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Sokoloski: Heartland Conference has a second chance to do the right thing

Additional state forest roads opening in state for hunting seasons

DALLAS TWP. &#8211; Personal foul penalties can be demoralizing for any team. Especially when they negate touchdowns.However, when Misericordia receiver Sam Gillison was flagged for a taunting penalty late in Saturday&#8217;s game on a call that brought back the go-ahead score against King&#8217;s College, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.On the Cougars&#8217; final drive of the contest, Gillison broke away from the King&#8217;s defense and reached the end zone in what would have been a 51-yard touchdown pass. On his way to the end zone, Gillison reached back with the ball and was hit with a taunting penalty moving the ball back to the 22.With nearly two minutes left on the clock at that point, if Gillison had not been hit with the penalty, King&#8217;s would have had much more time to try to win the game. Instead, Gillison eventually got redemption when he found the end zone with 44 seconds left for the game-winning score leading the Cougars to a 26-22 victory to deal the Monarchs their first loss of the season.&#8220;We just knew we had them in the red zone and we have a lot of plays for in the red zone in our gameplan,&#8221; said Gillison, who hauled in six receptions for 67 yards and two touchdowns. &#8220;We just ran a drag on the backside and Brady (Williams) just looked through progressions and I was open in the back of the end zone.&#8221;When the Monarchs got the ball back, they had to go 76 yards in 36 seconds, but ran out of time after gaining 36 yards and the drive ended on the Misericordia 40.&#8220;I said to Sam &#8216;That&#8217;s the first time a taunting penalty was a good thing,&#8217;&#8221; Cougars coach Mark Ross said. &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t upset about it at all to be honest with you.&#8220;You&#8217;re gonna make mistakes. You gotta put it behind you and find a way to make a play to make up for it.&#8221;Misericordia (2-1 overall, 2-0 MAC) was in position to win the game on its final drive because the defense picked up huge stops earlier in the contest, which was held at Mangelsdorf Field. Two times the Monarchs (3-1 overall, 1-1 MAC) had drives stall inside the Cougars&#8217; 10 without getting any points. That includes their second-to-last drive, which was prior to the Cougars&#8217; 90-yard go-ahead possession. On that drive, holding a 16-14 lead, King&#8217;s coach Jeff Knarr opted to try for a first down on a fourth-and-2 from the Misericordia 7 instead of attempting a field goal. The ball was handed off to MAC rushing leader Jordan Downes (148 rushing yards, 69 receiving), but the Cougars stopped him for a two-yard loss.Still, Knarr felt confident that his defense wouldn&#8217;t allow the Cougars to go 90 yards since at that point it had only allowed 164 total yards, and the previous three Misericordia drives were all three-and-out. Plus, his defense hadn&#8217;t allowed a team to score more than 20 points this season.&#8220;I had confidence in our defense, but we couldn&#8217;t finish defensively,&#8221; Knarr said. &#8220;They found ways to make plays and got it down there. Then we tried to keep them from getting a touchdown and they got a touchdown.&#8220;They made plays when they had to make plays. And we had a chance to finish plays and we didn&#8217;t.&#8221;King&#8217;s, which outgained the Cougars 378-254 in total yards, took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on an 11-yard pass from Tyler Moore to Brandon Cohen. But that was the only touchdown the team would get in the game as they relied on three field goals from Justin Timonte.&#8220;We played well at times and there was a lot of things we did well,&#8221; Knarr said. &#8220;So we gotta build on that. And work on finishing games and drives. We&#8217;re 3-1. We did a lot of good things to get to that point. From a tough loss, we need to work on what we have to do so they become tough wins instead of tough losses.&#8221;Gillison caught a 12-yard TD strike from Williams late in the second quarter to cut the lead to 10-7 at the break. Then, the team got a huge spark to start the second half when Michael Gawlik took the second half kick 89 yards for a touchdown to put the Cougars in front 14-10. Gawlik, who also rushed for 46 yards on 10 carries, got the start in place of David Cromwell, who didn&#8217;t play due to an injury.&#8220;Dave was available if we really had to, but I didn&#8217;t want to. So it was time for Mike to step up and it was good to see Mike make some big time plays,&#8221; Ross said. &#8220;His kickoff return was a lightning bolt to start the second half.&#8221;Moore had a nice game for the Monarchs connecting on 29 of his 39 passes for 262 yards. Williams was 16 of 25 for 168 yards for the Cougars.Misericordia 22, King&#8217;s 16 King&#8217;s `7`3`3`3`&#8212;`16 Misericordia`0&#8217;7`7`8`&#8212;`22 SCORING SUMMARY First quarter KC &#8211; Cohen 11 pass from Moore (Timonte kick) 7:45Second Quarter KC &#8211; Timonte 31 field goal 9:03MU &#8211; Gillison 12 pass from B. Williams (Dinnocenti kick) 4:44Third Quarter MU &#8211; Gawlick 89 kick return (Dinnocenti kick) 14:48KC &#8211; Timonte 42 field goal 3:36Fourth Quarter KC &#8211; Timonte 22 field goal 12:23MU &#8211; Gillison 6 pass from B. Williams (Barry pass from Williams) :43Team statistics`KC`MU First downs`27`13Rushes-yards`48-116`21-86Passing yards`262`168Total yards`378`254Passing`29-39-0`16-25-0Sacks by-yards lost`0-0`3-22Punts-avg.`3-33.7`5-44.2Fumbles-lost`1-0`1-1Penalties-yards`2-10`4-44INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS PASSING &#8211; KC, Moore 29-39-0-262. MU, Williams 16-25-0-168.RUSHING &#8212; KC, Downes 36-148, Bocella 3-11, Clark 2-(minus-7), TEAM 2-(minus-9), Moore 5-(minus-27). MU, Gawlik 10-46, Williams 8-31, Jeffries 3-9.RECEIVING &#8212; KC, Boccella 9-79, Cohen 9-64, Downes 6-69, Herman 2-35, Costantino 1-7, Gorospe 1-6, Ringler 1-2. MU, Gillison 6-67, I. Williams 4-47, Wallace 2-13, Barry 2-12, Jeffries 1-19, Gawlik 1-10.INTERCEPTIONS &#8211; None.MISSED FG&#8217;S &#8211; KC, Timonte (45, short).<style>
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<div class="neCaption">King&#8217;s running back Jordan Downes, left, tries to run through the tackle of Misericordia linebacker Kaden Martell in Dallas Township on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100619Kings-Miseri_1.jpg</photo0><caption0>King&#8217;s running back Jordan Downes, left, tries to run through the tackle of Misericordia linebacker Kaden Martell in Dallas Township on Saturday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100619Kings-Miseri_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Misericordia quarterback Brady Williams stretches for a first down on a keeper against King&#8217;s in Dallas Township on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/web1_TTL100619Kings-Miseri_2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Misericordia quarterback Brady Williams stretches for a first down on a keeper against King&#8217;s in Dallas Township on Saturday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Dave RosengrantFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div>

Gillison makes up for mistake with winning TD catch against King’s