MANCHESTER, N.H. (August
29, 2009) – Plenty of rain fell throughout the Kutztown
University season-opening football game against Saint Anselm
College at soggy Grappone Stadium Saturday afternoon. While
scheduled storms never materialized, the KU defense provided the
thunder and senior running back
Dontay
Wilson (Stamford, CT/Stamford) supplied the flash
of lightning as the Golden Bears rallied for a memorable 17-13
victory in a quagmire.
 |
| Dontay Wilson rushed for a
career-high 174 yards against St. Anselm |
However, victory wasn’t secured
until Saint Anselm quarterback Michael Pierce’s pass on
fourth-and-14 was knocked to the ground by junior linebacker
Joel Irwin (Coatesville/Bishop Shanahan) with 44
seconds remaining.
In winning their season-opener
for the second straight year, the Golden Bears overcame three
turnovers, a fourth-quarter deficit, a muddy field, and the big
play tandem of Pierce and Marc Wilson.
“Turnovers hurt us big in the
first half,” fourth-year head coach Raymond Monica said. “But we
were able to hang in there and get out of here with a victory.
Our defense made some big plays at the end of the game.”
Dontay Wilson helped Kutztown
finally subdue the feisty Hawks by rushing for a career-high 174
yards on 26 carries. Wilson’s 25th carry proved to
be
the difference. Behind the sterling blocking of sophomore tackle
Josh Alger (Sinking Spring/Wilson), sophomore guard
Aaron
McGlynn (Harleysville/Souderton), senior center
Evan Reese (Centre Hall/State College), junior
guard
Jared
Haas (Linglestown/Central Dauphin) and sophomore
tackle
Chris
Oliver (Philadelphia/Germantown), Wilson broke up
the middle of the field, raced to the sidelines and sprinted
away from tacklers for a spectacular 77-yard touchdown run with
9 minutes, 29 seconds remaining to give KU the lead for good.
“I just had to be patient,”
Wilson said. “I visualized something positive was going to
happen before I touched the ball. Then when I got the ball, my
offensive line did a great job of opening up the hole for me.”
With raindrops bouncing off of
the silver metal bleachers and soaked spectators holding
a kaleidoscope of colorful umbrellas, the Golden Bears turned
the ball over on two of their first three possessions in the
first quarter before finally finding a groove.
Wilson’s burst was just the edge
the Golden Bear defense needed to hold off the Hawks and make it
a happy trip back to Berks County. It wasn’t easy as Pierce had
the Kutztown defense under siege for most of the final period
after Wilson’s scoring burst.
The Hawks drove twice inside the
Kutztown 20-yard line in final nine minutes. Each time, the
Golden Bear defense came up with a huge play. The Golden Bears
forced a fumble at the 2-yard line, which went out of the zone
for a KU touchback with 6:42 remaining. Following a quick KU
offensive series, Saint Anselm drove to the Golden Bear 20-yard
line with less than 90 seconds remaining.
Kutztown junior defensive
lineman
Greg
Rotkowski (Macungie/Emmaus) sacked Pierce on a
second-and-two play for a 13-yard loss. The defensive line
continued to bring pressure, which helped Pierce’s final two
pass attempts hit the soggy grass.
The Golden Bears put heavy
pressure on Pierce throughout the game. They were credited with
three sacks totaling 24 yards. Irwin led the KU
defense with nine tackles and junior linebacker
Keith
Massey (Allentown/William Allen) added eight stops.
“As a defense, we have to credit
the offensive line for allowing us to bring that type of
pressure because in practice they are so difficult to get past
and they helped make us stronger for situations like this,” said
Kevin Bolinsky, who finished with seven tackles (half of his
stops were for losses). “I think overall, the whole line got a
good rush throughout the game.”
However, Pierce escaped twice to
find Marc Wilson for a pair of touchdowns. Marc Wilson caught
six passes for 105 yards, including two that went for 12 and 54
yard touchdowns. His second score gave the Hawks a 13-10 lead
with nine seconds remaining in the third quarter.
Prior to that pass, the Kutztown
defense had bottled up the Saint Anselm offense by forcing six
consecutive punts after Marc Wilson's first touchdown catch with
16 seconds remaining in the opening quarter. Trailing, 7-3 at
halftime, Kutztown scored on its first possession of the second
half by driving 63 yards in seven plays. Martin made two
highlight-reel plays on the drive that set up Dontay Wilson’s
1-yard scoring plunge with 3:32 remaining in the third quarter.
It was KU’s first lead of the game.
Beginning with an incredible
escape of a sack on a third-and-12 play at the Golden Bears’
46-yard line, Martin showed poise by shrugging off a tackler,
who had Martin wrapped around the waist before firing a pass to
Jake Theirjung that covered 14, which earned KU a first down. On
the Golden Bears’ next play, Martin found freshman
Chris McCormick (West Chester/West Chester East) down the right
sideline for a 39-yard completion. McCormick finished with a
team-high four catches for 59 yards.
“This is a good win for us,”
Bolinsky said. “All preseason, our coaches had been stressing to
us that we need to win on the road. Today we won on the road and
overcame a fourth-quarter deficit, which was big for us.”
Kutztown returns to action
Saturday night when it travels to Clarion University for a 6:00
p.m. kickoff. Saint Anselm stays home to host Plymouth State
beginning at 1:00 p.m.
NOTES: KU is
3-1 in openers under head coach Raymond Monica. …This is the
first time since 2003 that KU has won consecutive season
openers. …This is the first time KU has won a game scoring fewer
than 20 points since a 17-0 victory over Millersville in 2003.
…Wilson’s previous career high was 162 yards against Saint
Anselm in last year’s season opener.
--KU--
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