Click here to subscribe today or Login.
EDWARDSVILLE — Known for its offense, it was a pair of key plays by the King’s College defense that proved to be the difference Saturday at Schmidt Stadium.
Facing an early seven-point hole, with the Wilkes University offense driving and looking to make it a two-score game, King’s freshman defensive back Trevor Hill intercepted a Jose Tabora pass on his own 2-yard line.
Next time out and in a tied ball game, the Monarchs (5-4, 5-5) made a big fourth-down stand on their own 21-yard line to give their offense a chance to take its first lead of the game.
With King’s quarterback Zach Whitehead and Co. able to move the ball much of the day, the Monarchs’ defense made a pair of big plays to give King’s the momentum en route to a 42-14 win over Wilkes (3-6, 3-7) in the Mayor’s Cup.
“The thing was, ‘Don’t worry about if you give up a play. Line up again and make a play, and eventually make a stop,’” King’s College head coach Jeff Knarr said of his defense. “That was huge that they did get those stops because offensively, the first series we were three-and-out — kind of our own doing — and the second series we kind of hurt ourselves. We kind of felt that we had the right thing going, it was just getting stops and getting the ball rolling, and when we did it kind of helped.”
King’s responded to Hill’s interception with a 55-yard rushing touchdown by junior quarterback Whitehead — on a fake reverse to wide receiver Corey Flynn — to tie the game 7-7 with 26 seconds remaining in the first quarter. On their very next drive — following sophomore defensive back Kody Stevens’ fourth-down tackle — the Monarchs marched 13 plays and 84 yards down the field to take their first lead of the game.
Whitehead found senior wide receiver Mike Palmer up the seam for a 17-yard connection. Palmer spun out of his defender’s grasps and broke another tackle as he dove into the end zone to give King’s a 14-7 lead with 5:47 remaining in the second quarter.
“The fourth-and-1 that we got fueled our fire I think, and we kind of went from there,” Whitehead said. “I think we still left some things on the field, but I couldn’t be more proud of the guys today.”
From there, the Monarchs scored once more before the half, on a 2-yard run by senior running back Zack Funk, and went on to outscore Wilkes 21-7 in the final 30 minutes.
As the game progressed, Whitehead gave the Colonels more and more problems.
The junior quarterback was responsible for four of the Monarchs’ six scores. Whitehead finished the game 23 for 32 for 299 yards and three touchdowns. The Hockessin, De. native’s third touchdown of the game — a 39-yard pass to Tyler Marroni — was his 19th touchdown pass of the season, which broke the King’s single-season record.
While Whitehead was potent with his arm, he was making just as big of an impact with his legs, running for 90 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.
“Their quarterback’s a good player, and they have good wideouts,” Wilkes head coach Trey Brown said. “We knew that coming in, that he was a talented player. The QB power was killing us in the first half.”
Similar to other wins this season, the King’s defense made plays when it needed to Saturday.
The Monarchs made six stops on their own side of the field, including a pair of Hill interceptions, a trio fourth-down stops and forced a punt on their own 42-yard line.
“This is what we had to do to win the game,” Hill said of the defense. “They came off of two wins, with one against No. 1 Stevenson — we lost them. (Linebacker) Bobby Russell, our main senior captain, he knew he had to step up, along with everybody else on defense.”
With the win, King’s secured its first Mayor’s Cup victory since 2014, but its third in the last four seasons. The Colonels won last year’s contest 24-17.
While Whitehead was the Monarchs’ Mayor’s Cup Most Valuable Player, Wilkes junior wide receiver William Deemer was Colonels’ Mayor’s Cup MVP.
MAYOR’S CUP
King’s College 42, Wilkes 14
King’s College`7`14`14`7`—`42
Wilkes `7`0`7`0`—`14
First quarter
W — William Deemer 19 pass from Jose Tabora (Mike Hauck kick), 7:40
K — Zach Whitehead 55 run (Mikhail Kniaziewicz kick), 0:26
Second quarter
K — Mike Palmer 17 pass from Whitehead (Kniaziewicz kick), 5:47
K — Zack Funk 2 run (Kniaziewicz kick), 0:36
Third quarter
K — Palmer 2 pass from Whitehead (Kniaziewicz kick), 10:59
K — Alvonte Thompson 17 run (Kniaziewicz kick), 1:28
W — Garrett Armstrong 8 pass from Tabora (Hauck kick), 2:18
Fourth quarter
K — Tyler Marroni 39 pass from Whitehead (Kniaziewicz kick)
Team statistics`KC`WU
First downs`24`27
Rushes-yards`30-199`34-118
Passing yards`299`360
Total yards`498`478
Passing`23-32-0`37-57-2
Sacked-yards lost`1-2`4-12
Punts-avg.`3-27`1-33
Fumbles-lost`0-0`2-0
Penalties-yards`1-10`5-61
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — KC, Zach Whitehead 15-90-1, Alvonte Thompson 8-59-1, Zack Funk 6-35-1, Tyler Marroni 1-15. WU, Jacob Brook 11-35, Jose Tabora 16-35, Devon Fink 2-22, Jeff Steeber 2-11, William Deemer 1-8, Austin Quiroz 2-7.
PASSING — KC, Zach Whitehead 23-32-299-3. WU, Jose Tabora 37-57-360-2.
RECEIVING — KC, Trey Campbell 4-109, Tyler Marroni 6-67-1, Mike Palmer 6-54-2, Corey Flynn 3-39, Marquis Miller 3-22, Austin White 1-8. WU, William Deemer 10-104-1, Zach Bogoly 4-58, Garrett Armstrong 6-52-1, Jacob Brook 4-52, Jeff Steeber 6-37, Ryan Richards 2-27, Devon Fink 2-18, Austin Quiroz 3-12.
INTERCEPTIONS — KC, Trevor Hill 2-39. WU, None.
MISSED FGs — None.
