KUTZTOWN, PA (August 31, 2010) – Fifth year Kutztown University head football coach Raymond Monica leads the Golden Bears into their 95th season. For the third consecutive season, Kutztown will begin the campaign against Saint Anselm College at University Field on Saturday, September 4 beginning at 1:05 p.m. (CLICK HERE FOR GAME NOTES)/ (WEEKLY PSAC RELEASE)
The game will be broadcast live on WEEU (830-AM) based out of Reading with Mitch Gerhart and Kutztown University associate vice president of university advancement John Green calling all of the action. In addition, listeners throughout the world can also hear the game live on KU's website at www.kubears.com. The pre-game show will begin 15 minutes before kickoff.
The Golden Bears (3-8 overall in 2009) will be looking for their third consecutive opening-day triumph. If Kutztown is victorious over Saint Anselm College, it would be the first time since 2001-03 that the Golden Bears won three straight opening games. Kutztown beat Elizabeth City State twice in 2001 and 2002 and then defeated Virginia State in 2003. The Golden Bears are 3-1 in season openers under Monica.
Kutztown defeated Saint Anselm, 35-0, at University Field in 2008 and 17-13 at Grappone Stadium in Manchester (N.H.) in 2009 in a rainy and muddy quagmire. The visiting Hawks finished the 2009 season with a 2-8 record. Saint Anselm lost its final six games last year while Kutztown dropped its final five contests.
However, both teams enter the season with high expectations even though they were picked to finish in the second half of their respective preseason conference polls. Kutztown was picked to finish sixth in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division. Meanwhile, Saint Anselm was picked to finish eighth in the nine-team Northeast 10 Conference.
Kutztown welcomes back 13 starters from last year's squad. Monica is optimistic that Kutztown will rebound from a tough 2009 campaign that featured several close defeats. The Golden Bears lost three games by four points or less and dropped two other contests in overtime.
Leading the returnees is sophomore quarterback Kevin Morton (Abington, PA/Abington), who led an offense that averaged 25.4 points per game during his seven starts. Morton completed 56.3 percent of his passes (160-for-284) and finished with 1,921 passing yards and 15 touchdown passes.
Senior running back Kendell Coleman, who was named as an honorable mention All-American by the Consensus Draft Services, is an explosive returner. He ranked third in the PSAC in punt return average (10.3) and eighth in kick return average (24.2). Coleman led the Golden Bears in all-purpose yards, averaging 87.5 yards per contest. He totaled 906 yards during the season.
Defensively, the Golden Bears return six starters highlighted by senior Kevin Bolinsky (Ashland, PA/North Schuykill), who was third in the PSAC last season with 9.5 sacks. Bolinsky had 3.5 sacks against the Hawks in last year's matchup.
In addition to Bolinsky, the Golden Bears return their top three tacklers in senior linebacker Joel Irwin (Coatesville, PA/Bishop Shanahan) (92 tackles), senior safety Khalief Evans (Philadelphia, PA/Imhotep Charter) (73), and senior strong safety Jay McKnight (Reading, PA/Conrad Weiser) (73).
Kutztown's special teams will receive a boost with senior kicker Matt Dineen (Wilmington, De/Concord) back in the fold. He was named as a D2proday.com second team preseason All-American and a Consensus Draft Services Division II Preseason All-America honorable mention selection. Dineen was a first team all-PSAC East selection last season after making a conference best 17 field goals. Dineen enters the season as Kutztown's all-time leader in field goals with 35. Dineen was fourth in the PSAC in punting average (38.7) and fourth in scoring (6.5 points per game).
Saint Anselm has four players returning who earned all-Northeast 10 Conference honors last year. Leading the way for the Hawks are sophomore defensive back Ethan Sylvian, sophomore quarterback Michael Pierre, sophomore wide receiver Marc Wilson and sophomore linebacker Chris Bent. Sylvain was NE10 co-freshman of the year and a second team selection. Wilson was named to the first team while Pierce and Bent earned a spot on the all-rookie team.
Sylvain, the second-leading freshman tackler in the Northeast-10 with 8.1 per game, was a two-time Northeast-10 Freshman of the Week. In addition to the Freshman of the Year honor, Sylvain was the only freshman on either All-Conference team. Sylvain finished the season ranked 10th in the Northeast-10 with 81 total tackles, including 41 solo stops and 40 assisted tackles. Sylvain also had four interceptions, including a pair of two-interception games, to go along with 3.5 tackles for a loss, one sack, four pass breakups, one fumble recovery and two forced fumbles.
Sylvain, Bent and Mike Hobbs ended the 2009 season as the top three freshman tacklers in the conference.
Wilson earned first team all-conference honors at wide receiver after being named the league's freshman of the year as a quarterback in 2008. Wilson led the Northeast-10 in receptions per game and all-purpose yards as he set four Saint Anselm single-season records and three single-game records in 2009. He caught a record 82 passes for 860 yards and seven touchdowns while racking up 1817 all-purpose yards in 10 games.
Pierce set every Saint Anselm single-season and single-game passing record as he threw for 2,629 yards and 21 touchdowns as a freshman. For the season, he completed a school-record 237 passes and broke the Saint Anselm record for passing yards, passing attempts and passing touchdowns.
Next week, Kutztown will play its second consecutive home game and first of four night games this season when it hosts Mercyhurst College in a PSAC crossover contest on Saturday, September 11 at University Field beginning at 6:05 p.m. Mercyhurst, which is off this weekend, defeated Notre Dame College, 23-0, last Saturday.
--KU--
