[Kutztown Football] Golden Bears Look to Regroup Heading into Bye Week

[Josh Leiboff]

KU Football Fact Sheet #03a-2005              KU vs. SCSU Recap 

Golden Bears Look to Regroup Heading into Bye Week 

This Week

      Kutztown University's football team heads into an off week after losing to Southern Connecticut State, 31-28, on Saturday.  The Golden Bears, 0-3, look to regroup and wipe the slate clean when they travel to Mansfield for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division opener on September 24 at 1:00 PM. 

Notable

Kutztown is 0-3 for the first time since 1993...the hard-luck Golden Bears have lost the three games this year by a total of 16 points.it is the closest stretch of consecutive losses since Kutztown dropped three-straight games by a total of 13 points in 1985...KU hopes to avoid its first 0-4 start since 1987. 

Tracking the Golden Bears

Offense

      The Golden Bear offense showed flashes of its potential in the 31-28 loss to Southern Connecticut State.  Kutztown racked up 384 yards of offense vs. the Owls, including 258 passing and 126 rushing.  KU scored three touchdowns in the first 17+ minutes. The first two scoring drives were for 65 and 56 yards, while KU added drives of 67 and 74 yards, respectively, late in the fourth quarter.  Through the first two games, the Bears had just two drives over 45 yards.  In between, however, the Bears managed just 127 yards of offense.

        QB Kyle Spotts (so. Tamaqua/Tamaqua) completed 20-of-43 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns.  WR Larry Baumgardner (so. New Oxford/New Oxford) had a career day, catching 10 passes for 146 yards.  He had touchdown catches of 37 and 25 yards.  Baumgardner entered the game with seven career catches for 105 yards.  TE Jason Henley (jr. Gilbertsville/Boyertown) caught two passes for 17 yards, including one touchdown.  WR James Brooks (jr. Lancaster/McCaskey) caught four passes for 59 yards. Spotts and Brooks connected on a two-point conversion pass to cut SCSU's lead to three late in the game. RB Maurice Adams (so. West Chester/Henderson) rushed for 97 yards on 16 carries.  His 58 yard touchdown  run on the game's third play gave KU an early lead.  Tony Bria (sr. Warminster/William Tennent) rushed for 41 yards on nine rushes. 

      For the season, the Golden Bears are averaging 261.3 yards per game, including 187.3 passing and 74.0 rushing.  

      Spotts has completed 55-of-123 passes for 562 yards and four touchdowns.  He has been picked off six times.  Baumgardner has caught 14 passes for 187 yards and two TDs.  Brooks, who has played in just two games, has 13 catches fro 125 yards and a score.  WR Mike Zulkowski (jr. Shenandoah/Shenandoah Valley) is averaging 21.4 yards on five receptions.  Henley has five grabs for 34 yards and a TD.  

      Adams leads the ground game.  He is averaging 63.3 yards per game, tallying 190 yards on 51 caries.  He also has six catches for 50 yards.  Bria has 85 yards on 23 carries and 27 yards on eight catches.  

      The Golden Bear offensive line consists of tackles Charlie Kehs (sr. Gilbertsville/Boyertown) and Eric Newell (sr. Bethlehem/Bethlehem Catholic), guards Adam Ogorek (sr. West Chester/Henderson) and Don Keen (sr. Lancaster/McCaskey), and center Raymond Yannuzzi (jr. Wallingford/Strath Haven).  Newell returned to the lineup midway through the first half.

 Defense

      After two strong efforts to start the season, Kutztown had some strong individual performances despite struggling to stop the Southern Connecticut State offense.  KU allowed 472 yards of offense, including a season high 285 yards on the ground.  SCSU had 176 of its rushing yards after halftime.  The Golden Bears, however, continue to create turnovers and come up with big plays at key times.  Safety Michael Baldwin (sr. Philadelphia/Dobbins Tech) was responsible for two of KU's three takeaways.  He had a 22-yard interception return and broke up three other passes.  Baldwin also forced a fumble late in the fourth quarter in KU territory.  He added five tackles, including one for loss.  CB Justin Gibbs (so. Pottstown/Pottstown) had the other takeaway, a third-quarter interception.  KU's linebackers led the team in tackles.  Greg Mitchell (sr. Bethlehem/Bethlehem) led the defense with 16 tackles, including nine solos and recovered a fumble.  Tom Cressman (so. Sellersville/Pennridge) had 10 tackles, including two sacks for negative 18 yards.  Drew Hicks (sr. Allentown/William Allen) rounded out the LB corps with 10 tackles, including one for loss.  DE Leroy Azubuike (so. E. Stroudsburg/E. Stroudsburg South) had eight tackles, while fellow end Mike Grosso (jr. Hackettstown/Pope John) had eight hits with a tackle for loss.  

      Mitchell and Hicks continue to lead the PSAC in tackles.  Mitchell has 40 stops on the season, including 25 solos and two tackles for loss.  He has recovered two fumbles, bringing his career total to 10.  Hicks has 37 hits, 25 solos, with seven tackles behind the line and two pass breakups.  Azubuike has 26 tackles, with three for loss and two sacks.  Safety Brian Bingnear (so. Boothwyn/Chichester) has 22 tackles, while Cressman has 21 tackles, including five for loss and four sacks.  A third of Grosso's 21 tackles have been for loss, including four sacks.  Cressman and Grosso have forced a pair of fumbles each.  Baldwin has 20 tackles, five pass breakups, an interception and a school-record 98-yard fumble return for a TD vs. Clarion.  He has also forced two fumbles.  Gibbs has two interceptions, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery.  DE Kevin Branco (r-fr. Hellertown/Saucon Valley) has recovered three fumbles.   

Special Teams

      Kutztown's special teams set up one of Kutztown's touchdowns, but also committed some costly errors against Southern Connecticut.  Baldwin blocked a punt that was recovered at SCSU's eight yard line to set up the third Golden Bear TD.  A low snap prevented a possibly game-tying 20-yard field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter.  KU also had two punts partially blocked and a third punt attempt failed when the snap was fumbled.  Gibbs returned three kickoffs for 80 yards, while Brooks returned two kicks for 39 yards.  Bria had a 13 yard punt return.  Ryan Nye (fr. Reading/Holy Name) punted eight times for an average of 35.5 yards.  

      Kicker Matt Scartozzi (sr. Malvern/Bishop Shanahan) will have to wait for another day to break KU's career field goals record.  He has 19 in his career, tied with Steve Kratz (1989-92) for the all-time lead.  This season, Scartozzi is 2-for-4 with a long of 42 yards.  He is also 4-of-6 on PAT kicks.  Nye is averaging 36.5 yards on 24 punts.

      Gibbs is averaging 25.5 yards on four kick returns, while Brooks has netted 19.5 yards on two returns.  Bria averages 7.2 yards on four punt returns.

      Baldwin has blocked two kicks, including the punt vs. Southern Connecticut and a field goal in overtime against Clarion.

Kelly's Sports, Ltd.
Player of the Week

Larry Baumgardner (so. New Oxford/New Oxford) caught 10 passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns vs. Southern Connecticut. Baumgardner had touchdown grabs of 37 and 25 yards, and added another 26 yard catch on third down late in the game to keep KU's hopes alive.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Josh Leiboff
Kutztown University Sports Information
Phone: (610) 683-4182
Fax: (610) 683-4676
Email: leiboff at kutztown.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.kutztown.edu/pipermail/footballreleases/attachments/20050912/3d83a318/attachment.html