Warren Ruda

Taylor Young finished with 220 yards and three scores for Wilkes against King's Saturday

FOURTH QUARTER COMEBACK LIFTS KING’S OVER WILKES 35-28 IN 18TH ANNUAL MAYOR’S CUP GAME

11/16/2013 4:18:00 PM

Box Score

FOURTH QUARTER COMEBACK LIFTS KING'S OVER WILKES 35-28 IN 18^TH ANNUAL MAYOR'S CUP GAME

WILKES-BARRE – Trailing 21-7 in the fourth quarter, host King's College scored 28 points in the final frame to post a come-from-behind 35-28 victory over Wilkes University in the 18^th annual Mayor's Cup game Saturday afternoon at McCarthy Stadium.

Wilkes concludes its season with a 4-6 overall record finishing 3-6 in MAC play. King's sees its season end with a 6-4 mark, 5-4 in conference games. It marks the first time in four years that King's has won the Mayor's Cup. Wilkes still leads the all-time series with their cross-town foes winning 21 of 28 contests against the Monarchs.

Wilkes opened the game receiving the football. Facing a third and two at mid field, Taylor Young (Catawissa, PA/Southern Columbia) ran for nine yards to keep the drive alive moving the Colonels to the King's 41. The drive would stall at the King's 33 as a David Claybrook (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway)'s end around run on fourth down fell short one yard of the first down marker, turning the ball back to the Monarchs.

Another promising Wilkes drive began at its own 37. Young continued the drive with a nine-yard pitch-and-catch with Claybrook on another third and short situation Two more complete passes, one to Alex George (York, PA/West York) and another to Claybrook on play action moved the ball into King's territory at the 23 yard-line. On the ensuing play, Calvin Garvin (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic) took a handoff 20 yards down to the King's three yard-line. Two plays later, Pat Ingulli went in from two yards out on a sweep to the right side giving the Colonels a 7-0 lead with under a minute to play in the first quarter.

Following another four and out from King's, Wilkes began its drive at its own 30 and went to the ground game to move into King's territory. Pat Ingulli rushed three times for 14 yards and Claybrook two times for 12 more to move to the King's 43. After a sack forced Wilkes into a third and long, Young found Ryan Behrmann (Seven Valleys, PA/Dallastown) on a crossing route that fell one yard short of the first down. Wilkes decided to go for it on fourth and one and Young kept it on a keeper for the first down gaining two yards on the play. From there, Young connected with George on a play-action roll-out pass for a 15-yard touchdown, George's first scoring reception of the season to up the Wilkes advantage to 14-0 with 7:08 left in the half.

King's used a long drive late in the second quarter moving the ball to the Wilkes six yard-line. Three incomplete passes forced the Monarchs to try a 26-yard field goal that missed wide right to keep the Colonels ahead 14-0 at the break.

Wilkes took the opening kickoff to start the second half and began another long scoring drive looking to push the lead to three scores. The Colonels used a 13-play, 89-yard drive capped off by Young hitting Claybrook on a seven-yard fade route for the Wilkes touchdown. Fredo added the extra point to extend the lead to 21-0 with 8:01 left in the third quarter.

King's responded on its next drive using ten plays to reach the Wilkes goal line. The Colonel defense stiffened at their own three forcing three running plays short of the end zone. On fourth and one, King's quarterback Tyler Hartranft found a small hole on a sneak giving the Monarchs their first points on the afternoon, trailing 21-7 with 1:47 left in the third.

Wilkes was forced to punt on its next possession at its own 22. Jordan Fredo (Williamsport, PA/Williamsport Area)'s punt was blocked by a King's defender with the Monarchs recovering at the 13 yard-line. King's then used six plays capped by a Kyle McGrath one yard touchdown run to cut the Wilkes lead to 21-14 with 11:10 left in the game.

After another Wilkes punt, King's began its game-tying drive at its own 45. The Monarchs used its aerial attack to do its damage as Hartranft completed three straight passes moving the ball to the Wilkes 34. A 19-yard Monarch completion moved King's deep into Wilkes territory at the 12. McGrath then took a shovel pass from Hartranft dodging Wilkes defenders into the end zone. An extra point tied the game at 21 with 4:21 on the fourth quarter clock.

Wilkes began the ensuing drive at its own 31. Claybrook came around the end for a 23-yard run moving the Colonels to the King's 43. A personal foul penalty on the play moved the Wilkes offense ahead to the King's 28. Young then went off tackle on a designed run, but was hit and fumbled. The ball was picked up by King's Kris Matthews and returned 75 yards for the go-ahead score with 1:58 remaining as King's took its first lead up 28-21.

Young was not effective by the fumble as the rookie play-caller hit Claybrook on Wilkes' next possession for a 68-yard touchdown catch down the right sideline tying the game at 28 with fifty-four seconds left.

The Wilkes defense caused another four and out to give the Colonels one last chance at a win late in the fourth. Young would be sacked for a loss of six on first down. Two straight incomplete passes forced Wilkes into a punt with ten seconds remaining in the contest. Fredo's punt was blocked for the second time, this time with a Monarch defender scooping up the loose ball and running into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown with eight ticks on the clock.

Wilkes had one last chance after the ensuing kickoff, but Young's pass went out of bounds intended for Claybrook as King's escaped with the Mayor's Cup victory.

Young was cool under pressure throughout the game finishing his seventh start 14-for-23 for 220 yards and three touchdowns. Ingulli led the Wilkes ground game with 80 yards on 19 carries and one score. For the season, the sophomore running back finished with 858 yards and seven touchdowns, moving his career rushing yard mark to 1,477 yards.

Claybrook collected seven catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns being named the Wilkes Most Valuable Player of the game. He finished his rookie campaign with 39 catches for 608 yards, the most since Jordan D'Emilio's 635 yards in 2009.

Defensively, Wilkes held King's to just 63 yards rushing in the contest. Omar Richardson (East Stroudsburg, PA/East Stroudsburg North) led the way with a team-high nine tackles. Jason Ugwu (Collegeville, PA/Perkiomen Valley) added six stops and one sack. Senior linebacker Tate Moore-Jacobs (New Cumberland, PA/Cedar Cliff) finished his brilliant Colonel career with four tackles. He leaves Wilkes with 449 career tackles, reaching double figure stops in 29 of 40 career games.

Wilkes returns a majority of its offensive and defensive starters in 2014 looking to make a run at a MAC championship in the program's 69^th year

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