READING, Pa. – The Albright football team was unable to overcome a balanced offensive attack from King's as they suffered a 37-26 loss to the Monarchs in MAC play on Saturday afternoon at Shirk Stadium.
 
With the loss, the Lions fall to 0-7 on the season and 0-5 in MAC play. Meanwhile, the Monarchs improve to 4-3 overall with a 3-2 record in MAC play and snap an 11-game losing streak to the Lions.
 
Junior quarterback Jimmy Lahay finished the day 15-of-28 for 172 yards passing with one touchdown and two interceptions. Freshman quarterback Todd Shelley also played a series and led a scoring drive behind going 5-of-6 for 23 yards passing in addition to adding 25 yards on the ground. Freshman running back Tony Thorpe finished the day with a team-high 51 yards rushing on 12 carries and one touchdown, while classmate Malik Bootman added 15 yards on the ground with a touchdown. Senior Kyle Dickerson once again led the receivers with 98 yards on eight catches and one touchdown. Junior wide receiver Zack Miller followed with 78 yards on eight catches.
 
The Lions drove into Monarch territory on their opening drive before the drive stalled at King's 42-yard line. Albright forced a Monarchs punt on their opening drive, but the Lions had a punt blocked for a safety on their next drive following a three-and-out. The Monarchs used their next possession following the safety to march down 64 yards on 10 plays to extend their lead out to 9-0 following an 11-yard touchdown pass. Shelley took the reins of the offense for the next series and led the Lions to a touchdown on a 14 play 65-yard drive to cut the lead down to 9-7 with 12:42 left in the second quarter. Thorpe finished the drive with a two-yard score.
 
The Monarchs would answer back quickly in just 2:45 to take a 16-7 lead on a 32-yard touchdown pass at the 10:05-mark of the second quarter. Thorpe then grabbed a short kickoff from the Monarchs and race to the King's 40-yard line for a 29-yard return to set the Lions up in good field position. Bootman would score his first collegiate rushing touchdown on a 13-yard scamper to make it a 16-13 game after the extra point was missed. King's once again had answer to the Lions score as they scored on a 14-yard run following a 10 play 70-yard drive to make it a 23-13 game with 4:09 left in the first half. The Lions looked to respond but this time had a drive into Monarchs territory stall on fourth down after a Lahay pass was intercepted on a deflection. King's moved into Lions territory to try and get a last-minute score before a sack ended the threat to send the game into halftime.
 
Albright stopped an opening march from King's to begin the second half that went as far as the Albright 34-yard line and would then cut the lead down to 23-19 at the 6:09-mark of the third quarter following a one-yard touchdown run from Lahay. Thorpe gained 42 of the Lions 62 yards on the touchdown drive on four carries and the Lions had a two-point conversion fail after a sneak from Shelley was stopped just short of the goal line. Yet again, the Monarchs had an answer for a Lions touchdown as they scored in just four plays to make it a 30-19 game. Monarch quarterback Tommy Klock scampered on a 55-yard run on 3^rd and 10 before running back Jordan Downes finished the drive with a 20-yard score. King's struck again on their next drive following a Lions three-and-out after Downes tallied a 14-yard score to make it 37-19 with 11:17 left in the fourth quarter.
 
The Lions would keep things interesting following a nine play 47-yard drive that ended in a five-yard touchdown reception from Dickerson to bring the score to 37-26 with 8:30 left in the game. Albright was able to stop the Monarchs on 4^th and 12 at the Lions 23-yard line to get the ball back with 4:50 left in the game. However, Lahay had a pass intercepted on third and long on the next drive to seal the win for the Monarchs.
 
Freshman linebacker Sam Viera led the Lions with a career-high 15 tackles (six solo) and added 1.0 TFL with 1.0 sack as well. His classmate Ryan Rogers followed with 14 tackles (six solo) and 1.5 TFL, and sophomore Nate Steffen finished with 10 tackles (eight solo) with 2.0 TFL. Senior defensive lineman David Sanchez tallied nine tackles (four solo), 3.0 TFL, 0.5 sack, and forced a fumble. As a defense, the Lions posted a season-high four sacks.
 
The Monarchs out-gained the Lions 530-280 and went 9-of-15 on third down and 2-of-3 on fourth down. Klock finished with 393 total offensive yards and three total touchdowns (two pass, one run) and Downes finished with 128 yards on 27 carries in addition to having two scores.
 
The Lions will return to action on Saturday, October 27^th when they will travel to face nationally-ranked Delaware Valley at noon in MAC play.