READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions football team suffered a 39-29 loss to Misericordia on a sunny November Saturday afternoon at Shirk Stadium in MAC Play.
 
With the loss, the Lions fall to 0-9 on the season and 0-7 in MAC play as they celebrated senior day prior to the contest. Meanwhile, the Cougars improve to 8-1 on the season and 7-0 in MAC play as they pick up their first ever win over Albright.
 
Junior quarterback Jimmy Lahay finished the day 21-of-46 for 258 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Lahay tallied his third four touchdown game of the season. Freshman running back Malik Bootman got his first collegiate start and ran for 148 yards on 22 carries. The 148 yards on the ground was the most by any Lions running back since the 2014 season. Playing his last game at Shirk Stadium, senior Kyle Dickerson posted his fifth 100-yard receiving game this season as he tallied 143 yards on 12 catches with two touchdowns. Junior wide receiver Zack Miller added 78 yards receiving on four catches with one touchdown as well.
 
The Lions made it into Cougar territory on the opening drive of the game before being stopped on 4^th and 2 at the Misericordia 39-yard line. The Cougars then made quick work of their first drive by scoring on a 23-yard touchdown pass. Albright then failed to convert on 4^th down again inside Cougars territory, this time at the 47-yard line. The Cougars then needed three plays to make it a 13-0 game after a 53-yard catch and run for a touchdown. Bootman then ripped off a 68-yard run to the Cougar one yard line on the first play of the next Lions drive to set Albright up first and goal. The rush was the longest by any Lions player since Scott Pillar had a 94-yard run in 2012 against FDU-Florham. Unfortunately for the Lions, freshman quarterback Todd Shelley fumbled as he began to cross the plane and it was recovered by Misericordia to end the threat. Misericordia took advantage of the fumble by driving 73 yards in 12 plays to get a 30-yard field goal to make it 16-0 at the 13:31-mark of the second quarter.
 
Albright's offense continued to move the ball and finally scored on a six-yard touchdown catch from Lahay to Dickerson on fourth and four. The drive included a pair of fourth down conversions. The Lions would force the Cougars to punt and drove 88 yards in 10 plays to make it a 16-14 game. Lahay found Miller in the end zone on a 40-yard pass that took place on fourth and two. Albright forced a Cougars three-and-out and had a chance to score again to close out the first half. The Lions made it to the Cougar 25-yard line, but this time could not convert to send the game to the half at 16-14.
 
The teams traded three-and-outs before the Cougars extended the lead to 23-14 following a seven play 79-yard drive. Another three-and-out from the Lions resulted in a long Cougars drive that ended on a touchdown on a 4^th and goal from the one yard line. Misericordia went 83 yards in 17 plays that spanned 9:05, and had the drive kept alive by a pass interference call that wiped out an interception from freshman safety Jaylan Lawson.  The Cougars then added to its lead one drive later on a 48-yard desperation heave on third down to make it 36-14. Dickerson again made big plays on the Lions next drive as he scored on a 10-yard touchdown pass one play after hauling in a 31-yard pass. Albright then made it a 36-22 game after converting on a two-point conversion. Misericordia chewed up more clock and settled for a 31-yard field goal on its next drive to make it 39-22 with 4:22 left in the game. The Lions tallied one last touchdown as freshman Jory Cole caught the first touchdown of his collegiate career on 4^th and goal from the one yard line to make it 39-29 which would become the final score.
 
Senior defensive lineman David Sanchez led the Lions with 12 tackles (eight solo) and 1.0 TFL. Lawson followed with 10 tackles (three solo) and classmate freshman linebacker Sam Viera added eight tackles and one pass break-up. The Cougars held a slight 462-454 advantage in total yards for the game behind a balanced offensive attack. Back-up quarterback Aaron Barry went 11-of-17 for 168 yards and two touchdowns through the air and one touchdown on the ground. Barry replaced starter Brady Williams after he was injured on the Cougars second touchdown of the game.
 
The Lions will conclude its season next Saturday, November 10^th against Lebanon Valley at 1 p.m.