Game Preview - Bloomsburg

In a battle between two 1-4 teams in the PSAC East, the Golden Rams (3-5, 1-4) host the Bloomsburg Huskies (2-6, 1-4) on Saturday. Kickoff for Military/First Responders Appreciation Day at Tomlinson-Fillippo Field at Farrell Stadium is scheduled for noon.

Series History:
West Chester leads the overall series 53-29, and these two schools historically have played big games. They met twice in playoffs - in 2008 and again in 2013 - with both postseason games played in Bloomsburg. The Huskies took the 2008 contest while the Golden Rams won in 2013 en route to the NCAA Division II semi-finals. There was the homecoming debacle in 2011 when West Chester took a 35-0 second quarter lead only to see the Huskies rattle off 55 straight points and steal a 55-42 win. The past seven games have been decided by a total of 18 points.

Former Bloomsburg All-American linebacker Frank Sheptock is in his fifth season as head coach at his alma mater, with a record of 18-34.

Last 10 Meetings:

Year	H/A	W/L	Score	Year	H/A	W/L	Score
2014	Away	Loss	41-10	2019	Home	Win	20-17
2015	Home	Win	33-22	2021	Home	Win	21-20
2016	Away	Win	27-7	2022	Away	Loss	21-16
2017	Home	Loss	20-19	2023	Away	Win	24-21 OT
2018	Away	Win	17-4	2024	Away	Loss	23-21

Last Meeting:

09/28/2024 Bloomsburg 23 - West Chester 21

With just a minute left in the game, the Golden Rams took a 21-17 lead on a 43-yard Cooper Jordan run, but the Huskies went 63 yards in just 36 seconds to open their PSAC East schedule with the 23-21 win.

Jordan finished with 287 yards and 1 TD passing and 81 yards and 2 TD's rushing. Robby Longo was a top target with 6 catches for 95 yards. The defense was paced by linebacker Connor Noble (7 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 PBU) and Jack Fry (6 tackles). Debrick Johnson blocked a PAT attempt to go along with five tackles in the game.

Scouting the Opponent:

Senior KJ Riley is primarily Bloomsburg's quarterback, but he does a lot for the Huskies: throwing (121 of 209, 1,750 yards, 17 TD's, 10 int's), running (84 carries, 359 yards, 6 TD's), kickoffs (6, 309 yards, 1 TB), placekicking (0-1 FG, 3 of 4 PAT's) and punting (1 for 37 yds) and a solo tackle. Top targets in the passing game are All PSAC-East wide receiver Jerry Griffen-Batchler (35 catches, 593 yards, 7 TD's), Gabe Brower (32 catches, 503 yards, 6 TD's) and Justin Wolfe (29 catches, 301 yards, 2 TD's). In the rushing game, besides Riley, there's freshman Declan Clancy (116 carries, 505 yards, 2 TD's), freshman Eli Zimmerman (60 carries, 204 yards, 4 TD's), Brower (18 carries, 162 yards, 1 TD), and Wolfe (12 carries, 33 yards).

All PSAC-East defensive lineman Charles Crews III now starts (21 tackles, 6.0 TFL) for FCS Austin Peay. So the front of the defense is now led by Ryan Corros (11 tackles, 2.0 sacks) and Emilio Diaz (14 tackles, 1.5 sacks). Most of their stops come from linebackers Izzy Dobbins (59 tackles, 3.0 TFL), Brady Thompson (57 tackles, 4.0 TFL), Nahzier Booker (43 tackles, 8.5 TFL), and Garrett Garcia (36 tackles, 3.0 TFL). Safety Cole Turner (35 tackles, 4 PBU), Ervin Mitchell (13 tackles, 3 PBU), and freshman cornerback Cameron Gates (7 tackles, 3 PBU) pace the secondary.

