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CHEYNEY, Pa. – The Kutztown University football team scored a season high in points, turned three turnovers into 17 points and concluded a historical September by defeating Cheyney University, 52-14, in its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division opener at O'Shields-Stevenson Stadium Saturday afternoon.
This is the football program's best start in school history.
Kutztown (4-0 overall, 1-0 PSAC East) is the only unbeaten squad in the PSAC East this season. The Golden Bears previous best start to a season was in 1949 when they were 3-0-1 after four games.
"This start means that the kids are playing well as a team," Kutztown head football coach Raymond Monica said. "Everybody has been doing a great job in all three phases of the game. The big thing for us was we wanted to come into this game and be as good as we can be. It's always been tough playing here, but the team did a good job of finding ways to extend the lead."
Kutztown generated 418 yards, the third time this season it has topped the 400-yard mark in total offense. Sophomore wide receiver Chris McCormick (West Chester/West Chester East) caught a pair of touchdown passes to lead the Golden Bears. In beating Cheyney for the 17th straight time, Kutztown also got scoring runs from Josh Mastromatto (Fort Washington, PA/Upper Dublin), Curtis Wortham (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge), Kendell Coleman (Philadelphia, PA/Martin Luther King) and Kevin Morton (Abington, PA/Abington).
Morton completed passes to six different receivers. Colby Tuell (Columbia, PA/Columbia) led the Golden Bears with six catches for 84 yards and Erik Frazier (Philadelphia, PA/Germantown) Jr. caught four passes for 72 yards. Mastromatto led the Golden Bears with 52 rushing yards on 13 carries. Wortham added a career high 48 yards on seven touches.
Defensively, Kevin Bolinsky (Ashland, PA/North Schuykill), who is second in Division II in sacks per game, registered another sack for the fourth-straight game. He has 6.5 this season. Chance Gaines (State College, PA/State College) also recorded a sack for KU, which was led in tackles by Jason Henshaw (West Chester, PA/Henderson), Alex DiNolfi (Norristown, PA/Norristown), Khalief Evans (Philadelphia, PA/Imhotep Charter), and John Kreuer (York, PA/York Suburban). They all finished with five tackles each.
"Being a member of the first Kutztown football team to start a season 4-0 is pretty special," Henshaw said. "This is a building block for us as we're continuing to strive for the goals we set as a team at the beginning of the season. Right now, starting 4-0 hasn't hit us yet."
The Golden Bear defense, which entered the game leading the PSAC in points allowed, total defense and rush defense, forced three turnovers. Kutztown's Jay McKnight (Reading, PA/Conrad Weiser) and Colin Henny (Lititz, PA/Manheim Twp.) recovered fumbles on Cheyney's opening two possessions. Kutztown turned those mistakes into a 10-0 advantage on a McCormick 2-yard touchdown catch and a 22-yard Matt Dineen (Wilmington, De/Concord) field goal.
However, Cheyney responded by intercepting a pass and scoring a touchdown, a 26-yard run by CU running back Marcus Jones to close to within, 10-7 with 11 minutes, 13 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
The game turned in Kutztown's favor in the second quarter following a wild momentum swing. With KU leading, 10-7, and driving for another touchdown, Cheyney's Thomas Stewart intercepted a pass that bounced out of a KU's wide receivers' hands in the end zone and returned the ball 64 yards to the Kutztown 38-yard line. With the CU crowd in a frenzy, Kutztown's Billy McMonigle and DiNolfi combined for the pivotal play of the contest on the very next snap.
McMonigle hit Cheyney quarterback Chris Anderson, who fumbled. DiNolfi recovered and returned the ball 48 yards for a touchdown. That gave KU a 17-7 advantage with 6:21 remaining in the first half. From that point, Kutztown scored 35 of the game's next 42 points.
Leading 24-7 at intermission, Kutztown put the game away by scoring 21 points in the third quarter. Kutztown enjoyed great field position all game long, beginning six of its 11 drives in Cheyney territory. Following DiNolfi's touchdown, the Golden Bears scored touchdowns on five straight possessions that bridged the second and third quarters.
The game did have added drama after Cheyney answered Coleman's 1-yard touchdown run with a Dominic Crowell 65-yard touchdown catch that sliced KU's lead to 31-14 with 11:11 remaining in the third quarter. However, KU's defense buckled down and didn't allow Cheyney a first down on its next two possessions.
Kutztown continued scoring as Mastromatto's 6-yard score gave KU a 38-14 lead. McCormick's second touchdown catch gave KU a 45-14 bulge and Wortham's first career score put the Golden Bears over 50 points for the first time since 2007.
Kutztown returns home next week to face Shippensburg University beginning at 1:05 p.m. at University Field. Shippensburg, which lost to C.W. Post, 31-14 Saturday afternoon, defeated Kutztown, 26-22, on a late touchdown in last year's meeting.
BEAR CLAWS: Morton has thrown at least one touchdown pass in nine straight games. In addition, Morton has thrown at least two touchdown passes in seven of KU's last eight games dating back to last season. …Since the 2009 season finale against Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Kutztown has scored 195 points, an average of 39 points per contest. …This was the first time since 1997; KU has scored 50 or more points against the Wolves…This was the first time since 1991, that the Golden Bears has opened the season by scoring 30 or more points in four consecutive games. …Kutztown topped the 50-point mark for the first time since 2007 when it scored 55 points against American International. …DiNolfi's fumble that was returned for a score was the first since Joel Irwin (Coatesville, PA/Bishop Shanahan) did it in 2008, ironically, against Cheyney. It was Kutztown's first defensive touchdown since 2008… It was the third game this season, KU has scored at least 20 points in the third quarter. Kutztown has scored its four opponents, 77-7 in the third quarter this season.
