Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus Athletics

MADISON, N.J. – The FDU-Florham football team dropped a high-scoring battle to King's 49-30 Saturday afternoon at home after three straight weeks on the road. 

DEVILS HIGHLIGHTS

• Freshman quarterback turned punter turned quarterback Julian Matera got the start under center and threw went 21-for-30 in completions, throwing for 343 yards and three touchdowns on the day. 
• Kyree Drake reigned in two receptions for 64 yards and one touchdown with a long of 52.
• Sabri Melvin added one touchdown with three receptions for 62 yards and a long of 36 yards. 
• Brian Dunleavy netted four receptions for 31 yards and one touchdown and a long of 20 yards. 
• Christopher Babcock led the defense with nine total tackles on the day with 1.5 for a loss of four yards and one pass breakup. 
• Freshman Jayden Endaz and junior AJ Kuc tallied seven tackles each 
• JC Henriquez and Daniel Nifah each registered a sack for four and three yards, respectively. 
• Anthony Garofalo made his first career field goal and two of his first three career PAT attempts. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Monarchs scored on their opening drive of the first quarter to quickly take a 7-0 lead, but FDU answered right back on their ensuing drive. 
• The Devils used a seven-play drive, capped off by a 20-yard Dunleavy touchdown catch to knot the game at 7-7 with 4:40 left in the first. 
• King's scored once more before the end of the quarter to go ahead 14-7, but once again, FDU answered back with a drive beginning at the end of the quarter.
• After the field flipped to start the second, Matera connected with Melvin for a four-yard TD completion and the game was knotted up at 14 apiece. 
• The Monarchs continued their trend of scoring on each of their possessions as Jaelin Mims put King's in the redzone and set up Joey Rehberg for a two-yard rush into the end zone for points 20 and 21 after the PAT. 
• Before the break, FDU settled for a field goal, and King's took a 21-14 lead into the locker room. 
• The Devils were the receiving team to begin the second half and after a three-and-out, King's scored on their fourth straight possession as Devin Duana converted a short pass from Mims for a 39-yard touchdown and extended the FDU deficit to 28-17 with 9:48 to go. 
• The first play of the Devils' second possession of the second half was nearly a pick-six for the Monarchs as Jacob Mullery intercepted Matera's pass and ran it back for 19 yards before being brought out of bounds by Derick Christie. 
• King's scored its fifth touchdown on its fifth consecutive possession to take a 35-17 lead followed by the Monarchs sixth TD on their straight possession to take a 42-17 lead. 
• After King's scored on their seventh straight possession of the game, and a Devils' fumble led to possession number eight, the FDU defense answered with its first stop of the day with 5:31 remaining in th fourth.
• After the defense's first stop of the day, Matera and the FDU offense answered with a three-play drive ending in a Matera rushing touchdown to cut the deficit to 49-24. 
• The Devils recovered a Tristan Newhouse onside kick and Matera turned it into another score for the Devils as he connected with Drake for a 52-yard touchdown for the final one of the game, to make it 49-30. 

GAME NOTES

• Matera's 70 percent completion rate was FDU's best percentage of the season. 
• Matera's 343 passing yards was the first 300+ passing yards game for an FDU quarterback since Week 1 against St. John Fisher. 
• FDU's 30 points are the most this season and the most since scoring 52 against Alvernia in the last game of the 2025 season. 
• FDU's 30 points are the most in a loss since the Devils put up 33 in a 37-33 loss to Eastern on Nov. 16, 2024. 
• FDU attempted its first two onside kicks of the year and recovered one. 

UP NEXT
The Devils return to action on Saturday, Oct. 31 as the Devils head to Alvernia for a Halloween matchup against the Golden Wolves. Kick-off is set for noon. 

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