EWING, NJ – The Wilkes University football team was held to 126 yards of total offense and just five first downs as the Colonels were unable to break open a tie game at the half on way to falling 17-3 at host The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Saturday afternoon at Lions Stadium.
 
Wilkes suffered its first loss of the 2025 season dropping to 1-1 overall. TCNJ remained unbeaten standing 2-0 overall following an opening season win at Lycoming College.
 
Neither offense was able to muster much in the first half with TCNJ finally reaching Wilkes territory with just over seven minutes left in the second quarter. The Lions drive stalled at the Wilkes 38 and forced another punt. Wilkes never reached Lions territory in the first half with punter Peter Zarafonitis (Staten Island, NY/New Dorp) doing an excellent job keeping the Lions pinned deep in its own end.
 
The third quarter started like much of the first half for the Colonels offense ending with another Zarafonitis punt pushing the Lions to start their drive at their own 15 yard line. From there the first points of the game finally were put up on the scoreboard as TCNJ used an 11-play, 85-yard drive capped off by a 15-yard touchdown run from Dean Licari as the Lions took a 7-0 lead with 5:39 on the third quarter clock.
 
Wilkes used two 20+ yard completions to Shawn McCullough (Upper Darby, PA/Upper Darby) and Justin Moore (Voorhees, NJ/Eastern Regional) on the ensuing drive to reach the TCNJ 30. The drive would stall three plays later and the Colonels settled for a 23-yard field goal from Nick Volpone (Delco, PA/Ridley) to cut the deficit to 7-3 with 11:49 left in the game.
 
TCNJ continued to use its rushing attack to spend clock and put more points on the board. A nine-play, 59-yard drive capped by a 34-yard field goal pushed the lead to 10-3 with 6:37 left in the fourth quarter.
 
Cooper King (Northampton, PA/Northampton) was intercepted on the Colonels next possession with TCNJ taking the ball deep in Wilkes territory at the 23 yard line. Four plays later the Lions put the game out of reach scoring another rushing touchdowns from eight yards out to take a 17-3 advantage with just 3:26 remaining in the game.
 
While neither offense was able to find much rhythm especially through the air, TCNJ's ground attack was potent finishing with 262 yards and two scores. The Colonels only posted 12 total rushing yards in the contest.
 
King finished 12-for-24 for 115 yards and three interceptions including the last throw that led to the second TCNJ touchdown. King was sacked three times.
 
Cohen Creswell (Winchester, VA/Millbrook) led the stout defensive unit with a career-high 13 tackles and one sack. Tallen Murray (Vineland, NJ/Saint Joseph Academy) and Tyler Wetzel (Sellersville, PA/Pennridge) each added 11 tackles.
 
Wilkes returns home next Saturday looking to rebound when the Colonels host Muhlenberg College at 12:00 p.m. at Schmidt Stadium.