Analysis:

Just like their records, these two teams are very even from an offensive and defensive perspective. The one area where the Golden Rams have an advantage is in the secondary where WCU has nabbed a PSAC-leading 11 interceptions and Bloomsburg has thrown 11 picks. If West Chester quarterbacks don't reciprocate, then there could be an extra possession or two for the purple and gold. The Huskies have struggled in kick scoring, failing on seven PAT's, so West Chester may be able to capture some points in that area as well, if they can prevent their kicks from getting blocked. And even though Riley leads the PSAC East in passing yards, the Golden Ram defense also needs to contain his running game.

Massey Ratings is expecting a 28-20 West Chester win while Versus Sports simulates a 31-19 Golden Ram victory.

Game Coverage:

Live Stats   Video   Game Program  

West Chester Athletic Site - West Chester and Bloomsburg Renew Long Rivalry Saturday at Farrell Stadium

PSAC Site - 2025 PSAC Football Week 9 Notes

Bloomsburg Athletic Site - Game Notes Week 9: Bloomsburg vs West Chester

D2football - PSAC Columnist - PSAC Week Nine Preview

Game Report - Kutztown 41 - West Chester 7

The Kutztown Golden Bears (8-0, 5-0) scored touchdowns on their first two possessions and waltzed their way to a 41-7 victory over the Golden Rams (3-5, 1-4). The 34-point loss is the worst under head coach Duke Greco, eclipsing the 31-point margin to East Stroudsburg three weeks ago. It was a familiar story - a sluggish start, ineffective in the run game on both sides of the ball, and special teams faux paus.

Will Silverman had a 19-yard catch (Photo Chuck Greco)

Sluggish start - Kutztown opened with a 11 play, 83-yard touchdown drive that consumed almost six minutes off the clock, including picking up 38 yards on a fourth-and-two . The Golden Ram offense responded with three incomplete passes. So after 18 seconds, the West Chester defense was back on the field. With only 60 yards to the end zone, Kutztown only needed six plays in less than four minutes to go up 14-0.

Connor Noble and Jamir Reyes led WCU in tackles (Photo Chuck Greco)

Special teams faux paus - Late in the first quarter, West Chester managed a couple of first downs, but the possession stalled at their own 35. Dylan Shank's punt was blocked and returned for a touchdown to put the Golden Bears up 21-0. On West Chester's first possession of the third quarter, you know, the one that institutes the adjustments made in the locker room, the Golden Rams went three-and-out. Shank got the punt away, but West Chester was flagged for illegal formation. Kutztown accepted the penalty and forced WCU to punt again. This time, Kutztown blocked the punt again, setting up a short field for thier offense. Fortunately, the Golden Ram defense withstood the threat and Kutztown failed to score when their field goal attempt sailed wide.

Two of Dylan Shank's six punts were blocked (Photo Chuck Greco)

Kutztown kicked off seven times in this game. Two went for touchbacks and one was kicked short and fair caught by Luke van Brill at the 27. The other four kickoffs all went inside the 10-yard line and the best return came only to the 26. Those four returns gave WCU an average starting field position of the 20-yard line. Fair catching those kickoffs would place the ball at the 25-yard line avoiding the opportunity to fumble or commit a penalty on the return. West Chester special teams is essentially giving away yards.

Shamilyn Joppy drags down a KU receiver (Photo Chuck Greco)

Ineffective run game - After factoring West Chester's one defensive tackle for loss for a total of one yard, Kutztown rolled up 207 yards on the ground, picking up almost six yards per carry. Meanwhile, the West Chester offense had a total of 47 yards rushing, and 20 of those came on one play from freshman Mikhail Johnson who was making his collegiate debut.

Freshman running back Mikhail Johnson escapes a Kutztown tackle
(Photo Chuck Greco)

Quarterback Colin O'Sullivan (22 of 34, 193 yards, 1 TD, 2 int) played fairly well. On West Chester's best drive in the first half, he completed seven passes to five different receivers to reach the Kutztown 13-yard line, but the drive ended when the Golden Rams failed to convert a fourth-and-one. His first interception of the game happened when WCU was already down 34-0 and he overthrew his intended target. Kutztown diving pick was reviewed, and the play stood. In the fourth quarter, he connected with Ivan Thorpe (5 catches, 55 yards, 1 TD) on a 22-yard touchdown. On O'Sullivan's second interception, he was trying to throw the ball away and just didn't throw it far enough to get out of bounds.

