Box Score

READING, Pa. - In their 2009 Middle Atlantic Conference opener the Albright Football team sent a message to rest of the conference in dominating fashion defeating Wilkes University by the score of 43-21 Saturday afternoon at Shirk Stadium.

Of the many highlights that fans got to see Saturday afternoon, no other was as impressive as senior quarterback #Tanner Kelly#'s 436 yards of passing. On the day he went 32-for-39 and tallied an addition 63 yards of rushing to bring his game total to 499. Overall the Lions tallied 611 yards of offense on 75 plays. Kelly threw for four touchdowns and for the fourth consecutive game did not throw a interception or fumble the ball. He was also sacked a season low one time.

Also making a serious impression in Saturday's win was the 198 yards on 12 catches by #Nate Romig#. The new all-time points leader by a non-kicker at Albright, Romig now has 226 career points at Albright. The Daniel Boone grad tallied three touchdowns and connected with Kelly for his longest pass of the day at 53 yards.

Albright's offense as a whole possessed the ball for 34 minutes of Saturday's contest, while Wilkes only possessed the ball for 26 minutes. The red and white also led the game in first downs with 29 and went 4-for-4 on red-zone scores.

Moving to the defensive side of the ball, the Lions held Wilkes to just 268 yards of offense on 59 plays. They also recorded four sacks, eight tackles for a loss, and had one interception. Lead the red and white in tackles was #Bob Harper# who tallied six solo stops, one sack for -11 yards, and two tackles for a loss for -12 yards.

For the Colonels despite surrendering the 611 yards to Albright, Kevin Gerhart tallied a game high 10.5 tackles and was joined by Sean Madden who recorded eight tackles.

On offense quarterback Rob Johnson tallied 182 passing yards and was 18-for-29 with one interception. He was sacked three times and had one touchdown pass. The Colonels run game was paced by Zach Tivald, who tallied 49 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown.

The Lions started off the contest scoring on their first possession of the day, but were unable to convert on the point after attempt making it 6-0. Albright's touchdown would be the only score of the first quarter. In the second, Wilkes put up their first touchdown of the afternoon, but Albright answered right back with a Romig touchdown his second of the day. Kicker #John Whelan# added an additional three points to the scoreboard to give Albright a 15-7 lead going into the halftime.

After the intermission, Albright took control of the game in dominating fashion putting up 21 unanswered points to take a commanding 36-7 lead. The final 15 minutes saw Wilkes score two more times while Albright put up one additional touchdown before time expired.

Football returns to action next Saturday when they travel to Lycoming College for a 1:30 p.m. Middle Atlantic Conference game.