It was a homecoming of sorts for Kutztown Golden Bear coaches Drew Folmar, Ross Pennypacker, Jim Ketner and Dan Csencsitz, all former Millersville Marauder football players. Them, along with their players, showcased a fantastic game plan resulting in a 45-9 victory over Millersville on Saturday.
Coming into the game, it was a battle of two 1-7 teams searching for that next win. Kutztown did not wait offensively, scoring early and often. On Kutztown's first drive, QB Josh Luckenbaugh and company trucked down the field, ending in a Darrell Scott goal line run that resulted in a touchdown. They scored points on their next two drives as well.
Curtis Wortham finished his day nicely with three rushing touchdowns. He had torched Millersville in the past as well.
Worse, Millersville turned the ball over with two interceptions and a fumble. Kutztown paid them back in kind by scoring 21 points in total off of those three turnovers. Turnovers kill. It's that simple.
It could be said that Kutztown was opportunistic on this day. They only gained 338 offensive yards on Saturday. That's a far cry from the 624 given up against West Chester, or 521 against IUP, or 515 against LIU Post. Defense on head coach Greg Breitbach's and defensive coordinator Ron Rankin's has been cleaned up significantly as the weeks go by.
I asked Breitbach about third downs on Saturday's pregame show after noticing a trend. They had been a significant point of contention in the early part of the season. Millersville's 3rd down conversion rate has increased from 25% to 34.35%, and the opposition has dropped from 75% to 48.25%. Breitbach put ones on ones in meaningful drills, and they are paying off tremendously.
The next step is 4th down conversion, which teams don't appear afraid to go for it (50%).
RB Ian Sadon wrecked the field unlike he has at any point this season. Sure, it happened to be his fourth 100+ yard rushing game this season (Millersville outgained Kutztown 184-97 on the ground), but Sadon rushed for 168 of those yards, a touchdown (his team-leading 5th), averaging 5.7 yards per carry. Kutztown did not have an answer for Sadon.
That being the case, freshman QB Corey Unger struggled against a significant pass rush in his first start. Unger (10-21-2) threw for just 82 yards, and was sacked five times. Time did not present itself to find anyone open, and it showed. Unger had to use his legs to avoid situations, and his most popular play was a play action rollout that failed to find anyone open more often than not.
I would imagine that now that Unger has burned his what-would-be redshirt, he will likely get the start next Saturday against East Stroudsburg (6-3, 3-3) as well as in the season finale against California (6-3, 4-2). Last week was likely his first set of practices as a starter, so next week should hold a better result for him.
East Stroudsburg has been stuck in the PSAC East's middle ground for what seems like a few years now. They are led by one heck of a young quarterback named Matt Soltes. Soltes has completed almost 61% of his passes, and has thrown for an insane 28 touchdowns. Runners have rushed for 10 fewer.
As a result of this insane offense, opposing offenses are being outgained by 1,400 yards throughout the year. Perhaps one of ESU's problems happened to be a problem of IUP's—discipline. Warriors have taken a staggering 86 penalties for 687 total yards against.
Let's take a look around.
It looks pretty set in stone now that now-nationally ranked Slippery Rock will be the West's representative in the PSAC title game. The East isn't so set just yet. West Chester (6-0) has the division lead, but they must win an absolutely crucial game against Bloomsburg (5-1) this Saturday at home.
Unfortunately for the Golden Rams, they may have swept their home schedule so far, but they battled in some close games to Kutztown (22-21), California (38-31) and East Stroudsburg (34-20). Anything can happen in this game. If Franklin Quiteh is healthy, he will match up against his largest competition, Rondell White.
That will be fun to look out for.
Next week's broadcast will be from Eller-Martin Stadium in East Stroudsburg. The Marauder Pride Pregame Show presented by Homewood Suites by Hilton Lancaster will start at 12:30 p.m. for a 1:05 p.m. kickoff. You can listen here: www.millersvilleathletics.com/msbn
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