Photo Gallery | Audio Replay | Video Highlights (4Q & OT)
 
CLARION, Pa. – Saturday gave the Kutztown University football team and its senior class the opportunity to end its season on a high note with a winning season. Coming down to the final play of regulation, a last-second Hail Mary touchdown catch by Kodi Reed (Hanover, Pa./Delone Catholic) forced overtime and led to an eventual 41-35 win for the Golden Bears against Clarion University at Memorial Stadium.
 
Kutztown's overtime win improved its season-ending record to 6-5 for a winning season under first year head coach Jim Clements. Clements became the first KU head coach in the program's modern history to achieve a winning season in his first year at the helm of the Golden Bears.
 
KU led 28-21 in the fourth quarter and drove 80 yards to put itself in a position to ice the game with 6:48 to go with a 21-yard field goal and extend its lead. The ensuing kick was blocked by Clarion, which sparked a seven-play, 90-yard touchdown drive for Clarion to tie the game with 3:44 to play.
 
The running attack, led by Terry Williams (West Orange, N.J./Cosby (Phoenix College)), put KU back in the red-zone with less than two minutes to play, needing just a field goal to take the lead. On third down at the Clarion 13-yard line, Clarion sacked the KU quarterback and forced and recovered the fumble to take over with 1:31 to play. Clarion took advantage of a KU holding penalty to put it near midfield, and two plays later, connected on a 41-yard touchdown pass with 24 seconds remaining to take a 35-28 lead.
 
Kutztown quarterback Chad Barton (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Hollidaysburg) led the game-tying drive with a 14-yard pass to Anthony Kelly (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville Area) that stopped the clock after he ran out-of-bounds, and an eight-yard run out-of-bounds  to set KU up at the Clarion 32-yard line with time for one last play. Barton threw the deep ball to the corner of the endzone where three Golden Bear receivers were, had the pass initially tipped by a Clarion defender, and then found the hands of a streaking Reed for the touchdown with no time remaining. The extra point was good to force overtime.
 
KU took the ball first in overtime and scored a touchdown, but missed the extra point to give Clarion a shot at the win. The KU defense made its biggest stand of the season and on fourth down at its 13-yard line, hit the Clarion quarterback and sealed its 41-35 overtime win and a winning season.
 
Saturday's game featured remarkably similar moments as last year's game at Clarion. In last year's season-opening 39-38 overtime loss at Clarion, KU scored a touchdown and took the lead with 24 seconds left in regulation. Clarion then drove down the field and kicked the game-tying field goal as time expired. On Saturday, 24 seconds remained when Clarion took the lead off its touchdown, and Kutztown tied the game with no time remaining.
 
In overtime last year, KU scored first but missed the extra point, which led to Clarion scoring a touchdown and kicking the game-winning extra point. On Saturday, KU scored first and missed its extra point, but the KU defense was primed to not allow the same result as 2013.
 
The win marks Kutztown's second overtime victory in program history, along with its triple-overtime win at Millersville in 2007. However, Saturday was Kutztown's first overtime win in which its defense made a stop to win the game. KU is 2-8 all-time in overtime games, three of which have been against Clarion at Memorial Stadium, including a four-OT loss in 2005, the longest game in school history.
 
The Golden Bears totaled 582 yards, the most since a school-record 723 in 2012, with 403 coming through the air, marking a career-high for Barton and the first 400-yard passer at KU since Kevin Morton in 2012. Barton was 30-for-53 with three touchdowns and two interceptions.
 
Kutztown ran the ball 38 times for 179 yards, led by Terry Williams' (West Orange, N.J./Cosby (Phoenix College)) 78 yards and two touchdowns. KU won every game this season in which it ran for at least 100 yards, as Saturday marked the first time this season KU came away with a win when allowing triple-digit rushing yardage. Notably, 64 of Clarion's 123 rushing yards came on one touchdown run.
 
