Box Score Football
Lebanon Valley 17, Wilkes 6

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WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - A punishing defensive effort carried Lebanon Valley to a 17-6 win at Wilkes on Saturday to keep the Dutchmen in the MAC race.

The win sets up the Valley (4-1, 3-1 MAC) for a huge meeting with Lycoming next Saturday at Arnold Field on Oktoberfest Weekend, playing for a share of first place in the league. Lyco, now 4-0 in the MAC, knocked off Delaware Valley 19-16.

Playing in the 1,000th game in program history, LVC's defense put Wilkes' Taylor Young on his back all afternoon with eight sacks, including four by Frank Gaffney and two from Zach Halpin. Andrew Burkholder and Fernando Almonte each had interceptions in key spots of the game. Wilkes was held to just 153 yards of offense, including 52 rushing yards on 38 carries.

Gaffney, who had three of his four sacks in the first half, turned in his second four-sack of the season and had his final hit on fourth down during Wilkes' last drive to secure the win.

"It all started with the line up front, doing their jobs and taking blocks up," Gaffney said. "We're a basic defense, a blue-collar defense, and when everybody does their job, we win."

Austin Hartman racked up his second consecutive 100-yard game, rushing for 139 yards and a 68-yard touchdown on the game's opening series, while Nate Myers caught LVC's other touchdown late in the fourth quarter after Sean Fakete converted a 33-yard field goal.

The Dutchmen had an uncharacteristically sloppy first half, including four personal foul flags, as chance after chance fell by the wayside after Hartman's opening score. Wilkes' best drive of the game to that point gave them their only points as Young finished off a four-yard run, but Gaffney blocked the extra point to keep the lead at 7-6. The Dutchmen were lucky to escape the half with a lead after Darrius Bookard intercepted Brian Murphy late in the half, and had only Tyler Dean to beat before the junior tackle shoe-stringed Bookard to save six points.

Wilkes had only four seconds to make something out of that turnover, but Jordan Fredo's 34-yard field goal attempt was pushed wide left.

"We were sputtering offensively, had one big play early in the game, so I said to the team at halftime, it felt like a three-ring circus the way we were getting penalties. It wasn't us," said head coach Jim Monos, who earned his 97th career win. "But down the stretch, when it counted, we made the plays. That's the difference why we're 4-1."

The breakthrough for LVC came at the start of the fourth quarter when Fakete finished off a 73-yard, 12-play drive with his field goal to go up 10-6, but the insurance came on Myers' 20-yard snag at the flag later in the half after the Dutchmen ground game boiled nearly five minutes off the clock.

Wilkes never got going on their last drive, as Young put incompletions around a sack by Burkholder and Joey Scerbo before being sacked by Gaffney to all but end the game.