Live Coverage
Live Stats  |  Live Audio (KUTV Simulcast)  |  Live Video (KUTV)
 
Game Notes
KU Game Notes  |  Slippery Rock Game Notes  |  PSAC Week 11 Notes
 
GAME INFORMATION
Series: 13th Meeting (ROCK leads 10-2)
First Meeting: 1984 (ROCK def. KU, 21-6)
Last Meeting: 2014 (ROCK def. KU, 37-26)
Last KU Win: 2012 (KU def. ROCK, 56-49)
TV: KUTV (SECV & Hometown Utilicom)
Audio: KUR
Live Stats, Audio & Video: www.KUBears.com
WAYS TO WATCH/LISTEN:
ON CAMPUS: 1670 AM
TV: SECV Birdsboro Channel 24, 524 (HD)
TV: SECV Lehigh Valley Channel 266, 765 (HD)
TV: Hometown Utilicom Channel 191
LISTEN ONLINE: www.Kutztown.edu/KUR

BEAR BITES
• Kutztown finished in a tie for third place in the PSAC East.
• Alec Rosenfeld (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem) broke the school-record last week for career PATs with 136.
• With a win, Kutztown would finish with the third-most wins in school history.
• Chris Kane (Maple Glen, Pa./La Salle College) threw for a career-high 311 yards and five touchdowns at Cheyney last week.
• Kutztown clinched its program-record-tying fourth-straight winning season.
• KU posted a season-high 602 total yards last week at Cheyney.
• Slippery Rock set a school-record with 795 total yards last week at Seton Hill.
• KU's run defense yields 91.5 yards per game, on pace to break the school-record of 97.2 (1995).
• Evan Culver (Hellertown, Pa./Saucon Valley) has scored a touchdown in five-straight games.
• Kutztown's lone PSAC Championship came in 2011, a 21-14 win over Slippery Rock.

Complete Game Notes

SERIES HISTORY: Saturday marks the 13th meeting between the Golden Bears and The Rock. Slippery Rock has won 10 of the 12 matchups, as KU last won against SRU in 2012 on the road (56-49). Slippery Rock won the first eight matchups in the series beginning in 1984. The teams met in the 2011 PSAC Championship game, when KU's Marshall Vogel threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Erik Frazier with 2:59 to play to give Kutztown its first PSAC Championship in school history.
 
SENIOR DAY: Saturday marks Senior Day for seven Golden Bears - Chris Kane (Maple Glen, Pa./La Salle College), Jalen Nieves (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem), Tristan Shoopack (Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville Area), Skyler Panchari (Pottsville, Pa./Blue Mountain), Andrew Garbarino (Peckville, Pa./Valley View), Ronny Tomasetti (Dickson City, Pa./Mid-Valley) and Steve Plousis (Philadelphia, Pa./Ridley).
 
LAST WEEK: Redshirt-senior quarterback Chris Kane (Maple Glen, Pa./La Salle College) made the most of his first career start, throwing for 311 yards and five touchdowns, 1-of-8 players in school history to throw for five TD passes in a game. On the other side of the ball, Kutztown University's defense posted its first shutout of the season and held Cheyney University to negative rushing yards in a 65-0 victory Saturday afternoon in a PSAC East game from Cheyney's O'Shields-Stevenson Stadium. The Golden Bears outgained the Wolves in total yards by a 602-60 margin. While Cheyney threw for 73 yards across three quarterbacks, Kutztown held the Wolves to -13 rushing yards.
 
THIRD PLACE: Kutztown finished in a tie for third place in the PSAC East with a 5-2 record this year. It marks the fourth-straight year KU has finished in the top-three. Shippensburg and West Chester shared the title, with West Chester representing the East in this weekend's PSAC Championship game.
 
DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE: Kutztown's 65-0 win at Cheyney last week marked the program's first shutout since 2015. KU allowed 60 total yards of offense, the lowest for the program since 2014, and held Cheyney to -13 rushing yards, the fewest for KU since 2014.
 
60-POINT MARK: KU has surpassed the 60-point mark twice this season for the first time in school history. KU has posted 60+ points seven times in school history.
 
STOPPING THE RUN: Under head coach Jim Clements, KU is 13-2 when holding its opponent to less than 100 yards rushing. His only losses were to Mercyhurst in 2016, and at West Chester in 2017.
 
RECORD-BREAKING RUN DEFENSE: KU ranks third in the PSAC and 15th in Division II at 91.5 rushing yards allowed per game, on pace to break the best mark in school history in the modern era of 97.2 in 1995. Kutztown is holding teams to 3.01 yards-per-rush, the second-best mark in school history behind 2.54 from 1995.
 
