BY JEFF FALK

ANNVILLE – Masters of all the methods, the Lebanon Valley College football coaching staff does a great job of motivating its group of young men. But if the Flying Dutchmen are to get where they want to go this season, that drive to succeed has got to originate from within.

On Saturday afternoon at Arnold field, Lebanon Valley’s drive, motivation and focus were evident during a 38-17 triumph over King’s College. Coming off a tough loss at Widener a week prior, the Flying Dutchmen came out and took care of their business, methodically pulled away from the Monarchs, and didn’t relent until they were up 35-3.

With the help of a short Monarch punt, the Flying Dutchmen scored twice in the last 56 seconds of the first half to open a 28-0 lead, and both touchdowns were hauled in by Elco product, junior receiver Tyler George. George caught a 14-yard scoring strike from quarterback Brian Murphy, and then a 35-yard toss from the senior quarterback, with seven seconds of the second quarter remaining.

The triumph raised Lebanon Valley’s record to 2-1 overall and 1-1 in the Middle Atlantic Conference. King’s stepped down to 0-2 on the year and 0-1 in the conference.

“I try to motivate them,” said Flying Dutchmen head coach Jim Monos. “But at some point emotionally, it falls to them. I thought we were ready to play the football game. I think in the first half we needed to do some more good things.

“I thought we had a really good Tuesday and Wednesday practice, but Thursday wasn’t as good,” Monos continued. “But we had some injuries. Murphy didn’t practice and (Evan) Fink was banged up. But we’ve got to find a way to run the football.”

Lebanon Valley drove 62 yards in eight plays in the middle of the opening quarter to take a 7-0 lead on Austin Hartman’s three-yard plunge. The big play in the possession was a 23-yard scramble by Murphy.

In the second period, Murphy connected with end Joey Miller for 43 yards to set up his first of four touchdown tosses of the afternoon. Murphy found Darryl Sweeper for 26 yards over the middle for the score that upped the Flying Dutchmen’s advantage to 14-0.

“I told our guys, ‘If you want to have a shot, we had to win today,'” Monos. “I thought we were the better football team, but you still have to play the game. We had guys step up.

“I’m very  happy with the win,” Monos added. “But we’ve got a long way to go to become a legitimate contender in the league. We’re still not running the football the way we need to. But we made some big plays, and that was key for us.”

Murphy accumulated 258 passing yards, completing 11 of his 20 pass attempts to six different receivers, including Jake Ziegler, who amassed 100 receiving yards and George, who pulled in four balls for 60 yards. But the Flying Dutchmen only totaled 136 yards on the ground, on 40 carries.

Defensively, Lebanon Valley limited the Monarchs to 48 yards on the ground and a mere 207 totally. With ten tackles and three sacks, Frank Gaffney starred on that side of the ball for the Flying Dutchmen.

“We felt like that was going to happen, but until they step up, you don’t know for sure,” said Monos of the contributions of a handful of transfers. “Tyler George was with us in the spring, and he had some big-time catches today. We used our timeouts at the end of the first half and put ourselves in position to take a shot, and it worked.

“Early in the game, Murphy was probably our best rusher,” Monos continued. “He made some things happen with his feet and with his arm. He’s exciting. He’s a confident young man. He made some big-time throws today.”

King’s got on the scoreboard with a 27-yard field goal with 6:38 left in the third quarter. But two snaps later on a fly pattern, Murphy hit Ziegler for 73 yards and the touchdown that pushed the Flying Dutchmen’s lead to 35-3.

“We made some big plays and our defense hung in there and shut them out in the first half,” said Monos. “We didn’t give up any big plays, and when you do that you make teams go the distance.

“A win’s a win,” continued Monos. “We didn’t handle the third quarter the way we would’ve liked to. We had an opportunity where if we maintain our focus, we can get other guys playing time. But we have to take a long hard look at our offense and ways to get our running game going.”