READING, Pa. – The Albright Lions football team used a punishing ground game to defeat Alvernia 31-21 on the road on a warm Saturday afternoon in MAC play.
 
With the win, the Lions improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in MAC play as they faced the Golden Wolves for the first official meeting in program history. Meanwhile, the Golden Wolves fall to 0-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
 
The Lions as a team churned out 233 rushing yards as a team with sophomore running back Isaiah Shockley leading the way with a career-high 174 yards on 19 carries with one touchdown. Shockley averaged 9.2 yards per carry on the afternoon and registered his second 100-yard rushing performance in three games on the season. In his first game of the season, senior running back Tony Thorpe rushed for 57 yards on 13 carries and one touchdown. Senior quarterback Todd Shelley went 11-of-19 through the air for 197 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Senior Kevin Zehner caught three passes for 93 yards and one touchdown to lead the Lions receivers, while classmate Malik Bootman continued his strong start to the season with three catches for 41 yards and one touchdown. Bootman has now scored a touchdown in each game this season.
 
Albright received great field position on their first drive after a 15-yard penalty was tacked on a strong kick return from Zehner. Starting from the Alvernia 44-yard line, Shockley broke loose on the second play of the drive to put the Lions on the board at 7-0 just 21 seconds into the contest. Much like the Lions, Alvernia started their first drive on the opponents' side of the field following a short kick and a personal foul on the Lions. Behind six runs, the Golden Wolves powered their way down the field to tie the game up at seven at the 10:47-mark of the first quarter. Following a Lions three-and-out, the Golden Wolves drove to the Albright 35-yard line before junior cornerback Omar Sesay ended the drive with an interception. Shelley then found Zehner on their fifth play of the ensuing drive for a 77-yard touchdown pass to put the Lions back up 14-7 at the 4:12-mark of the first quarter. Zehner caught the pass at midfield over two Golden Wolves defenders and raced the rest of the way to the endzone.
 
The Golden Wolves once again drove into Lions territory on their next drive behind eight runs on their first nine plays to close out the first quarter. Alvernia scored on their first play of the second quarter on a 23-yard pass to tie the game back up at 14. Shelley was intercepted on the third play of the Lions next drive to give the Golden Wolves the ball at their own 22-yard line. Alvernia continued to move the ball consistently on the ground and moved again into Lions territory. However, Alvernia came away empty-handed on the drive after missing a 39-yard field goal. Albright responded with a seven play 78-yard drive that was capped by an 18-yard pass from Shelley to Bootman. Shelley set up the score by finding senior tight end Michael Starkey for 20 yards to put the Lions in the end zone. Albright forced Alvernia to punt for the first time in the game on their ensuing drive, and extended their lead to 24-14 at halftime following a 24-yard field goal from first-year kicker Jack Heuer. Shelley opened the drive by going 6-of-7 in the air to get the Lions inside the Alvernia 10-yard line.
Alvernia opened the second half with the ball and drove 70 yards in 10 plays to cut the Lions lead down to 24-21 at the 11:08-mark in the third quarter. Nine of the plays came on the ground and 34 yards came from leading tailback Malcolm Carey. The Lions looked to respond on their first drive of the second half, and drove to the Alvernia one-yard line behind eight-straight runs. Unfortunately for the Lions, Shelley was sack on third and goal from the one-yard line and Heuer missed a 30-yard field goal to keep the game at 24-21.
 
The Golden Wolves drove back into Lions territory as they looked to potentially take the lead for the first time in the contest. Albright's defense stood tall as they stopped the Golden Wolves on fourth down in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. The Lions continued the momentum on their next drive as they took off six minutes on the clock with a 12-play 68-yard drive that was capped by a four-yard touchdown run from Thorpe, making it 31-21 Albright. The Lions converted a 4th and 3 at the Alvernia 21-yard line behind a six-yard run from Thorpe. Albright slammed the door on any potential Golden Wolves rally by forcing Alvernia to go four-and-out on the next drive, and closed the game out by holding the ball for the final 6:35 of the game.
 
Senior linebacker Daniel Vital registered a career-high 15 tackles (seven solo) to lead all Lions defenders, while senior linebacker Sam Viera recorded his first double-digit tackle effort of the season with 10 tackles (three solo). First-year linebacker Elliott Idemudia posted eight tackles (three solo) and 1.0 tackle for loss. Carey led the Golden Wolves offense with 142 rushing yards on 23 carries and one touchdown. The Lions held a 430-317 edge in total offensive yards and held the Golden Wolves to 64 yards passing. Alvernia held a slight 253-233 edge in total rushing yards.
 
Albright will return to action on Saturday, September 25th as they will host Widener on Homecoming Saturday at 1 p.m.