A solid day for Monarch football as they continue their winning streak with a win over FDU-Florham, 45-17, on the road. The victory is the second time in the Jeff Knarr era that King’s has been .500 after six games played.
After whooping one of the conference’s worse teams, the game had it’s obvious ups and downs. So here’s this weekend’s “Winners & Sinners” from Saturday’s game.
Winners
Tyler Hartranft, QB, King’s- Hartranft was basically the Monarchs entire offense against FDU. He completed 20-for-33 passes for 284 yards and accounted for a team-high 62 yards on the ground for a grand total of 346 yards and two touchdowns. More importantly, the senior gunslinger didn’t throw any interceptions and was named to the Middle Atlantic Conference Weekly Honor Roll.
Dan Kempa, WR, King’s- Kempa continued a stellar senior campaign with three kickoff returns for 126 yards, including a 90-yard touchdown return. Kempa also caught four targets for 70 yards and a touchdown, good enough for a spot next to his teammate on the MAC Weekly Honor Roll.
Take a look at his return (Via @Mac_Sports):
Is @KingsCollegeFB kickoff return for TD the MAC fb play of the week? https://t.co/1OpXhPIrSV Vote here http://t.co/lmUOgDdbPB
— MAC (@mac_sports) October 20, 2014
Tyler Maurer, QB, FDU- Maurer threw for a career-high 357 yards, torching the Monarch defense all day, though, the offense could only produce 17 points coupled with three interceptions. Still, a career day is a career day.
Malik Pressley, WR, FDU– It was all about offense on Saturday and the Devils’ freshman wideout continued his career first year. He nabbed nine receptions for 116 yards, the most of either side.
Eric Haenggi, Punter, King’s- This should be enough information. Monster day for the special teams’ standout.
A shout out King’s punter Eric Haenggi who had three monster punts for 155 yards, a 51.7 yard avg. and two kicks pinning FDU inside their 20
— King’s PA Athletics (@Kings_Monarchs) October 19, 2014
Sinners
Monarch Secondary: It’s hard to caste the blame on them after coming up with three interceptions, but the secondary gave up over 350+ yards in the air. The Monarchs got the win, but what happens when they play a team at the top of the MAC (Widener/Delaware Valley). They can’t give up that much yardage and expect to win bigger games
Devils rushing attack: 7 total yards on the ground? That’s disastrous no matter how bad the offense might be. That’s just unacceptable for any collegiate team.
Monarch Discipline: This seems like an issue that takes points off the board every week. On Saturday, there were eight penalties for 90 yards totaling 54 penalties, in six games, for 540 yards this season. That’s a season average of 90 yards per game. This is an issue that needs to be corrected because it’s taking points off the board.
Moreover, a penalty happened on every drive that created an FDU touchdown. More than half were on the defense, two on cornerback Tyler Cruz, a large amount being personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct.