Box Score The Misericordia University football team's rally came up just short in a 36-29 loss, Saturday afternoon at King's.

Junior quarterback Jeff Puckett led the Cougars with 130 yards rushing and two touchdowns and Ryan Kurtz added a touchdown on nearly seven yards per carry.

Juwan Petties-Jackson added a 22-yard touchdown grab and Patrick Newins was three-for-three on field goal attempts.

After King's went 70 yards for a touchdown on the game's opening drive, MU answered with a 72-yad drive of their own.

Puckett had a 21-yard run to midfield and picked up 18 more to the King's 30-yard line.  Robin Custodio ran for 12 yards to set up a first and goal at the six.

Another Custodio run put the ball at the one before Puckett punched it in for the score.  The extra point failed and MU trailed 7-6 with 4:40 to play in the opening quarter.

After King's went 65 yards for a touchdown with less than a minute left in the opening quarter, the Cougars answered with another scoring drive.

Petties-Jackson returned the kickoff 22 yards and a King's penalty moved the ball to midfield.

Puckett picked up 10 yards on the ground and connected with Randy Custodio for 31 yards to move inside the King's 10.

The Cougars settled for a 25-yard field goal by Newins and trailed 15-9 early in the second quarter.

The Monarchs drove deep into MU territory on the ensuing drive, but Donald Bender forced a fumble and recovered it inside the Misericordia 20.

Two 14-yard gains by Kurtz helped the Cougars move into King's territory and a 16-yard gain by Puckett and a pass interference penalty put the ball at the two yard line.

A 19-yard field goal by Newins pulled the Cougars within 15-12 with 42 seconds left in the first half.

King's returned the kickoff to the Misericordia 28 and a personal foul on the Cougars moved the ball to the 13.

The Monarchs took advantage and scored a touchdown on the final play of the half to take a 22-15 lead at intermission.
 
Petties-Jackson opened the second half with a 40 yard kickoff return to midfield and a pass interference penalty moved the Cougars to the 15.

On third and four from the nine, Puckett made a nifty cut to his left to get into the end zone and make it 22-19 with 11:15 left in the third quarter.

King's responded by going 78 yards in six plays to go back up by 10 points, 29-29.

After two Monarchs' penalties and two runs by Kurtz put the Cougars into King's territory, Puckett picked up 10 yards to the 33.

Kurtz went 12 yards and another personal foul moved the ball to the seven.

The drive stalled inside the five and Newins connected from 22 yards out to make it 29-22 with 2:32 remaining in the third quarter.

Following a King's TD to make it 36-22 early in the fourth quarter, Newins picked up 24 yards on a fake punt, but a Misericordia penalty backed the Cougars up into their own territory.

Newins eventually punted for the first time and pinned the Monarchs at their own six yard line.

The Cougars forced a punt and then turned it over on downs before getting the ball back deep in King's territory with 1:23 to play.

Puckett found Petties-Jackson for nine yards and a first down at the King's 22 and then hit him again on fourth down for a 22-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 36-29 with 44 seconds to play.

Despite early indications that the Cougars had recovered the ensuing on-sides kick, the Monarchs gained possession and ran out the clock.

Rob Hart led the Cougars with 10 tackles and Zak LaNunziata and Jordan Aquino added nine stops.  Brandon Salazar and Sean Weg both had seven tackles.
 
MU, 1-3 (1-2 MAC), will host Widener, Saturday at 1:00 for Homecoming.