BEND, DON'T BREAK: Kutztown is holding teams to an average of 10.2 yards per completion, KU's lowest since 1983.
 
SENIOR DAY, ONE WEEK EARLY: Redshirt-senior quarterback Chris Kane (Maple Glen, Pa./La Salle College) made the most of his first career start, throwing for 311 yards and five touchdowns at Cheyney last week. He connected on 21-of-25 passes (84.0 percent) in his first 300-yard performance. He threw touchdown passes to three different receivers.
 
YOU THROW A TD, I THROW A TD: Kutztown has had four players throw a touchdown pass this year for the first time in school history.
 
SAFETY: Nick Palmer (Montville, N.J./Bergen Catholic) tackled the Cheyney running back in the endzone last week, marking Kutztown's first safety since 2014.
 
EXTRA POINT RECORD: Alec Rosenfeld (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem) kicked nine PATs last week at Cheyney, tying his own school-record for PATs in a game. In doing so, he broke the school-record for career PATs with 136, breaking Jack Ruggieri's record of 131.
 
RONNY FINDS THE ENDZONE: Senior captain Ronny Tomasetti (Dickson City, Pa./Mid-Valley), a defensive end, ran for a 1-yard touchdown for his first career score last week at Cheyney.
 
WINNING SEASON: KU has posted four-straight winning seasons, including 2017, extending head coach Jim Clements' career streak to 12 straight.
 
CULVER'S CORNER: Evan Culver (Hellertown, Pa./Saucon Valley) has scored a touchdown in five-straight games. He has run for 100 yards in two of his last four games, including a season-high 147-yard outing at Lock Haven. He is the first KU freshman running back to run for 100 yards since Darrell Scott in 2013.
 
INTO THE BACKFIELD: Chris Kimbiz (Brick, N.J./Brick Township) ranks sixth in the PSAC with a career-high 12.0 tackles-for-loss, an average of 1.3 per game. Kimbiz and Tajier Jefferson (East Orange, N.J./Queen of Peace) (10.5) both have 10+ tackles-for-loss this year, the fifth-straight year KU has had multiple players with double-digit tackles-for-loss.
 
4TH-DOWN SUCCESS: In the last four games, KU is 7-for-9 on fourth-down conversion attempts, 77.8 percent.
 
TIGHT END TOUCHDOWNS: Jack Pilkerton (La Plata, Md./La Plata (Golden West)) has two touchdown catches this season. He is KU's first tight end with multiple touchdowns in a season since Dan Onorato in 2007.
   
TRENDING THE RIGHT DIRECTION: Kutztown's defensive averages have improved over the last six weeks. Entering Bloomsburg on Oct. 7, KU was allowing 346 yards per game. KU has steadily lowered that average to 279.2 total yards per game. It would be the first time KU finished a season allowing less than 300 yards per game since 2001 (293.2) and the fewest per game since 1995 (261.2)
 
LESS THAN 100 RUSHING YARDS: The KU defense has not allowed 100 rushing yards in four of the last six games. Under Jim Clements, KU is 13-2 when holding teams to less than 100 rushing yards.
 
GETTING TO THE FINISH LINE: KU is outscoring opponents by 185 points in the first three quarters, but by just four points in the fourth quarter.
 
HOT HAND: Shawn Turber-Ortiz (Northumberland, Pa./Shikellamy) has five interceptions as a redshirt-freshman, all coming in a four-game span. He ranks third in the PSAC and ninth in Division II, and needs one more to set KU's freshman record.
  
PICK CITY: KU has 16 interceptions this year, third-most in the PSAC. KU had four interceptions earlier this year vs. Seton Hill - the most for KU since 2011.
 
PUT THOSE FLAGS AWAY: Kutztown has the most penalty yardage in the PSAC at 87.60 per game, but has lowered its per-game average the last three weeks.
 
ALL-PURPOSE BACK: Craig Reynolds (Willow Grove, Pa./Abington) ranks seventh in the PSAC at 140.88 all-purpose yards per game. He averaged 230.8 yards through the first four games, but 24.2 yards in the last six games while battling injuries. His season has been highlighted by a 335-yard performance in the season-opener against Assumption. He holds the single-game all-purpose-yard record of 345, set last season. For his career, he ranks sixth in school history with 3,602 career all-purpose yards.
 
