WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Junior Richard Jackson rushed for 241 yards and three touchdowns, and King's College recovered after blowing an 18-point lead to defeat Lebanon Valley 44-31 in a Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) showdown Saturday afternoon at Betzler Fields.

The win was the third straight for King's (5-2, 4-2 MAC) while LVC (1-6, 1-5 MAC) lost its fifth straight game.

King's led 28-10 at the half, but the Flying Dutchmen rallied with 21 straight points to take a 31-28 lead late in the third quarter. But the Monarchs quelled LVC's upset hopes by outscoring the Valley 16-0 in the fourth quarter.

Senior quarterback Roger Poorman (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) had another outstanding game for LVC. After passing for a career-high 407 yards against Juniata last week, Poorman threw two touchdowns and racked up 348 yards on 23-of-46 passing against the Monarchs.

Senior tailback Pete Henning (Souderton, Pa./Souderton) ran for a team-high 125 yards to bring his career total to 1,844. Junior receiver Dave McCullough (New Cumberland, Pa./Red Land) caught five passes for 118 yards while senior tight end Scott Marek (Nesquehoning, Pa./Panther Valley) corralled six receptions for 87 yards. Marek needs just 66 receiving yards to reach 2,000 for his career. Senior linebacker Eric Miller (Allentown, Pa./William Allen) posted a team-high eight tackles, including seven solo stops, and sophomore safety Brian Eames (Pine Grove, Pa./Milton Hershey) picked up his first career interception.

King's accumulated 514 total yards, with 351 coming on the ground, while Lebanon Valley gained 469 yards.

King's jumped to a 7-0 lead after Jackson ran for a 37-yard touchdown with 9:11 left in the opening quarter.

The Dutchmen offense moved the ball well on the ensuing drive, and had a golden scoring opportunity after a 14-yard pass from Poorman to sophomore Luke Rendine (West Milford, N.J./West Milford Township) gave the Valley a first-and-goal at the King's-6. However, the Monarchs stuffed an LVC run on fouth-and-goal at the 1-yard line to halt the Dutchmen's 16-play, 60-yard drive.

After forcing King's to go three-and-out on the next possession, Lebanon Valley pulled even when Poorman threw a perfect pass down the middle of the field to McCullough, who outraced his defender for a 46-yard touchdown catch. Sophomore Kevin Keller's (Forest Hill, Md./Fallston) extra point tied the game at 7-7 with 13:19 to go in the first half.

A 42-yard pass completion on King's next play from scrimmage gave the Monarchs the ball at the LVC-20. Three plays later, quarterback David Hessler rolled out to his left and hit Matt Nicodemus in the left corner of the end zone as King's took a 14-7 lead.

Lebanon Valley cut the gap to 14-10 after Keller knocked in a 29-yard field goal with 6:50 to go in the half, capping a 10-play, 54-yard drive.

Jackson scored on a sweep to the right from five yards out with 3:27 left in the opening half as King's extended its lead to 21-10. Three plays after an interception gave King's the ball at the Dutchman-27, Hessler faked a handoff and streaked seven yards untouched to the left corner of the end zone to put the Monarchs up 28-10 just before halftime.

The Dutchmen offense kicked into high gear in the second half. Henning started LVC's comeback when he broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and raced 43 yards to paydirt for his longest run of the year as the Valley cut it to 28-17 with 13:09 left in the third quarter. Midway through the stanza, LVC received a break when King's fumbled a punt, and freshman Joshua Otzel (Middletown, Pa./Middletown) pounced on it at the Monarch-43. Seven plays later, Henning caught a short pass, faked out a defender and sprinted into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown reception. Keller's fourth point after of the game pulled the Valley to within 28-24.

The Valley took its first lead of the game after putting together a nine-play, 65-yard drive that culminated in a 1-yard touchdown dive by Poorman with 1:47 left in the quarter.

King's ended LVC's 21-0 run when Matt VonTanhausen converted a 34-yard field goal 56 seconds into the fourth quarter. Then the Monarchs went back in front after Jackson broke out for a 59-yard touchdown run down the right sideline to put King's on top 38-31 with 9:43 left.

Lebanon Valley threatened with a drive late in the fourth quarter. The Dutchmen moved the ball 47 yards to the Monarch-33, but a Poorman pass on fourth-and-four fell incomplete with 6:59 to go. King's put the game out of reach six plays later when T.D. Callahan bounced off several tacklers and scored from 11 yards out on a sweep to the left with 4:14 remaining.

King's linebacker John Haller led all players with 10 tackles.

After a bye week, Lebanon Valley will pick up its schedule on Saturday, Nov. 1 when it hosts Wilkes University at 1 p.m. in another MAC contest.

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