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Wilkes football team falls hard in Centennial Bowl

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King’s men’s basketball team tops Elizabethtown

DALLAS TWP. &#8211; Four years ago, a large group of recruits entered the Misericordia football facilities with the goal of turning the teams&#8217; fortunes around.Before this class started play, the Cougars were stuck in a rut of misfortunes. By the time this class of recruits became full-time starters as juniors, the culture of the program had turned around completely by accomplishing many program firsts.The class&#8217; journey came to an end on Saturday afternoon at Mangelsdorf Field with the team&#8217;s second straight trip to the MAC-Centennial Bowl Series but they Cougars dropped a 31-13 decision to Franklin &amp; Marshall.Even though the team couldn&#8217;t make history one more time on Saturday with a first postseason win in school history, the class &#8212; led by offensive playmakers in quarterback Brady Williams and receivers Isaiah Williams and Sam Gillison &#8212; turned the team into an offensive presence in the MAC and 13 wins in two seasons, nearly tripling the program&#8217;s total number of wins in existence prior to the 2018 season.&#8220;They&#8217;re dynamite on offense,&#8221; F&amp;M coach John Troxell said about the Cougars&#8217; offensive trio. &#8220;With 1 (Gillison) and 2 (Isaiah. Williams) and 10 (Brady Williams), I&#8217;m glad we could shut them down.&#8220;I was surprised they were (confined), but what we were doing the entire game was putting two people on one, which made it more difficult for the quarterback.&#8221;F&amp;M jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, converting on its first play of the game for an 80-yard TD pass and then connecting six minutes later for a 12-yard strike.But like so many times over the last two seasons, the feisty Cougars stuck around in the contest. A gutsy call on a fourth-and-inches to air it out was converted for a 16-yard TD pass from Brady Williams to Dwayne Sharpe to cut the lead to 14-7.The Diplomats then drove inside the Cougars 5 on consecutive drives, but the Misericordia defense took the ball away both times. Franklin &amp; Marshall ended the first half with a field goal to go up 17-7.&#8220;This team is unique because we hadn&#8217;t seen them and didn&#8217;t know much about them,&#8221; Troxell added. &#8220;This would be great if we could get some kind of MAC-Centennial preseason challenge and get everybody, and then at the end as well.&#8220;I&#8217;d play them again. They do a great job. They have tough kids and play really hard. We&#8217;re just fortunate to be able to eat up a lot of clock today.&#8221;In the end though, the Diplomats were too much for the Cougars to overcome. F&amp;M controlled the clock with nearly 36 minutes of possession thanks to a strong running game. Then on offense, Misericordia couldn&#8217;t do much against a stout Diplomats defense that clogged up the line of scrimmage all afternoon, only giving up 27 rushing yards.F&amp;M couldn&#8217;t contain the Cougars offense for the entire game. In the fourth quarter, Brady Williams connected with Isaiah Williams for a 75-yard TD pass that was called back due to holding. But a few plays later, Williams hit Gillison for a 19-yard TD strike. Brady Williams threw for 175 yards on 14 completions. Gillison hauled in five receptions for 39 yards and the score, while Isaiah Williams had three catches for 85 yards.&#8220;We were trying to keep the ball away from them because obviously they&#8217;re so explosive on offense with the two receivers. The quarterback is dynamite. It was hard to,&#8221; Troxell said.The Centennial Conference swept all three bowl games against the MAC. Wilkes lost to Susquehanna 88-24, while Stevenson gave up more than 50 points in a loss to Johns Hopkins.MAC-CENTENNIAL BOWL SERIESFranklin &amp; Marshall 31, Misericordia 13 Franklin &amp; Marshall`14`3`7`7`&#8212;`31 Misericordia`7&#8217;0`0`6`&#8212;`13 SCORING SUMMARY First quarter F&amp;M &#8211; Walter 80 pass from Perschy (McCarthy kick) 10:48F&amp;M &#8211; Dearing 12 pass from Perschy (McCarthy kick) 4:08MU &#8211; Sharpe 16 pass from B. Williams (Dinnocenti kick) :22Second Quarter F&amp;M &#8211; McCarthy 23 field goal :21Third Quarter MU &#8211; Farmer 6 run (McCarthy kick) 8:13Fourth Quarter F&amp;M &#8211; Lammers 25 run (McCarthy kick) 14:07MU &#8211; Gillison 19 pass from B. Williams (pass failed) 4:42Team statistics`F&amp;M`MU First downs`22`9Rushes-yards`47-244`22-27Passing yards`211`175Total yards`455`202Passing`9-15-0`14-20-0Sacks by-yards lost`4-22`0-0Punts-avg.`2-34.5`7-35.4Fumbles-lost`2-2`0-0Penalties-yards`0-0`2-10INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS PASSING &#8211; F&amp;M, Perschy 9-15-0-211. MU, B. Williams 14-20-0-175.RUSHING &#8212; F&amp;M, Farmer 19-96, Hartley-Vitt 16-60, Perschy 5-38, Harris 5-22, Wagner 1-7, Donaghy 1-(minus-4), Lammers 1-25. MU, Gawlik 10-54, TEAM 1-(minus-1), Gillison 1-(minus-10), B. Williams 10-(minus-16).RECEIVING &#8212; F&amp;M, Walter 2-93, Dearing 2-33, Lammers 2-12, Focht 1-44, Benfatti 1-19, Perschy 1-10. MU, Gillison 5-39, I. Williams 3-85, Wallace 2-5, Sharpe 1-26, Schlosser 1-10, Rother 1-6, Gawlik 1-4.INTERCEPTIONS &#8211; None.MISSED FG &#8211; None.<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Dave RosengrantFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div>

F&M pulls plug on Misericordia’s hopes for first postseason football win