of the situations where we wasted good field position&#8221;Five plays after the interception, Tom Hehre found DeMarco streaking for a 48-yard touchdown strike giving the Monarchs a 21-7 advantage with 4:25 to go in the third quarter.&#8220;That was huge. This is my backyard and I wanted to prove to everyone why I&#8217;m here and why I was highly recruited,&#8221; DeMarco said.Turnovers doomed the Cougars (0-6, 0-7). On their possession after DeMarco&#8217;s score, Misericordia turned it over again giving the Monarchs the ball near midfield. Another big blow to the Cougars came in the fourth quarter when Puckett was intercepted near midfield after King&#8217;s went ahead 28-7.Misericordia capitalized on its first takeaway of the game. In the first quarter, Hehre ran up the middle and fumbled; the Cougars&#8217; Sean Weg was there to fall on the loose ball. Nine plays later, the Cougars had a 7-0 lead when Puckett found Tyler Rowe for a 20-yard score with 4:43 to go in the first.King&#8217;s answered on its next drive as Hehre and Marquis Miller hooked up for a 4-yard touchdown on the first play of the second quarter tying the game at 7-7.&#8220;The kids compete like crazy and they&#8217;re resilient as hell so who cares if they score first or not,&#8221; King&#8217;s coach Jeff Knarr said. &#8220;It&#8217;s not like &#8216;oh my God Misericordia scored first&#8217; and then we hit the panic button.&#8221;The Cougars defense put forth its second-best game of the season allowing just 347 total yards and intercepted Hehre, his first time being picked off since Sept. 19. The Monarchs&#8217; Zack Funk (108) went over 100 yards becoming the team&#8217;s first to surpass the century mark this season, but the team&#8217;s 179 yards on the ground was the third-lowest output against the Cougars this season. Misericordia had two takeaways for just the second time this season.The performance is something to build on for Misericordia, which travels next to FDU-Florham, a team the Cougars have beaten two years in a row.&#8220;You gotta get back up. You&#8217;re gonna get knocked down in life it&#8217;s your choice whether you get back up or not and they&#8217;ve got back up every other week,&#8221; Ross said. &#8220;I expect them to get up again this week. All you can do is pick yourself up go back to work and try your best make sure it doesn&#8217;t happen again next week.&#8221;King&#8217;s returns home to face MAC frontrunner Albright, which is now in a three-way tie with Delaware Valley and Stevenson atop the standings.King&#8217;s 28, Misericordia 14King&#8217;s`0`7`14`7`&#8212;`28Misericordia`7`0`0`7`&#8212;`28First quarterMU &#8212; Rowe 20 pass from Puckett (Davis kick) 4:43Second quarterKING&#8217;S &#8212; Miller 4 pass from Hehre (Kniaziewicz kick) 14:54Third quarterKING&#8217;S &#8212; Downes 23 run (Kniaziewicz kick) 11:59KING&#8217;S &#8212; DeMarco 48 pass from Hehre (Kniaziewicz kick) 4:25Fourth quarterKING&#8217;S &#8212; Funk 4 run (Kniaziewicz kick) 6:55MU &#8212; Puckett 1 run (Davis kick) :41Team statistics`KC`MUFirst downs`17`11Rushes-yards`38-179`27-97Passing yards`168`103Total yards`347`200Passing`16-25-1`13-27-2Sacks by-yards`0-0`1-3Punts-avg.`n/a`5-37.0Fumbles-lost`1-1`1-1Penalties-yards`8-61`7-46INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING &#8212; KC, Funk 14-108, Brown 13-29, Hehre 5-27, Downes 3-24, Manetti 1-3, TEAM 1-(minus-2), Singley 1-(minus-10). MU, Puckett 14-84, Kurtz 4-17, Maldonado 1-8, Cheslock 1-(minus-3), Leap 2-(minus-3), Vleck 5-(minus-6)PASSING &#8212; KC, Hehre 16-25-1-168, Manetti 0-0-0-0. MU, Puckett 11-25-2-103, Leap 2-2-0-0RECEIVING &#8212; KC, DeMarco 6-91, Palmer 5-47, Miller 2-10, Marroni 1-11, Flayhart 1-6, Downes 1-3. MU, Rowe 5-65, Gillison 3-3, Solomon 2-15, Stelzer 1-10, McMaster 1-6, Petties-Jackson 1-4.INTERCEPTIONS &#8212; KC, Mejasic, Martuccio. MU, HarrisMISSED FGs &#8212; KC, Kniaziewicz (37, WL)<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Justin Burke (24) of Kings&#8217; is caught from behind by Misericordia&#8217;s Zak LaNunziata on a punt return in Saturday&#8217;s college football game in Dallas. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_miserikings02.jpg</photo0><caption0>Justin Burke (24) of Kings&#8217; is caught from behind by Misericordia&#8217;s Zak LaNunziata on a punt return in Saturday&#8217;s college football game in Dallas. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox|Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_miserikings01.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Misericordia quarterback Brandon Leap takes off on a run through the King&#8217;s defense in Saturday&#8217;s football game in Dallas. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_miserikings01.jpg</photo1><caption1>Misericordia quarterback Brandon Leap takes off on a run through the King&#8217;s defense in Saturday&#8217;s football game in Dallas. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox|Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Dave Rosengrantdrosengrant@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</shirttailMeta></div>

Big second half sparks Monarchs over Misericordia