Ivan Thorpe scored the only Golden Ram touchdown (Photo Chuck Greco)

Safety Jamir Reyes led the West Chester defense with ten tackles while linebacker Connor Noble was credited with nine. Reserve defensive back Rondell Bradley made two tackles and blocked a Kutztown PAT attempt.

Rondell Bradley and Ryan Shannon converge on a special teams tackle
(Photo Chuck Greco)

Personnel observations:

• Jake Phipps moved from left tackle to right guard, replacing Owen Chaffinch in the starting lineup. Geoffrey Gretta started at left tackle with freshman Nick Micewski also seeing time there.
• Running backs Juke Peaker and Ali Barkley were dressed but did not play. Freshman Mikhail Johnson ended as West Chester's leading rusher with 27 yards on seven carries.
• Similar to last week, quarterback Cooper Jordan was dressed but did not play. Tight end and team captain Thatcher Miller (3 catches, 6 yards) started, but left with an injury midway through the second quarter and did not return.
• With Zack Gillen not dressed, Thorpe was back to return punts. Kutztown only punted twice, with one rolling to the West Chester 10, and Thorpe returning the other ten yards.

Maybe one of the best things about this game was that despite two injury timeouts and a coach's challenge, it was completed in a snappy 2:37.

Sortable Box Score   

West Chester Athletic Site - No. 4 Kutztown Shuts Down West Chester, 41-7

Kutztown Athletic Site - No. 4 Golden Bears cruise to 41-7 win at West Chester

Golden Rams Review - Photo Album - Kutztown

Game Replay

Game Preview - #4/#3 Kutztown

The Golden Rams (3-4, 1-3) host #4/#3 Kutztown (7-0, 4-0) on Saturday at noon.

Series History:
West Chester leads the overall series 54-14-1, but Kutztown has won four of the last five meetings including the last three games in West Chester.

Jim Clements is 97-29 in his 11th season as head coach of the Golden Bears and was named PSAC East Coach of the Year after the past two seasons. Under Clements, Kutztown qualified for the NCAA Division II playoffs in five of the past six years that football has been played, including advancing to the NCAA Division II semi-finals in Golden, CO in 2023.

This is a matchup of former coaching colleagues as Clements was head coach at Del Val from 2006 to 2013 while current Golden Rams head coach Duke Greco was Del Val's offensive coordinator and assistant head coach. After Clements departed Del Val for Kutztown, Greco took over the head coach spot at Del Val for eight seasons where he compiled a record of 82-13. Greco joined West Chester prior to the 2024 season.

Last 10 Meetings:

Year	H/A	W/L	Score	Year	H/A	W/L	Score
2014	Away	Win	29-7	2019	Home	Loss	30-17
2015	Home	Win	44-14	2021	Home	Loss	21-14
2016	Away	Loss	20-14	2022	Away	Win	28-9
2017	Home	Win	27-21	2023	Home	Loss	27-17
2018	Away	Win	38-21	2024	Away	Loss	31-13

Last Meeting:

11/09/2024 Kutztown 31 - West Chester 13

Kutzown took a 21-0 lead into the locker room and coasted to a 31-13 win en route to the PSAC championship and the NCAA Division II playoffs. The Golden Bears had a dominating first half performance as the Golden Rams best chance of scoring was a missed 45-yard field goal attempt on their opening drive. West Chester's next four possessions netted -11 yards, three three-and-outs, and an interception. The Golden Ram defense was equal early, allowing a total of 12 yards on Kutztown's first three possessions, but the Golden Bears got going on a short field after WCU's interception.

Linebackers Connor Noble (14 tackles, 1 forced fumble) and Johnny Pergine (10 tackles) led the West Chester defense. Offensively, Cooper Jordan threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns. The Golden Ram offensive line struggled as Jordan was sackd six times and West Chester managed just 16 yards net rushing.