EYEING THE ENDZONE: Craig Reynolds (Willow Grove, Pa./Abington) scored all 10 of his touchdowns this season in the first four weeks of the season - five rushing, four receiving and one punt return - but has failed to score one since due to injuries. Before injury, he ranked third in Division II in touchdowns.
 
PROTECT THE FOOTBALL: Kutztown has committed 11 turnovers this year, tied for the fewest in the PSAC with Slippery Rock. KU's turnover margin of +1.30/game ranks second in the PSAC and sixth in Division II.
 
WINNING QUARTERBACK: Collin DiGalbo (Secane, Pa./Monsignor Bonner) holds a record of 12-4 as a starting quarterback.
 
DON'T RUN AT RONNY: Ronny Tomasetti (Dickson City, Pa./Mid-Valley), a team captain, earned All-PSAC and All-Region honors last year. He has 4.5 sacks this season and 19.5 for his career, tied with Aldain Lobban for fifth in school history.
 
TACKLING TJ: Tajier Jefferson (East Orange, N.J./Queen of Peace) is a two-year All-PSAC starting linebacker and a 2017 team captain. He posted a career-high 15 tackles in the season-opener and ranks 17th in school history with 226 career tackles and 35.5 tackles-for-loss. He has only missed one game in his career.
 
STARTING LINEBACKER: Tajier Jefferson (East Orange, N.J./Queen of Peace) has made 30 consecutive starts at linebacker, the longest streak on the team.
 
LEADING TACKLER: Jalen Nieves (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem) has played in 37 career games with 247 career tackles, 12th in school history, and four interceptions. He had a career-high 16 tackles two weeks ago vs. Shippensburg, the most for a Golden Bear since Greg Carroll had 17 at Bloomsburg in 2012.
 
BALL HAWK: Sophomore cornerback Ahkee Cox-Cowan (Harrisburg, Pa./Harrisburg) ranks second in the PSAC and fourth in Division II with 1.8 passes defended per game.
 
PRIMETIME PUNTER: Freshman punter Dean Krcic (Saylorsburg, Pa./Pleasant Valley) ranks second in the PSAC and ninth in Division II with an average of 42.6 yards-per-punt. The school-record for a season is 43.02 by KU All-Time Team punter Jon Corson in 2003.
 
MAGIC NUMBER = 24: KU head coach Jim Clements is 21-1 in his Kutztown career when holding opponents to 24 or fewer points. His only loss was to Mercyhurst in 2016 (23-19).
 
DAY OF FIRSTS: 14 Golden Bears have scored their first career touchdowns this year: Conor Sullivan (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall), Eric Nickel (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan), Sharif Fennell Jr. (Philadelphia, Pa./West Catholic Prep), Skyler Panchari (Pottsville, Pa./Blue Mountain), Evan Culver (Hellertown, Pa./Saucon Valley), Andrew Garbarino (Peckville, Pa./Valley View), Amadou Barry (Upper Darby, Pa./West Catholic Prep), Abdul-Hassan Neblett (Newark, N.J./Paramus Catholic), Jack Pilkerton (La Plata, Md./La Plata (Golden West)), Diego Torres (York, Pa./West York Area), Josh Lee (Willow Grove, Pa./Abington (Thaddeus Stevens)), Nyiem Nevarez (Effort, Pa./Pleasant Valley), Ronny Tomasetti (Dickson City, Pa./Mid-Valley) and Chris Kane (Maple Glen, Pa./La Salle College).
 
INTERCEPTION LEADER: Jake Perry (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) leads KU with nine career interceptions, one shy of cracking the top-10 at KU. He had five last season in his All-PSAC East First Team season.
 
RETURNING KICKER: Alec Rosenfeld (Bensalem, Pa./Bensalem) was an All-PSAC and All-Region kicker his freshman campaign in 2014, when he set school-records for field goal percentage in a season and field goals in a game. He has kicked seven field goals over the last six weeks, moving him into third all-time at KU with 23 career field goals - one shy of second at KU.

EARLY LEAD: Kutztown has led at halftime in 29 of its last 32 wins. KU's two comeback wins over that time were at Indiana (PA) in 2015, and at Shippensburg in 2016. It was once tied at halftime at Bloomsburg in 2017.
 
PSAC PRESEASON POLL: Kutztown was picked second in the East.
 
Eastern Division
1) West Chester (8)
2) Kutztown
3) Shippensburg
4) Bloomsburg
5) East Stroudsburg
6) Lock Haven
7) Millersville
8) Cheyney
 
Western Division
1) IUP (6)
2) California (2)
3) Slippery Rock
4) Edinboro
5) Gannon
6) Seton Hill
7) Clarion
8) Mercyhurst