Wilkes University Athletics

 
WILKES-BARRE – Wilkes University scored three straight touchdowns in a six minute span of the third quarter to tie the game at 26, but host King's College responded with 14 unanswered points over the final 17 minutes of the contest to score a 40-26 victory over its cross-town rival in the 22^nd annual Mayor's Cup game Saturday afternoon at McCarthy Stadium.
 
Wilkes closed out its 2017 campaign 0-10 overall and 0-9 in MAC games, while King's finished its season 5-5 overall and 4-5 in conference contests. The win for King's ended a three-year streak of the visiting team winning the game between the two city rival schools.
 
King's struck quickly on the first possession of the game when the Monarchs capped a three-play 60 yard drive with a 51-yard run by Jordan Downes. Wilkes answered on its next possession when the Colonels capitalized using two drive-extending King's penalties to move 70 yards in 10 plays as Jeff Steeber (Berwick, PA/Berwick) scored on a 12-yard run on an end around sweep. Mike Hauck (Fredericksburg, PA/Northern Lebanon)'s would miss the extra-point to leave the score 7-6 with 9:51 to go in the opening quarter.
 
King's answered with a nine-play, 96-yard drive that culminated with a 29-yard scoring play from Zach Whitehead to Corey Flynn. Tumminello added the extra point as King's built a 14-6 lead with 7:52 to play in the second quarter. The Monarchs later put together an eight-play, 84-yard drive that ended on a nine-yard pass from Whitehead to Tyler Marroni as the Monarchs stretched the score to 20-6, a lead King's would take into the halftime.
 
King's opened the third quarter with another score pushing its advantage to 26-6 as Whitehead ran in from eight yards out. From there, Wilkes began its furious comeback using defense and turnovers to gain back the momentum.
 
Devin Fink intercepted Whitehead at the Monarch five and returned the pick for a touchdown at the 9:45 mark. After a King's fumble at the Monarch 22, Steeber scored on a first-down pass from Waleek Huffin (Wayne, NJ/Passiac County Tech) in the freshman's first career attempt under center to cut the score to 26-19 with 5:55 to play in the quarter.
 
Wilkes posted another interception on defense on King's ensuing drive as Gabe Allgyer (Kinzers, PA/Pequea Valley) picked off Whitehead. The Colonels offense then went 41 yards in five plays as Garrett Armstrong (Hampton, NJ/Kittatinny) scored on a 12-yard pass from Huffin as the Colonels tied the game at 26-26 with 3:12 remaining in the period.
 
King's regained control with a six-play, 54-yard drive as Trey Campbell scored on an eight-yard pass from Whitehead with 1:02 on the clock as King's took a 33-26 lead into the final period.
 
The Monarchs pushed across what proved to be the final score of the game when King's stopped Wilkes at its own 19 on a fake punt.  The Monarchs took advantage when Marroni scored on the first play of the possession on a 19-yard catch-and-run to set the final score of the game.
 
Wilkes used three different quarterbacks in the game with Huffin finishing 6-for-11 for 80 yards and the two scores. Steeber, who was named Wilkes team MVP, caught three passes for 33 yards and one score while also rushing eight times for 99 more yards and one touchdown.
 
Bud Moyer (Tamaqua, PA/Tamaqua) led the Colonel defense with 17 tackles. Isiah Robinson followed with 14 stops and one fumble recovery while Fink added four tackles and two picks, one being for a touchdown.