Scouting the Opponent:

Despite quarterback Judd Novak (92 of 139, 1,377 yards, 13 TD's, 0 int) being named All-PSAC East twice, the Golden Bears' offensive strength is in their running game. Left tackle Ryan Schernecke and left guard Billy Everitt were both all-conference after last season, as was running back Jaedyn Stewart (28 carries, 297 yards, 5 TD's), although he's missed their last three games. So this year Steven Burkhardt (85 carries, 560yards, 6 TD's) is also playing a major role. Although nine different players have caught TD's, Novak is usually looking for wide receivers Noah Kracyla (21 catches, 345 yards, 1 TD), Trevor Amorim (13 catches, 217 yards, 3 TD's) and Rich Paczewski (12 catches, 249 yards, 1 TD).

Kicker Will Smith is only 1 of 2 in field goals, but that's mainly because Kutztown scores touchdowns where he's 39 of 42 on PAT's. Punter Nate Millard (11 FC, 4 I20) is second the PSAC with a 43 yard average.

Linebackers Brandon Strausser (28 tackles, 1.5 TFL), Eden Johnson (26 tackles, 3.5 TFL) and Brandon Hile (26 tackles, 2.5 TFL) lead the defene. Linemen Lawron Short (9 tackles, 3.0 sacks), Brayden Pohlman (9 tackles, 2.5 sacks), and Mikey Gray (16 tackles, 2.0 sacks) have most of the team's 15 sacks. Defensive backs Lee Coleman (16 tackles, 4 PBU) and Noah Kensey (13 tackles, 4 PBU) disrupt the passing game.

Analysis:

It's going to be a tall order for West Chester to pull out a win in this one. Kutztown leads the PSAC in both scoring offense (43.7) and scoring defense (7.4). Kutztown's offense is averaging 223 yards rushing per game and the West Chester defense has allowed an average of 177 yards in their three losses, so expect the Golden Bears to run the ball....a lot. And they've turned the ball over just three times this season. The Golden Bears have returned three kicks (two punts, one kickoff) for touchdowns so far this season, so WCU's special teams will be challenged as well.

On the other side of the ball, Kutztown has allowed just 52 points this season. Consider that West Chester allowed 45 points in just one game in their loss to East Stroudsburg. So as good as the Golden Bears' offense has been, their defense is actually better. They alow just 2.8 yards per running play and 142 yards per game in the air. While Kutztown's seven opponents have only one winning record among them, the Golden Bears did hammer the one common opponent with West Chester, Shepherd, by a score of 49-10.

Versus Sports simulates a 34-8 Golden Bear victory, and Massey Ratings predicts a similar 34-14 Kutztown win.

Game Coverage:

Live Stats   Video   Game Program

West Chester Athletic Site - West Chester Entertains No. 4 Kutztown Saturday at Farrell Stadium

PSAC Site - 2025 PSAC Football Week 8 Notes

D2football - PSAC Columnist - PSAC Week Eight Preview

Game Report - Lock Haven 28 - West Chester 21

No player on the current Golden Rams roster was alive the last time that Lock Haven defeated West Chester. That is, until today. West Chester (3-4, 1-3) took a 21-7 lead early in the third quarter, but then faded away on both sides of the ball and fell to Lock Haven (3-4, 2-2) by a score of 28-21. This extends West Chester's losing streak to three games.

Johnny Pergine upends the Lock Haven ball carrier (Photo Chuck Greco)

The first quarter was all Lock Haven. The West Chester offense ran six plays for a total of 11 yards and taking just three minutes off the clock. Meanwhile, Lock Haven chewed up the remaining 12 minutes, but failed to score when the Golden Ram defense made two fourth-down stops and missed a 46-yard field goal attempt.

