No. 18 Kutztown Escapes With 50-48 Win Over Football In PSAC East Showdown
Box Score
KUTZTOWN, Pa. (Oct. 23, 2010) – Despite a career night from senior quarterback Erik Anderwkavich (Queens, N.Y.), who set both a school and PSAC record with 651 offensive yards (566 passing, 85 rushing), C.W. Post was unable to overcome a second-half deficit against Kutztown University. A failed 30-yard C.W. Post field goal attempt with four seconds on the clock allowed the 18th-ranked Golden Bears to escape with a 50-48 win.
Kutztown remains the only school in the PSAC with an unblemished record at 8-0 overall and 5-0 in PSAC East action. The loss ends a four-game win streak for the Pioneers and drops them to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in division play.
Anderwkavich's total yards surpassed the record set by Edinboro's Trevor Harris, who had 647 against West Liberty in 2009. He also eclipsed former Pioneer standout Perry Klein's mark of 623 yards, including 614 passing, against Salisbury State in 1993.
The Pioneers trailed 47-27 in the fourth quarter after allowing a 21-point gain by Kutztown in the third and another touchdown score by the Golden Bears at the start of the fourth. They nearly caught themselves up with three touchdown completions from Anderwkavich to bring the score to 50-48.
With 2:46 to play in the fourth, the visitors had one more chance to score and got the ball back on their own 20 after the defense forced Kutztown to punt away on fourth down. Anderwkavich completed seven passes for 64 yards and rushed twice for 28 yards to move the ball down to the KU 6, setting up 1st-and-goal with 15.2 seconds on the clock. After a seven-yard sack on Anderwkavich and four seconds left on the clock, the Pioneers opted for a 30-yard field goal attempt by freshman Keith Hadnagy (Farmingdale, N.Y.) but the kick was wide left as the final seconds expired on the game clock.
Kutztown took a 10-7 lead in the first quarter with a 19-yard field goal from Matt Dineen and a 1-yard touchdown run from quarterback Kevin Morton. The Pioneers scored on a 5-yard pass from Anderwkavich to senior wide receiver Darnel Williams (Brooklyn, N.Y.).
In the second quarter, Kutztown pushed its lead to 19-7 with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Kevin Morton to Chris McCormick and a 22-yard field goal from Dineen.
The Pioneers answered back late in the quarter with a pair of touchdown runs from sophomore running back Thomas Beverly (Wyandanch, N.Y.) to give them a 21-19 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Golden Bears took control of the game and put up three touchdowns that included a 40-yard run from Josh Mastromatt with 5:31 to play in the quarter and boosted their lead to 40-27.
Kutztown scored again at the start of the fourth quarter when Mastromatt rushed in for an 11-yard touchdown run to lead 47-27.
With time not on their side, the Pioneers quickly tried to climb back into the game, beginning with a 24-yard TD pass from Anderwkavich to sophomore wide receiver Grayson Laurino (Manhasset, N.Y.) at 13:43 that took only 1:10 off the game clock.
The Golden Bears scored in their next drive with a 38-yard field goal from Dineen to push the lead to 50-34 with 9:52 to play.
C.W. Post got the ball back on their own 27 with 9:41 to play that resulted in a 6-yard touchdown from Anderwkavich to Williams. Anderwkavich found Williams open again and converted the 2-point conversion to slice the Golden Bears' lead to 50-42 and 8:27 to play.
The Pioneers scored one more touchdown in the game when Anderwkavich aired out a long pass to Botti for a 71-yard touchdown with 5:47 on the clock.
C.W. Post completed the game with 708 offensive yards on 86 plays. Kutztown registered 520 offensive yards on 70 plays. The teams combined for a total of 1,228 offensive yards in the game.
Turnovers hurt the Pioneers as they lost possession twice on fumbles along with a 24-yard interception.
Botti finished the game with 10 catches for 227 yards and two touchdowns while Williams hauled in 11 catches for 131 yards and two touchdowns.
Junior inside linebacker Billy O'Connor led the defense with 10 tackles. Junior nose guard #Andrew Jackson# (Middletown, N.Y.) registered two sacks for loss of five yards. The Pioneer defense totaled five sacks for 15 yards.
Morton finished the game completing 25 of 35 pass attempts for 354 yards and two touchdowns while rushing in another touchdown. McCormick caught six passes for 125 yards and a touchdown and teammate Erik Frazier caught seven passes for 88 yards.
Four players led the Golden Bears with nine tackles in the game.
C.W. Post returns home to host Bloomsburg University next Saturday at 1 p.m. on Hickox Field.