Reed turned in his best career performance for the second week in a row. He hauled in 149 receiving yards on seven catches. He enters his senior season in 2015 ranked eighth in program history in career catches (133), seventh in receiving yards (1,862) and sixth in receiving touchdowns (19).
 
Sophomore receiver Kellen Williams (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) hauled in a season-high 10 catches for 88 yards and a touchdown. He will enter his junior season in 2015 ranked 14th in career receptions (93), 15th in receiving yards (1,199) and 14th in career receiving touchdowns (13).
 
Defensively, sophomore linebacker Zachary Delp notched a team-high 14 tackles including four for-a-loss and an interception. Drake Brumfield (Marietta, Pa./Donegal) had 13 tackles and Sam Dougan (Secane, Pa./Ridley) finished with eight.
 
Clarion took the early momentum in the first quarter with an interception and a blocked punt to put it in scoring position late in the quarter. Clarion's Julian Howsare swarmed in un-blocked on the KU punt attempt and blocked his 10th career punt to put it at the Kutztown 21-yard line. Four plays later on 3rd-and-goal on the 5-yard line, Clarion tossed a touchdown pass over the middle for the 7-0 lead.
 
Two plays into Kutztown's following drive, running back Terry Williams (West Orange, N.J./Cosby (Phoenix College)) darted 47 yards to the left side for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7. KU had success running the ball early on. On its first eight carries of the game, KU ran for 97 yards for an average of 12.1 yards per carry.
 
Kutztown scored on its second straight possession following the long Terry Williams (West Orange, N.J./Cosby (Phoenix College)) run. It capped a 12-play, 95-yard drive with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Barton to Kellen Williams (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) for a 14-7 KU lead.
 
The Golden Bears built their next touchdown drive through the air. Highlighted by a 25-yard catch by Reed, in which he caught the ball and cut back across the field to utilize multiple blockers downfield to put KU within the Clarion 5-yard line. The drive was capped with a five-yard touchdown pass to Nathan Hollander (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) in the back of the end zone for a 21-7 lead with 1:47 left in the first half.
 
Clarion answered with a 64-yard touchdown run by Bobby Thomas on 3rd-and-1 to bring the game to 21-14 with 1:20 to go in the half. Clarion's longest run of the season entering Saturday was 24 yards. KU had a shot at the end zone on the final play of the half as Kellen Williams (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) went up and got his hands on a ball, but had it knocked away by a Clarion defender to leave KU with a 21-14 lead at the break.
 
Clarion tied the game with 50 seconds left in the third quarter on a 33-yard touchdown pass over the top to a wide-open receiver to tie the game at 21-21.
 
Barton closes his impressive season as a first-year starter. He ranks fifth in single-season school history with 2,891 passing yards, and fifth in touchdown passes with 29. He also entered Saturday with the second-best touchdown/interception ratio in the PSAC and finishes the season at 29/8.
 
Brett Fox (Laureldale, Pa./Muhlenburg) closed his career ranked 12th in KU history in career catches (102), 12th in receiving yards (1,507) and 14th in career touchdowns (13).
 
The Golden Bears graduate three players with 200 career tackles. Dougan ranks eighth in program history with 285 career tackles, English Peay (Philadelphia, Pa./George Washington) sits 13th with 233, and Zach Greenwald (Gibbstown, N.J./Paulsboro) ranks 17th with 209 tackles. Peay also holds the school-record for career pass breakups with 47, and is second in PSAC history in passes defended with 52.
 
Saturday also marked the final game in the careers of 13 Golden Bears. Playing in their final collegiate game were Jarvis Cummings (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield), Josh Luckenbaugh (York, Pa./Dallastown), Fox, Peay, Brumfield, Dougan, Cody Waltimyer (York, Pa./York Suburban), Mike Nowak (Limerick, Pa./Owen J. Roberts), Greenwald, Peter Finegan Jr. (Newtown Square, Pa./Marple Newtown), Greg Bamberger Jr. (Blandon, Pa./Fleetwood), Cameron Lipnicky (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Trinity) and Michael Gallagher (Clarksboro, N.J./Kingsway Regional).