RADNOR, Pa. - Back home at Valley Forge for its Homecoming contest on Saturday, Eastern Football, off a turnover on downs, used a 14-play, 91-yard drive to cut the King's Monarchs' lead to five points with 3:21 left in the contest. On the ensuing Monarch's drive, the Eastern defense forced a third downs on two separate occasions, but King's recorded a pair of conversions, the second a 62-yard touchdown for quarterback Russell Minor-Shaw, to secure a 35-23 victory. The Monarchs pounded the rock in the run game, compiling 356 yards rushing and three rushing scores in the win.

As a team, the Monarchs (4-1, 4-0) averaged 8.3 yards per rush. Brennan Robinson rushed for 177 yards on 18 carries, while Minor-Shaw rushed for 110 yards and a pair of touchdowns, which included his 62-yard scramble in the closing moments. Minor-Shaw also completed nine of his 15 passes for 144 yards and a pair of scores. Jayon Hailey added 63 yards and a touchdown on 12 totes.

Eastern quarterback Brett Nabb tallied all three of the Eagles' touchdowns, all on the ground, and he threw for 172 yards. Jeremiah Avrilien rushed for 54 yards on 14 carries, while the returning Justin Nikolopoulos finished with a pair of receptions for 64 yards to lead the Eastern receiving core.

The Eagles started out strong, driving down to the King's 21 yard line on their opening possession, but came away with no points. King's, on its first possession, did find the end zone on Hailey's five yard touchdown run. The Monarchs ended the first quarter with a 7-0 lead.

After trading a pair of possessions to start the second frame, King's doubled its lead in on its third drive, taking advantage of a short field. The Monarchs needed just four plays to go 46 yards and capped off the drive on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Minor-Shaw to Mike DiGregorio.

Late in the second quarter, Nikolopoulos, back in the lineup after missing the first four games of the year with a lower body injury, injected life into the Eastern offense. On a 1st-and-10 from the 45, the Philadelphia product caught a screen pass from Nabb and dashed 53 yards all the down to the King's two-yard line, and two plays later, Nabb punched it in to cut the Eastern deficit to 14-6.

Jamauri James provided the next spark on special teams. On the ensuing kickoff, the junior from Miami recovered a muffed catch at the King's 23 yard line to set up another scoring drive. Avrilien rushed for 22 yards to get the ball to the one-yard line, and Nabb did the rest, scoring his second touchdown of the afternoon to make it a one-point King's lead.

However, the Monarchs answered back in a big way. They needed just 1:19 to drive 87 yards, highlighted by four 10-plus yard completions by Minor-Shaw, to increase their lead back to eight points heading into the halftime break. Minor-Shaw capped off the drive with another touchdown pass to DiGregorio.

On its opening drive of the second half, King's needed just two plays to cover 75 yards and increase its advantage to 28-13. Robinson started the drive with a 63-yard run to the Eastern 12, and a facemask penalty on the Eagles put the Monarchs at the Eastern six-yard line. Minor-Shaw took it in on the next play to make it 28-13.

The Eastern defense and special teams made a few more impact plays on the next two King's possessions. Logan McGowan and Chris Forte sacked Minor-Shaw on a fourth-and-6, and James recovered another fumble on a muffed catch to set the Eagles up at the King's 16 yards line. John Nolek ended the drive with a 29-yard field goal to make it 28-16 King's.

Eastern's defense made it biggest play of the day on King's first possession of the fourth quarter as defensive tackle Maurice McCray made a big stop on fourth-and-goal to force a turnover on downs. The Eagles then traveled 91 yards and scored on Nabb's third touchdown run to make it five-point King's lead, but they would not get any closer.

Defensively, Gashawn Moody led the Eagles with 11 kills, while James, Jason Bateman, and Tahjere Jackson-Alston each finished with six.

Eastern (1-4, 1-3) will be back on the road next Saturday against Alvernia. Kickoff is set for 1:00 pm.