Wilkes hosts cross-town rival King's Saturday for the 17th annual Mayor's Cup and 2012 Senior Day

WILKES FOOTBALL GAME NOTES VS. KING’S

11/8/2012 12:00:00 PM

(Complete Game Notes)

WILKES FOOTBALL GAME NOTES VS. KING'S

Wilkes Colonels (4-5, 3-5 MAC) vs. King's Monarchs (2-7, 2-6 MAC)
Saturday, November 10, 2012 - 12:00 p.m.
Schmidt Stadium

Tickets: $5 - Adults
$4 - Seniors
$2 - Students

Live Stats

Live Audio (play-by-play: Trevor Turner and Anthony Dorunda)

Live Video

ON THE AIR
Local Live TV - FOX 56, Kickoff 12:07 PM (Pre-Game Show at 12:00 PM) (play-by-play: Bob Ide and John Mendola)
Webstream: www.myfoxnepa.com
Where: All Cable system Channel. 5; Direct and Dish Channel 56; Over the air ch. 56.1

THE MATCHUP
Wilkes University will be hosting King's College for the 17th annual Mayor's Cup Saturday at Schmidt Stadium at Schmidt Stadium. Wilkes lost on the road last week 23-7 at Delaware Valley while King's dropped a 34-19 matchup with Lebanon Valley.

THE HEAD COACHES
Colonels coach Frank Sheptock (Bloomsburg '85) enters his 17th year on the Wilkes sideline, racking up a 102-75 (.578) record. With the 102 victories, Sheptock is the all-time winningest coach in school history, passing Colonel legend Rollie Schmidt's (1962-1981) 90 wins two seasons ago. Sheptock has led the Colonels to two NCAA and seven ECAC playoff berths during his tenure, along with a MAC championship (2006). Wilkes made the NCAA playoffs in 2005 and 2006, going 19-4 overall, including a 42-0 win over Washington & Lee in the first round of the 2006 playoffs. Since 1996, Sheptock has coached 12 All-Americans and 128 All-MAC performers.

Jeff Knarr (East Stroudsburg 94') enters his third season at the helm of the King's College football program. He came to King's after serving 11 years as an assistant coach at Muhlenberg where he was instrumental in helping the Mule program to six Centennial Conference championships and five NCAA Division III National Playoff berths, including berths in 2007 and 2008. During his 11 years at Muhlenberg, Knarr helped the Mules to a combined 78-40 record, including a 49-19 mark in Centennial Conference games. In addition, Muhlenberg won or shared six Centennial Conference championships and earned five berths into the NCAA Division III National Playoffs in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008.

THE SERIES
This will mark the 27th meeting between the two schools as Wilkes holds a 20-6 advantage in the series. The Colonels are 12-4 against the Monarchs under Sheptock. Wilkes took a 13-6 decision over King's in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. last season in a late October snowstorm. Wilkes has won the last two Mayor's Cup games.

SENIOR DAY
Wilkes will honor eight senior players and one student coach prior to today's kickoff for all their hard work and dedication to the Colonels program over the past four years.

HITTING 100
Frank Sheptock recorded his 100th career victory when the Colonels defeated FDU-Florham 37-27 in week four.

THE RALSTON ATHLETIC COMPLEX'S NEW LOOK
The Ralston Athletic Complex is currently in Phase III of a $3 million renovation, which has seen a new synthetic turf along with lights and a state-of-the-art press box added to Schmidt Stadium. A new bleacher system and comfort facilities will complete the project.
In addition to the Colonels football team, Wilkes men's and women's soccer along with field hockey will play on the turf in the fall, while the lacrosse team uses the field in the spring.

ON TOP OF THE RECORD BOOK
Going into today's game against King's, Sheptock's 102 wins stands as the school's all-time leader. Sheptock's 102 career wins has been built up over 17 seasons of work and includes a program-record 11 wins in 2006. In 177 career games, Sheptock has a winning percentage of .576.

THE COLONEL QBs
The Colonels have used their junior duo at quarterback for a majority of the season thus far with Tyler Berntsen (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central) receiving the past four starts including against Delaware Valley last Saturday. Berntsen went 4-for-13 for 43 yards while rushing 11 times for 30 yards. For the season, Berntsen has thrown for 690 yards on 53-for-110 passing and four touchdowns. Alex George (York, PA/West York), who started most of the first half of the season, posts totals of 67-for-127 passing for 690 yards and two touchdowns. He has rushed for 293 yards on 55 carries through nine games. Both QBs will look to put pressure on a Monarch pass defense that allows an average of 222.2 yards through the air and 139.0 yards on the ground.

THE COLONEL RBs
After the injuries to starter Auxence Wogou (Hackettstown, NJ/Hackettstown) earlier this season, Wilkes has relied on its stable of backs to account for positive yards on the ground. Patrick Ingulli (Hawley, PA/Wallenpaupack) leads the list rushing for 491 yards on 102 carries and five touchdowns. Calvin Garvin (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic) follows with 279 yards and three scores on 51 attempts. Andrew Regan (Boonton, NJ/Boonton), who has missed the last three games with an injury, posts 176 yards on 45 carries and one touchdown. PJ Incremona (Wood Ridge, NJ/Wood Ridge) is back from injury accounting for 28 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries. Wilkes ranks second in the MAC in rushing averaging 230.2 yards per-game on the ground (15 TDs).

