DALLAS, Pa. – The Albright Lions football team was unable to slow down a strong Misericordia rushing attack as they fell 31-20 to the Cougars on Saturday afternoon in Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) play.
 
With the loss, the Lions fall to 2-3 overall on the season and 1-2 in MAC play. Meanwhile, the Cougars improve to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
 
Senior quarterback Todd Shelley went 14-of-25 through the air for 178 yards and threw three touchdowns along with one interception. Junior wide receiver Lucas Roselli led the Lions with 67 yards on three catches with one touchdown. Senior wide receiver Kevin Zehner posted a team-high four receptions for 65 yards and one touchdown, while sophomore running back Isaiah Shockley added a touchdown through the air and three receptions for 22 yards. Albright's rushing attack that had been averaging 165.8 yards as a team coming into the contest was held to just 51 yards on 18 carries. Shockley had just seven yards on seven carries while senior running back Tony Thorpe ran for just 24 yards on five carries.
 
Senior safety Armon Jefferson picked off Cougars quarterback Dallas Engel on the third offensive play of the game and set the Lions up at the Misericordia 14-yard line following a 30 yard return. Shelley just needed one play as he found Zehner for a 14-yard score to put the Lions up 7-0 at the 13:17-mark of the first quarter. The teams traded three-and-outs on their next respective drives before the Cougars embarked on an 11-play 55 yard drive that ended in a 21-yard field goal, cutting the Lions lead down to 7-3 at the 2:52-mark of the first quarter. Shelley was intercepted on third down in the Lions following drive that set the Cougars up at the Albright 31-yard line. Misericordia drove down as far as the Lions nine yard line before settling for a 26 yard field goal to make it a 7-6 game at the 14:18-mark of the second quarter.
 
Shelley found Roselli for a 30-yard completion on the first play of the next Lions drive, but the Lions would just gain four yards in their next three plays and they were forced to punt. Misericordia put together an 11-play 88 yard drive that ended with a two-yard rushing touchdown to give the Cougars their first lead of the game at 14-7 with 5:51 left in the first half. The Cougars tallied 59 of their 88 yards on the ground in the scoring drive and took off 6:25 of the clock. Shelley fumbled on the Lions first play of their next drive to set Misericordia up at the Lion four-yard line. The Cougars just needed two plays to extend their lead to 21-7 at the 4:56-mark of the second quarter. Albright nearly gave the ball back to the Cougars on the first play of their next drive when Shockley fumbled, but Shelley ended up turning the play into a positive for the Lions as he raced 34 yards into Cougar territory following the recovery. The recovery gave Albright new momentum as Shelley capped the drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Roselli to make it a 21-14 Misericordia lead with 38 seconds remaining in the first half. Misericordia was able to take advantage of a long return to midfield and nailed a 37-yard field goal as time expired to take a 24-14 lead into halftime.
After the first three drives of the second half ended in punts, the Cougars extended their lead to 31-14 after completing an eight-play 43 yard drive that took exactly five minutes. Albright looked to respond on their next drive as they crossed into Cougar territory with the game entering the fourth quarter.
 
The Lions made it to the Misericordia 38-yard line before Shelley was sacked for a loss of 12 yards to halt the drive. Albright seemed to have forced a three-and-out on the following Misericordia drive, but the Lions were caught offsides on the Cougars punt. Misericordia was able to keep the drive going since the punt was on fourth and two. The Lions were able to force a Cougar missed field goal, but Misericordia was able to take 5:23 off the clock. Shelley quickly led the Lions to the Cougars four-yard line following a pair of long completions, but four straight incompletions stalled Albright without any points. The Lions got the ball back at the Cougars 25-yard line following a short punt, and quickly scored a touchdown on a 10-yard screen pass to Shockley. Albright failed on a two-point conversion to bring the score to 31-20 with 2:30 left in regulation. The Lions were unable to recover the onside kick attempt and the Cougars closed the game out with four runs.
 
Senior linebackers Daniel Vital and Sam Viera each finished with career-highs of 16 tackles while Viera added 1.0 TFL. Jefferson also set a career-high in tackles with 14 (five solo) with his interception and sophomore safety Ryan MacFarlane posted nine tackles (three solo). As a team, the Cougars out-gained the Lions 241-51 on the ground. David Cromwell led the Cougars with 147 yards on 29 carries and one touchdown while Jake Barnett added 79 yards on 18 carries along with two touchdowns.
 
Albright will return to action on Saturday, October 9th as they will host Wilkes at 12 p.m. for the 70th annual Rajah Shrine Pretzel Bowl.