Future Robertson blows past Lock haven defenders (Photo Chuck Greco)

The game did a 180 to start the second period. West Chester quickly drove the field and took the lead on a Future Robertson (10 carries, 52 yards) one-yard TD plunge. Rylan Zuk's PAT was tipped but made it through. After the Golden Ram defense forced a three-and-out, WCU employed a nice mix of running and passing to navigate the 68 yards to the end zone. The drive was capped by a Colin O'Sullivan (24 of 35, 282 yards, 2 TD's, 2 int) to Matthew Iuvara (5 catches, 96 yards, 2 TD's) nine-yard touchdown pass to give WCU a 14-0 lead. Unfortunately, Iuvara was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct (the first of four such calls on WCU) on the score, and West Chester's ensuing kick off was from their own 20-yard line. The Bald Eagles returned the kickoff for a touchdown and West Chester's lead was quickly cut in half.

Matthew Iuvara turns up field after this catch (Photo Chuck Greco)

West Chester had an opportunity to score again in the first half. O'Sullivan completed five passes to four different receivers to get to the Lock Haven 11-yard line. But Zuk's 28-yard fied goal attempt was blocked. The half ended peacefully when Maurice Beverly (7 solo tackles, 2.0 sacks, 1 int) registered a sack at midfield.

Khadir Rowe and Jayden Trace converge on this tackle (Photo Chuck Greco)

The Golden Rams came out of the locker room on fire. O'Sullivan completed a 20-yard pass to Iuvara and after a short run by Robertson, the two connected again, this time for a 47-yard touchdown to give WCU a 21-7 lead. But Lock Haven wouldn't go away, marching 69 yards to pull within one score heading into the fourth quarter.

Connor Noble fills the hole to stop the run (Photo Chuck Greco)

When Beverly intercepted a Lock Haven pass at the LHU 22 early in the fourth quarter, the Golden Rams appeared to be in good shape. But Johnny Pergine was flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty on the play which pushed the ball back to the 37, still within striking distance. O'Sullivan completed a fourth-down pass to Dylan McKenzie (8 catches, 106 yards) to get to the Lock Haven nine-yard line. Two runs got the ball to the one-yard line and the next two runs didn't get the ball any closer. Failing to get into the end zone was far worse than it appeared as the momentum shifted to the Bald Eagles. Lock Haven swiftly navigated the 99 yards for the tying touchdown.

Ricardo Delgado registers five-yard sack (Photo Chuck Greco)

West Chester's next possession found them with a second-and-one at midfield. But again, the Golden Rams were unable to gain one yard in multiple attempts and possession went to Lock Haven on downs. With less than two minutes remaining, West Chester allowed the Bald Eagles to go 53 yards in just three plays for the game-winning score.

This ball resulted in a Maurice Beverly interception (Photo Chuck Greco)

In general, O'Sullivan looked good. He threw two interceptions, although the first went through McKenzie's hands and the second one came on West Chester's last possesion when they were acting in desperation mode. He connected with 11 different receivers, although he had favorite targets in McKenzie and Iuvara. O'Sullivan's not a runner and there were a couple of times when he had opportunites to do so. He did not get sacked in the game.

Dylan McKenzie had career-high 8 catches for 106 yards (Photo Chuck Greco)

Defensively, besides Beverly's big game, Jimmy Wright (9 total tackles) came up from his safety position to make several stops in the Lock Haven running game. Ricardo Delgado (3 tackles) also registered a sack for the Golden Rams.

Jimmy Wright with one of his eight solo tackles (Photo Chuck Greco)

Personnel observations:

• Will Silverman and Aanjay Feliciano each had a catch in their Golden Rams debut.
• None of WCU's three team captains played. Cooper Jordan was dressed, presumably as an emergency backup quarterback. Tight end Thatcher Miller was dressed, but did not see the field. Defensive end Nate Desmond did not dress. Also, quarterback Ethan Kohler did not make the trip.
• Geoffrey Gretta rotated with Jake Phipps at left tackle.

Khalil Owens breaks a tackle (Photo Chuck Greco)

Sortable Box Score   

West Chester Athletic Site - Lock Haven Upends West Chester football, 28-21

Lock Haven Athletic Site - Football celebrates Homecoming in style; Bald Eagles post historic win over West Chester

Lock Haven Express - ‘It was never over’: Lock Haven football earns first win over West Chester since 1991 behind late rally

Golden Rams Review - Photo Album - Lock Haven

Game Replay