THE COLONEL WR/TEs
The Colonel wide receivers have been a key to the Wilkes offense scoring points this season opening up the run game with some big-yardage plays. Tight ends Drew Devitt (Sinking Spring, PA/Wilson) (16 receptions/168 yards/2 TD) and Dan Curry (13 receptions/180 yards/1 TD) have been excellent in short yardage situations and play-action pass, while speedsters Jonathon Conklin (13 receptions/211 yards/1 TD), Payton Bachman (Orefield, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) (18 catches/181 yards), and Justin Pellowski (Mt. Carmel, PA/Mt. Carmel) (13 catches/174 yards/2 TD) will look to stretch the Monarch pass coverage with deep patterns. Tim Bousson (Shamokin, PA/Shamokin) has come on strong lately averaging 15.1 yards per-catch.

THE COLONEL OL
The offensive line continues to pave the way for the MAC's second-best rushing attack led by its tackles junior Anthony Swain (Hunlock Creek, PA/Northwest Area) and senior Chris Grube (Orwigsburg, PA/Nativity). Both Swain and Grube provide leadership on the edge and will continue to provide Colonel quarterbacks time to throw in the pocket (have allowed 18 sacks in nine games). Seniors Dave Cinalli (Miami, FL/Archbishop Coleman Carrol) and Joshua Haag (Center Valley, PA/Becca), and junior center Jake Jardel (Cresco, PA/East Stroudsburg) complete the line totaling over 51 starts between the three since last season.

THE COLONEL DL
The defensive line has been nothing short of dominant thus far this season posting 12 sacks and 34 tackles-for-loss as a unit. All-MAC defensive end junior Rob Houseknecht (South Williamsport, PA/South Williamsport) had his season cut short due to a knee injury in the loss against Albright in week three. Sophomore Tyler Thomas (Easton, PA/Easton) has stepped up to provide all the pressure needed on the quarterback posting season totals of 26 tackles, nine tackles-for-loss and two sacks. Freshman Jason Ugwu (Collegeville, PA/Perkiomen Valley), who has started in the place of the injured Houseknecht, has been a monster on the edge recording a team-best five sacks (4th in the MAC) and 12 tackles-for-loss (4th in the MAC) this season. Seniors Ryan Deeney (Milford, DE/Milford) and David White line up in the middle against the run. Deeney (19) and White (29) combined for 48 stops and three sacks through nine games played.

THE COLONEL LBs
All-MAC performer Tate Moore-Jacobs (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) continues to lead the Wilkes defense standing second in the MAC with 96 tackles (10.3 tackles per-game). His 11.0 tackles-for-loss ranks fifth in the MAC as the junior recorded his 300th career tackle against LVC two weeks ago. Junior DJ Shuttleworth (Leesport, PA/Schuylkill Valley) has been excellent in run and pass defense posting 62 tackles and one interception on the year. Freshman Ty Cunningham (Orefield, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) continues to make a big impact in his rookie year posting 31 tackles and three tackles-for-loss from his outside linebacker position. The Wilkes linebackers look to shut down a Monarch offense that averages 292.6 yards per-game and 16.8 points per game.

THE COLONEL DBs
The Wilkes defensive backline is allowing 216.4 yards per-game through the air in the first nine games of the season. Wilkes allowed just 86 yards through the air at Morrisville limiting Mustang quarterbacks to 11 completions, but struggled against an experienced quarterback-receiver combo against Albright (319 yards), at Widener (467 yards), Lycoming (239), and against FDU (337 yards). Rookie corner Marcus Leaf (Reading, PA/Berks Catholic) has seen significant playing time earning eight starts totaling 33 tackles and seven pass break-ups, while fellow corner sophomore Matt Briskie (Moosic, PA/Riverside) posts 17 tackles and four pass deflections.
At safety, sophomore Jake Sarson (Belvidere, NJ/Belvidere) suffered a season-ending knee injury against FDU-Florham and has been replaced by J.T Keer (22 tackles), while junior Paul Gaffney (Sparta, NJ/Sparta) adds 51 stops and a team-high two interceptions.

THE COLONEL SPECIALISTS
After a career-day in the opening season win against Morrisville (3-for-3 FG's including game-winner with 1:25 left), junior Jordan Fredo (Williamsport, PA/Williamsport Area) remains the MAC's top kicker going 6-for-10 (60.0 percent) from 20 yards or better. He earned MAC Special Teams Player of the Week for the second time this season after kicking home a 20-yard game-winner with eleven seconds left at Stevenson. Freshman Frank Bobo (Southampton, NJ/Seneca) has taken over kickoff duties posting a 53.5 yard average per-kick in 27 attempts.

SCOUTING THE MONARCHS
King's is led offensively by quarterback Tyler Hartranft who has thrown for 1,398 yards on 110-for-228 passing and seven touchdowns. On the ground, Kyle McGrath has rushed for 932 yards and seven scores on 174 carries. Defensively, King's has struggled allowing nearly 30 points per game. Kris Matthews leads the defensive group with 70 tackles and two interceptions. Ryan Kelly follows with 64 tackles including 4.5 tackles-for-loss.

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